Beneath the thick, tanned skin of the laid-back Aussie larrikin, nothing has poked its nerves as hard as ‘Wake In Fright’.
Upon its 1961 release, Kenneth Cook’s novel provoked our national identity with his beer-soaked nightmare of masculinity. The strongest prod came in the form of the 1971 cult film, which captured the attention of Melbourne theatre-maker Declan Greene.
“There’s that great myth of the film premiere of someone jumping up at the screening and shouting, ‘that’s not us,’ and Jack Thompson shouting back, ‘it is us! Sit down!’,” he says. “For a country that purports to not take itself very seriously as part of its national identity, it’s fascinating that ‘Wake In Fright’ really did get under the skin of people.”
The film has stood as the definitive presentation of the story of teacher John Grant’s self-destruction in the outback town of The Yabba. Rather than retell the infamous tale, Declan is offering a radical theatrical adaptation which speaks to the present and will be performed this month at Sydney Opera House as part of its UnWrapped series.
Image © Pia Johnson
The genesis of the show was when Declan began working with Jamaican-born Australian actress and show Co-Creator Zahra Newman. The story focuses on a cast of white male actors, so Zahra performing it as a one-person show offers a dramatic new context for audiences.
“Our first question was, ‘what does this have to say about the present?’, which I think is a major question when you’re adapting,” Declan says. “When Zahra and I went back to the book, some questions emerged about the notion of what it is to be an outsider culturally in a place like Australia and what it is you have to change or alter of your behaviour and identity to receive sanctuary or hospitality. The form followed from there because Zahra came to Australia from Jamaica when she was 13, and these were questions she had direct lived experience of, so this became a way of exploration pretty early.”
The physical isolation of the desert plays a massive part in the source novel and screen adaptations but presents a challenge for a stage production. Instead, Declan’s production immerses the audience into John Grant’s deteriorating mental state, presenting Zahra performing as every character on a bare stage, and a ring of lights evoking the ‘bright and punishing experience’. Imperative to the production is the loud score created by Melbourne electronic duo, friendships.
Image © Pia Johnson
“They’ve got this album called ‘Nullarbor 1988-1989’, and it’s mostly just crushing and wild drum and bass electronica,” he says. “But there’s also these slow, nightmarish spoken-word sections that are from the same dark heart of Australian masculinity that ‘Wake In Fright’ is. It gives the sense of the internal landscape of John Grant and this place that’s also seducing and attacking him and pulling him deeper into this nightmare.”
Declan’s production will grace the stage of the Sydney Opera House, bringing two Australian icons together, one beloved and the other infamous. It’s a dynamic that excites Declan.
“’Wake In Fright’ is such an iconic story,” he says. “It’s become one of our defining texts but it’s also deeply critical of Australian society in so many ways. By adapting it to a 2020 context, we can explore other sensitive areas of Australia’s cultural psyche and push into that.”
