Image: performinglines.org.au
Set during the annual Beanie Festival, naïve city-slickers get thrown out of their comfort zone upon first confronting the harsh reality of the lives of Aboriginal people in a post-apology world.
Valentine’s simple and disarmingly funny play follows the story of Nessa: a white, middle-class lady from Sydney. Fresh off the plane and wandering aimlessly through Alice Springs, she tries to escape her life in the big-smoke. Filled with naïve preconceptions of Aboriginal people, Nessa anxiously attempts to make a meaningful connection with Tilly, an Aboriginal woman who is trying to crochet a beanie in time for the annual Beanie Festival.
Cringe-worthy preconceptions and the mutual need to gain something from the other woman – for Nessa, the moral absolution from her broken-down but ultimately privileged existence as a whitefella, and for Tilly, the immediate need to gain a lift, food and phone credit – slowly give way to genuine friendship.
Prejudice and misunderstanding dissolve as Tilly teaches Nessa how to crochet a beanie, the humble accessory aiding communication between the two women, bringing to light their individual problems. The breakdown of Nessa’s family life and mental health runs parallel to Tilly’s inability to visit country or see her family because of her kidney failure, as well as her son being recently incarcerated.
The play is excellently written by Valentine, whose sensitivity to issues of Aboriginal health, racial prejudice and Aboriginal people in custody doesn’t jump into white-apologist or missionary territory. Instead Valentine deftly confronts the audience about the underlying social issues in Alice Springs with the right amount of realistic drama and comedy.
Respectfully directed by Wesley Enoch against Simone Romaniuk’s simple but powerful set of corrugated iron and found-object furniture on red dirt, the audience is transported into the fragile reality of Tilly and Nessa’s current world.
The performance in the script’s spiritual home of Alice Springs is always special, where the clued-in or ‘ninti’ audience are highly aware and appreciative of the social messages the play embodies. Paula Delaney Nazarski’s enactment of Tilly’s sarcastic expressions and comments in both Pitjantjatjara language and broken English had the sympathetic local audience gleefully laughing with appreciation all throughout the evening. The audience could also easily recognise and sympathise with Annie Bryon’s fumbling character Nessa, with her well intentioned but ultimately ignorant actions levelled by Tilly’s wry personality.
This is a play that succeeds in both fantastic storytelling and raising awareness for issues that still affect a high proportion of Aboriginal people. Head Full of Love creates something wonderful out of rather dire circumstances, and leaves you feeling a little warm and fuzzy: just like a well-made beanie.
Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5 stars
Head Full of Love
Araluen Arts Centre
Director Wesley Enoch
Associate Director Catarina Hebbard
Writer Alana Valentine
Performers Annie Byron & Paula Delaney Nazarski
Head Full of Love is touring nationally until the 27 September 2015. See here for more performance dates and venues.
