Signs Of Life

02 Nov-22 Dec ,

Theatre

First published on 23 Sep 2011. Updated on 18 Oct 2011.

In Tim Winton’s new play, Signs of Life, bereaved widow Georgie (Greta Scacchi), living on an isolated farm parched by a drought of apocalyptic severity, is visited by two mysterious Indigenous siblings, Mona and Bender. All three have contending claims on the place and on their memories. With gentle echoes of the extraordinary novel Dirt Music, the play by one of Australia’s most popular living writers is a work of magical realism exploring grief, yearning, loss and redemption. Sydney Theatre Company joins forces with Perth’s Black Swan Theatre Company to present the play, directed by Kate Cherry.

Andrew: Greta, who has been recently widowed, is living on this vast piece of land, which has been ravaged by drought, that belonged to her late husband. She tries to hold this family property together, in memoriam of her husband, as it is rapidly turns to dust. However, soon an indigenous brother and sister arrive in a car and have a similar calling to the place, and they all strike up a strange relationship where they comfort each other on some level.

Cate: They all have a hold over the place and very strong memories associated with it, and there’s a sense of competing memory, but, in that wonderful way the Tim Winton writes, there’s people in a holding pattern, and what happens when they all enter that same psychological landscape.

Andrew: And on top of that, there’s the ghost of her husband, who’s very obviously part of the place. And it becomes about the place, about the river, and about the holding pattern they’re all in. It’s quite mysterious, but in the end becomes a character study, in particular, of these three characters.

(Photo supplied by Corbis Images Australia)

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