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Canberra Today 12°/15° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Review / Flawless glimpse of history tries too hard

THE audience of “Anthology” walked through a bittersweet and beautifully layered landscape of narrative in the place we now know as Stirling Park, Yarralumla.

Caroline Simone O'Brien in rehearsal. Photo by Megan Watson.
Caroline Simone O’Brien in “Anthology”. Photo by Megan Watson.
From 1922-1965, it was Westlake, a working-class community of small cottages and large families. Before that, it was, as it still is, Ngunnawal country.

In the golden hour before sunset, stories from the past were evoked through a fictional present-day scenario. Joe Woodward, as the property developer, Robert Rolland, urged us to buy into his proposed new property development. Caroline O’Brien provided a counterpoint with her charming portrayal of Westlake kid, Ann Austin. Young people from the CADA ensemble, older women from the GOLD Dance Company and musical duo The Cashews breathed poignant life into the historical scenes and installations.

As we walked through the site, it became disturbingly hard to distinguish between satire and seriousness. We were herded around perilous ants’ nests and constantly reminded not to trip or fall on the dangerously uneven ground. And then, just as the beautifully staged vignettes had us yearning for the freedom and simplicity of bygone times, tales of a teenage drowning, of infant mortality and maternal grief tarnished the nostalgia.

The otherwise flawless production tried too hard for a final resolution that was neither necessary nor credible. But this minor flaw couldn’t undermine the moving and thought-provoking examination of hidden, local history.

 

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Ian Meikle, editor

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