As State Premier of South Australia, Dunstan had a lot to do with preserving the historical building, so it is doubly fitting that a production reviewing his legacy should play there.
This play is essentially a conversation between a Somali/Australian student (Ag Johnson) and the former Premier (Alec Gilbert) with moments of poetry and song that conflate many of the issues addressed into a more universal context.
A curious and compelling element to this production is the playwright never directly articulates the where or when of the piece, which in a way, is a deft move because what the play does do very nicely is interweave significant issues from past and present.
Don Dunstan spent a year as the National Chairman of Community Aid Abroad in the early 1990s and is played here at various points of his career, I imagined the action was set somewhere in the late 1990s, probably in Melbourne, where Dunstan took a significant position in State Tourism after his legendary stint as Premier.
But the very slight ethereal quality to this production gave me an impression that what we were seeing could even be a ghost play.
It dips in and out of Dunstan’s history, discussing thoughts and opinions that continue to be relevant in our contemporary society. For every moment of focus on issues championed by Dunstan, there’s a parallel reflection by the Somali/Australian student that reflects a more contemporary Australia.
Director Alicia Benn-Lawler keeps the flow of the production working at a processional pace which is perfect; it feels neither rushed or dragging. The pink shorts are worn throughout which feeds off of the legend of Dunstan and briefly into an absurd discussion on colour stereotyping, steeped in irony between the Somali/Australian and the Colony of Fiji-born Australian, of Cornish descent.
For a History Festival, this is a perfect piece of theatre to stimulate discussion, it entertains and informs with a meta touch of intrigue, plus the representation of the mainstream media is cunningly presented by a variety of smugly superior characters (Isabella Gilbert) ad nauseum.
An Audience with Don Dunstan is on at Ayers House Conservatory until Friday, 16 May. Get tickets here.
