TRAVELLING NORTH
TRAVELLING NORTH, Sydney Theatre Company and Allens at Wharf 1, 15 January-22 March 2013. Photography by Brett Boardman: (above) Bryan Brown and Alison Whyte; (right) Emily Russell and Bryan Brown.
The history of this production is bumpy. It includes not only the unfortunate injury suffered by Greta Scacchi - causing her withdrawal on the day of the first public preview - but also the hasty draughting in of Alison Whyte, and the inevitable postponement of opening night. Meanwhile, the cast and Whyte were toiling against the clock to catch up many weeks work in a few days and Whyte was performing valiantly, book in hand, for the first of those. Then director Andrew Upton left for the long-planned trip to support the Blessed Cate in the US when, in other circumstances, he'd rather have stayed to sooth and support his cast. As if that were not enough, a fire in the kitchen of the Sydney Dance Cafe last Friday evening resulted in the evacuation of the entire wharf complex and the eventual cancellation of the night's performance. Consequently this (January 21) was the third attempt to see the play amid much rearranging and rescheduling for cast and audiences! So...
It's worth the wait. The company is still a bit rocky and uneven, but each actor is excellent and they visibly gelled and were easier by the end of the evening, not least because Alison Whyte (no script required) is so good - the solid rock at the centre. Nevertheless, I kept coming back to the play - being delighted by it - and then afterwards working out that Williamson would have been about 36 when he wrote it in 1978. It's sensitive and true from the point of view of the female characters and full of insight and humanity towards them and the men - both on stage and mentioned.
We now know that Williamson was called upon to write another role for the fabled Frank Wilson after he and director Rodney Fisher had scored a huge success with The Club for Melbourne Theatre Company. According to the playwright he "had a few false starts veering towards the farcical" but then the memory of visiting wife Kristin's mother Hope and her new husband Wilkie lodged in his mind. The two had found late-blooming love and a fresh start on the north coast of NSW - and out of that came Frank and Frances. It also coincided with the Williamsons' own move from Melbourne to Sydney and the new play was premiered at Nimrod, again with great success.
Like so many Williamson plays, it's popular and deceptively simple. That makes it susceptible to being staged and performed by lesser talents and those with an eye merely on the box office. In reality, Travelling North is subtle and tricky and repays a highly skilled approach. It has this with STC's new production. On an abstract and attractive set of blond timber levels (designed by David Fleischer) the action takes place across the full asymmetrical width of the Wharf 1 stage; the scenes and places differentiated by pools and tones of light (Nick Schlieper).
Composer and sound designer Steve Francis brackets the production with two Stones hits: Honky Tonk Women and - to close - the ironically poignant You Can't Always Get What You Want. In between the sounds of Australia - bellbirds, surf and classic concerts and voices on radio - colour in the era along with witty but correct costumes: short tight shorts paired with prim knee-high socks and sandals for the men, bell bottoms and semi-psychedelic prints and stretchy jersey for the women.
And the story is both of the times and universal as we watch the forerunners of the "grey nomads" and the happy campers whose Winnebagos state "We're spending the kids' inheritance."
Frances (Alison Whyte) has fallen for Frank (Bryan Brown), an ageing charmer. They're planning to hop in the camper van and head off to far north Queensland ostensibly to get away from wintry Melbourne, but also to escape Frances's demanding daughters. Helen (Harriet Dyer) and Sophie (Sara West) are appalled and it's a toss-up as to whether their dismay is about their mother having sex and romance or that they will no longer have childcare and mama on tap. Frank's daughter Joan (Emily Russell) is more sanguine but clearly thinks she knows best what her dad should be doing. So far so typical.
Frances and Frank find an idyllic spot to drop anchor for a while - a shack on a lake where he can fish and she can read and relax in the sun when they're not canoodling. The latter activity is quickly disturbed by well meaning but nosy next-door neighbour Freddie (Andrew Tighe). His reaction to discovering they're not married is a reminder of where Australia was back then - and a sharp slap in the face as to where we are right now, thanks to the pendulum swing of small-minded conservatism.
Neither Frank nor Frances are surprised by the response but are taken unawares by the sudden one-way deterioration in Frank's health. Local doctor Saul (Russell Kiefel) becomes the target for Frank's immediate interest in all things medical. One can only smile at how much Frank would have loved Google and driven everyone mad with his findings. Nevertheless, the failing heart turns Frank into a curmudgeon and despite her determination to stick with him - as she had once failed, she says, to stick with her daughters - Frances is finally driven to leave and return to Melbourne.
Travelling North isn't straightforward, however, and what happens along the way - between the sisters, the mother, the friends and the ailing lover - is richly drawn and gently comical. Andrew Upton has resisted the temptation (and convention when approaching Williamson) of merely going for laughs and in response the cast also resists the cheap approach to easy chuckles and reveals the depths, insights and rhythms that are so often lost.
Harriet Dyer (just named winner of the 2013 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actress in Machinal) is tremendous and dynamic as the angry bitch younger sister. Her Helen can't let go of the hurts of childhood and is ferociously childlike in her rage towards her mother. Alison Whyte holds the centre as mother and lover - observing from afar when not in the thick of the action - and is intelligent, astute and moving. Emily Russell shines as the "other" daughter while the rest slot into their places with skill and generosity.
Bryan Brown is perfectly cast as the charmer with the tough Aussie carapace - a man who fills in his fuel and mileage logbook with loving care but finds overt affection virtually impossible. His is a tricky transition from ageing and defiant virility to physical failure and eventual angry loneliness. He makes it with a growing irascibility that credibly allows the patient Frances to pack her bags. In the end, his redemptive sorrow is touching and honest, as is Frances's personal journey from doormat to independent woman of the Whitlam era.
Travelling North shouldn't be left to am-dram and cheap tours; neither should it be treated to the fashionable knee-jerk sneers at "a Williamson". It's an accomplished work and deserves this production, which will only grow as they overcome that hideously rocky start.
