Swan Magazine March, 2020

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IN THIS ISSUE FEATURES

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Books and Writing

Bookworm’s Corner Importer Syndrome KSP Writers’ Centre Summer season at KSP The Idler The Noble Recreation

Your Voice Matters Writing Your Life Story Business Business Card Board

Community

Front Page Photograph: True Love Photographer: 123rf

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5 6 7 4 51 44 6 4 57

Australian Monarchist League Inc 58 Annie’s Collective Wonderland 20 Federal Notes 8 Flinders University News 29 Notes From Parliament 10 Rare Marine Creatures Discovered 28 Regional Achievement & Community Award 60 SAFE 55 SVRN Bike Funding Boost 53 Job Opportunity 52 Review of 1989 Act 53 Swan Valley Wagon Tours 12

The Compassionate Friends What’s On Entertainment

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Dining Out 14 Film Reviews Edmond 23 Emma 23 Military Wives 25 Parasite 22 Footnote People in History 56 Swan Stage 30 Play Reviews Alice in Wonderland 30/33 Bette and Joan 32/34/35 Oedipus 31 Theatre Companies Garrick Theatre Club 38/39 Irish Theatre Players 40 Laughing Horse Productions 41 Limelight Theatre 43 Old Mill Theatre 36 Roleystone Theatre 37 TV with Chris 26 Leisure

House and Garden

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SWAN MAGAZINE WEBSITE:

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Email: editor@swanmagazine.com.au Registered Address: 18 Tokay Lane, The Vines, Western Australia 6069 APRIL DEADLINES: Advertisements: 1st April Editorial: 1st April Copyright: Swan Magazine 2020

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DISCLAIMER The information in this publication is of a general nature. The articles contained herein are not intended to provide a complete discussion on each subject and or issues canvassed. Swan Magazine does not accept any liability for any statements or any opinion, or for any errors or omissions contained herein.

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BOOKS AND WRITING SCRIBBLERS FESTIVAL FAMILY PROGRAM

bumper weekend of free Scribblers Festival family fun will be unveiled

by Network Ten’s favourite science presenter, top ‘garbologist’ and author Lee Constable at The Goods Shed on Thursday 12 March, 6-8pm.

Lee is one of the headline guests in May at Scribblers, FORM’s popular festival of literature and arts for young people. At this year’s Family Program Launch, the Festival explores how creativity can encourage change and the role children play in the wellbeing of the planet.

Lee is launching the Family Program at the opening of FORM’s latest exhibition, Plasticology, a wildly colourful exposé of what is possible when artists take on the challenge of the world’s plastic problem.

Scribblers features a host of top Scribblers Festival, 2019, Photograph by Taryn Hays national and international children’s authors and YA Lit stars, including a rare festival appearance from much activities at its new home at Subiaco Arts Centre – plus a chance loved author Andy Griffiths, Macca the Alpaca creator Matt to spoil mum and grandma with special treats at its Mother’s Cosgrove, Australian treasure (and recently announced ChilDay Pop-Up events on the Sunday. Festival Director, Katherine dren’s Laureate 2020-21) Ursula Dubosarsky, iconic Australian Dorrington, said: ‘This is a program bursting with ideas and designer Beci Orpin, international fantasy star Leigh Bardugo, incentives for young Western Australians and their families to and musician Josh Pyke. think about what’s happening in the world, and how powerful

On Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 May, 2020, Scribblers will be words and images are when we use them to bring about change. offering a whole weekend of free and ticketed family-friendly

‘We’ve seen more and more examples of young people all over the world, seizing the courage and opportunity to make their voices heard about the things that matter to them. At Scribblers, we believe that finding a voice starts through a love of reading and the magic of storytelling, and that can happen for anyone, no matter what age,’ Ms Dorrington added.

Everyone’s favourite literary treasure hunt, the Golden Feather, also launches on 12 March 2020, with feather bookmarks awaiting discovery by young readers in over 120 libraries Statewide. This year each library has a single rare Emerald Feather ~ offering special prizes ~ hidden in children’s and young adult titles alongside five Golden, 20 Silver and myriad ‘colour-in’ feathers.

Once again, the Festival gives young people a voice in creating events, with youth curators programming sessions for their peers for the Festival’s The YA Collective program, while, from the Conversation Caravan, junior podcasters will again interview Festival authors and illustrators.

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BOOKS AND WRITING WRITING YOUR LIFE STORY SUMMER SEASON AT KSP

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ould you like to chronicle your life as a gift to your family? Or perhaps you would like to publish a memoir about a really interesting period of your life? The Society of Women Writers WA is again hosting the workshop, Writing Your Life Story, on Saturday 18 April 2020 at the North-West Room, Second Floor, State Library of WA.

Due to the popularity of this workshop, places fill quickly.

It will be repeated in the afternoon to accommodate more participants. The morning workshop is from 10.15am to 1.15pm and the afternoon workshop is from 2.15pm to 5.15pm.

Helen Iles, award-winning writer and Managing Editor of Linellen Press which specialises in publishing memoirs, will conduct the two workshops.

Helen says "Bring your project to the workshop and learn how to structure and focus your writing to engage and interest the reader. Capture the poignant, the memorable, the historic and the truly unique aspects of your life story or memoir."

She will also outline a variety of ways you can set up your book and publish your story economically.

Men and women are invited to attend. Cost is $25 per workshop. For bookings, please email swwwabookingofficer@ gmail.com or telephone 0429 116 395.

For information about the Society of Women Writers WA, visit: www.swwofwa.com.au

Workshop: EXPLORE NARRATIVE VOICE: For poets, fiction and creative nonfiction writers Saturday 18 April 2020 from 1-4pm

KSP Writer-in-Residence Katie Hale will explore the possibilities of narrative voice, and how this can shape our writing. The narrator leads us into the world of the story and shows us around.

To create a narrative voice, we need to understand how the world looks, feels, smells, sounds and reacts to the narrator.

During the workshop, we will push our own creative boundaries by exploring unconventional angles of storytelling, and experiment with writing the non-human narrator – from animals to objects.

Tickets from $35.

SPOOKY STORY COMPETITION: For youth and adult writers This free annual anthology competition for spooky stories is sponsored by the KSP Writers’ Centre and Little Black Dress Productions, and is open to WA authors only.

There are cash prizes and the opportunity to be published.

Winners will be able to celebrate at a special spooky sundowner book launch in winter. Entries must be rated PG and address the theme ‘beneath’. The deadline to submit is Sunday 29 March 2020.

Please visit the KSP website for submission criteria and instructions.

To book or for more details on any of these activities please visit the KSP website www.kspwriterscentre.com or phone the office on 08 9294 1872.

Writing Your Life Story Saturday 18 April 2020 Venue: North-West Room, Second Floor State Library of WA, 25 Francis Street, Perth 10.15am to 1.15pm REPEATED 2.15pm to 5.15pm

Helen Iles Helen Iles, award winning author and poet; editor and publisher, invites you to this workshop. She will teach you how to structure and focus your writing to engage and interest the reader, to capture the poignant, the memorable, the historic and the truly unique aspects of your life story or memoir. Helen will also outline a variety of ways you can set up your book and publish it economically.

Due to the popularity of this workshop, places fill quickly. It will be run in the morning and again in the afternoon to accommodate more participants.

Men and women are encouraged to attend. Cost $25 per workshop.

For bookings, contact the Society of Women Writers WA swwwabookingofficer@gmail.com or telephone 0429 116 395 For further information about the Society, visit: www.swwofwa.com.au

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BOOKWORM’S CORNER The Largest Structure Made of Books

In June 2017, Argentine art icon Marta Minujin created a to-scale Parthenon made of banned books, plastic wrap, and metal grills. However, instead of building it at the Acropolis in Athens, Minujin built it at a historic Nazi book burning site in central Germany. The “Banned Book Parthenon” consisted of 100,000 copies of 170 titles.

The Best Selling Book in the World

The best selling and most read book in the world is still The Bible, possibly partly due to the efforts of the Gideons - those bibles you find in hotel rooms are distributed by an organization called Gideons International, founded in 1899.

This organization exists for the sole purpose of distributing bibles. As of 2015, Gideons International has distributed over two billion bibles and is estimated to distribute more than two bibles a second (that’s more than 7,200 an hour).

This fact is often followed up with the question of whether you’re supposed to (or allowed to) take these bibles from the hotel room. Although the bibles are intended for people to have access to when they visit a hotel room, Gideons International does not mind when people take them.

ALL THINGS BOOKS AND BIBLIOPHILE our excursion through the bye-ways and literary Continuing lanes of bibliophilia.

The Thickest Book Ever Published

The thickest book ever published, The Complete Miss Marple, is 12.67 inches wide and 4,032 pages long. The Complete Miss Marple is a collection of twenty short stories and twelve mystery novels, by Dame Agatha Christie, about an old spinster named Miss Marple who solves crimes.

The Library of Alexandria

One of the largest libraries of the ancient world was considered to be the Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt. Any books that came into the city’s port became library property, and a copy was created for the owner.

It is estimated to have housed up to 400,000 scrolls of text, before it was destroyed. The destruction of the Library of Alexandria is famed and romanticized as one of the greatest historical cultural losses to mankind.

The Most Expensive Book Ever

The most expensive printed book in the world is a first edition of the Bay Psalm book, first printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1640.

A notable fact is that this book was one of the first books to be printed with a press in the New World, entering production only a couple decades after the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth. It was sold for 13.4 million euros (A$21,750,000) at a 2013 auction in New York.

The Library of Congress

The current largest library in the world is the United States Library of Congress, housing more than thirty-eight million books.

Originally, the library was conceived by James Madison and established by legislation from President John Adams for use by Congress.

After the original Library of Congress was destroyed by invading British troops in the War of 1812, it was replaced by Thomas Jefferson’s personal library, which was much more eclectic in nature (even containing cookbooks). Since then, the Library of Congress has become the de facto national library of the United States.

Pretty much all books that are published in the United States must be sent to the Library of Congress, due to the US Copyright Act’s mandatory deposit provisions. Not just any copies either, the law stipulates that two copies the “best edition” must be sent in, which typically means the nicest hardcover edition.

Non-compliance with this law can earn fines of $250 – $2500 plus the cost of obtaining two copies of the book in question.

In Australia all books published need have a electroic copy deposited with the NationalLibrary in Canberra.

The Bay Psalm first edition

More next month ...

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BOOKS AND WRITING IMPOSTER SYNDROME SHERENE STRAHAN

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Remind yourself (or maybe consider am not a writer. I’ve been for the first time) why you need or want to fooling myself and other write. What do you want writing to lead to? people.’ Ever thought that? Or any The answer to this lies in your heart: the of these... dreams and big goals you have.

‘My writing ideas are not * The work you want to do. interesting.’ ~ ‘I’m not saying * The successes you want to have. anything new.’ ~ ‘I’m simply not * The contribution you want to make. sure if I have anything to share.’ ~ ‘No one cares about what I have to

It’s really important that you can say.’ picture what life would look and feel like if

The first quote was American (when) your vision becomes reality. It’s also novelist John Steinbeck - winner important that you don’t feel anchored to of the Nobel Prize for Literature this version of your vision because things and author of classics such as The will change and that needs to be ok too.

Grapes of Wrath.

The others are from members 2. Define your big idea - one clear of a Linked In writing group I’m message. in, where I’d asked if people were

For me, success in writing is about one achieving their writing goals in thing - knowing what I need to write about.

2019. A few were kicking goals but I can’t control how readers will respond self-doubts have put the brakes on but I can set my intention, a thread that the aspirations of others. runs through all my writing: I want to help

One response, from Tom people get their real voice heard. in California, stuck with me and Nobel prize-winning author John Steinbeck (1902- 1968) taken in 1939.

Once I decided on that, I was a lot ended up prompting the topic for clearer on what to write about. But it’s taken this newsletter. me a long time to get it into just those few words. Don’t feel you

‘I need to write but about what? Most of the time I have no have to narrow it down straight away. Just by thinking about topics in mind or topics that I believe will be useful to anyone. what you offer to your audience, you will eventually come to How do I most easily handle this frame of mind?’ Tom’s last question is gold because he can see that what’s holding him back understand your message or theme. And if you write for different audiences, you will most likely have different themes for each. is his mindset. And that’s one of the few things we can change.

Do you know your single, central, unifying theme?

It’s up to us whether we allow self-doubt to paralyse us or whether we acknowledge it and still keep moving forward, as 3. Set productive constraints.

John Steinbeck obviously did.

Too much freedom is paralysing. We can have too many ideas and find it hard to settle on the ‘right’ topic when really the HOW DO WE DO IT?

By giving our mind something else to think about. I think of only right one is the one we actually write about.

It’s the same with having too much time - deadlines really self-doubt as our mind’s way of protecting us from discomfort or are my favourite writing tool. failure. Our mind develops habits of criticism or doubt to stop us

And narrowing our choices can actually lead to greater taking risks with its perception of our self-identity. creative flow. If you want to know the science behind that, read

Often our writing requires us to reveal or explore lesser ‘How constraints force your brain to be more productive’ from known aspects of our self-identity so our mind tries to protect Fast Company. us from the harm that might ensue. We can interrupt those

It’s not enough to identify your single big idea - for each self-protection habits (that come out as self-doubt and internal piece you write, it helps to articulate your goal and message. For criticism) by becoming more intentional about that self-identity, this, I set out to help readers feel confident that their self-doubts by constructing one that matches our aspirations. can be overcome and I wanted to give ways in which to do that.

1. Start by being self-aware.

4. Value yourself, your stories and your life

What is your vision for your life that writing could help you

As part of a speaking course I’m doing, we were asked to achieve? name what we most fear onstage.

Mine was easy - not being interesting.

It means that more often than not, I have played for laughs or novelty rather than trust the stories I have to tell.

Yet as the speaking coach pointed out - people are naturally interested in others and if we have been out there, living and experiencing, we have stories to tell.

Trust your stories and your life, your insights and your experience. And then, write.

‘If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.’

Vincent van Gogh 6

KSP WRITERS CENTRE HUGO THROSSELL YOUTH WRITING AWARD VALERIE EVERETT

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he Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre in Greenmount is a vibrant writing hub that offers numerous workshops, writing groups and a selection of high profile writing competitions for writers of all ages and levels.

This year, the Writers’ Centre has launched a new writing competition for young people aged 9-15 years of age who live in, or attend a school, in the Shire of Mundaring. The Hugo Throssell Youth Writing Award has been introduced to honour the memory of Captain Hugo Throssell VC, the husband of the famous Australian writer, Katharine Susannah Prichard.

Hugo was a larger than life figure in Western Australia’s military and social history. When World War I broke out in August 1914, he was like many young men his age who were keen to support Great Britain in her war effort against Germany and its allies. Hugo was recruited into the Australian Imperial Force, did preliminary training at Blackboy Hill Training Camp in Greenmount, and because he was an accomplished horseman, he was accepted into Western Australia’s mounted infantry, the 10th Light Horse.

Hugo embarked for the war and it was at Gallipoli in August 1915, at the Battle of Hill 60, that he performed such heroic deeds that he was decorated with the Victoria Cross, the highest medal for bravery. He fought desperately for two days, and although wounded several times he continued to fight and rally the spirits of his men.

After Hill 60, Hugo was recovering in a London hospital when he met Katharine Susannah Prichard. Their attraction was instant, and when both were home in Australia they married in 1919. The couple lived for over twenty years in the quaint cottage at 11 Old York Road, Greenmount, which is now known as the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre.

Notably, Hugo was the only Light Horseman to be decorated with the Victoria Cross, and although the medal gave him celebrity status, Hugo later spoke out against the war and the tragic loss of life that it had caused.

Australia’s casualty toll in World War I was a staggering 60,000 killed, and 156,000 wounded and Hugo suffered first hand with the loss of his own beloved brother, Ric, while Katharine’s brother, Alan, was also killed. Tragically, Hugo never recovered from his war experiences and he took his own life in 1933.

Since his death, Australia has been involved in many overseas conflicts, including World War II, Korea, Vietnam and more recently in the Middle East. In acknowledgement of the service and sacrifice of our military personnel, this writing award has been developed with a ‘war and remembrance’ theme, and the Writers’ Centre invites young people to get creative with this year’s topics.

For the junior section, aged 9-12 years, young people are encouraged to write up to 500 words on the topic, What Anzac Day Means to Me.

For the senior category, young people aged 13-15 are

challenged to write a fictional story of up to 700 words about the photograph on the KSP website www.kspwriterscentre.com/hugothrossell-competition.

It shows soldiers from the 11th Battalion practicing ‘marching out’ of Blackboy Hill Training Camp on 30 October 1914, in preparation for their orders to leave the camp, and Western Australia, for the war.

Concluded on page 60 ...

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FEDERAL NOTES HASLUCK HAPPENINGS

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he recent rain that has fallen in the electorate has been a very welcome sight. The damaging winds that came with it haven’t been so welcome.

Even though I have been in Canberra all week, I have been keeping an eye on the changeable weather Perth has been experiencing, and send my thanks to those first responder volunteers and on call Council workers who have again given up free time to help those in the community.

While Parliament sits I am able to take the time to raise local issues with my Cabinet colleagues. It is an ideal opportunity to talk to ministers about the electorate and the people in it.

Most of my colleagues are surprised at the diversity of the electorate, covering from suburban Perth through to the Hills and out into the rural areas surrounding the city.

Even a couple of moments talking with colleagues as we walk to and from the House of Representatives is a valuable opportunity to advocate for our residents and one I take every opportunity to do.

community event supported by the City of Gosnells.

CAREBAGS WA

Last week I put together a care bag which will be donated to CareBags WA. This outstanding organisation helps children through the trauma of being taken into care – sometimes at a moment’s notice.

Our children are our most valuable asset, and these care bags are a small gesture from our community to show they are cared for.

This care bag contains essential toiletries, a change of clothes and pajamas – all the little things most of us take for granted.

If you would like more information on care bags and how they help our most vulnerable Australians click on the link below. www.facebook.com/gr…/

CareBagsWesternAustralia/about/

ILLUMINATE FESTIVAL GOSNELLS

We had some lovely weather on Saturday last week, so I headed out to the Illuminate Festival. It was wonderful to be out chatting with locals and community organisations alongside Gosnells Mayor David Goode.

The Illuminate Festival is a great

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But RIGHT NOW...the WA Planning Commission (WAPC) - which we have asked the Ombudsman to investigate - is considering north Stoneville.

This is despite unprecedented fires around Australia with communities like ours being destroyed by conditions firefighters have never before encountered, and before Australia’s leaders determine what must change in planning communities in fire proven regions - just like this one.

Come and tell politicians, the anglican church, satterley and the wapc - we will no longer be ignored.

This rally is a united voice against increasing disparity and discontent between community and planning in WA.

Communities like ours are being ignored and gagged.

Inappropriate, dangerous and potentially deadly planning decisions are being pushed through by greedy developers with no regard for safety, environment, or people.

March 15 will demonstrate the power of people.

• Bring your friends, bring your neighbours, bring your family • Sign the paper petition on the day • Put a Save Perth Hills banner on your fence - we can provide one!

• Donate to Save Perth Hills • Engage with us on social media (Facebook)

Most of all - please join us March 15 - 9.30 am Sculpture Park, Mundaring.”

HON KEN WYATT AM, MP Federal Member for Hasluck Minister for Indigenous Australians

SAVE PERTH HILLS RALLY

Save Perth Hills has organised a Rally opposing the rezoning of the North Stoneville area.

The development is currently before the WA Planning Commission with a decision to be made before 30 April 2020.

Join me and the Save Perth Hills Community at the rally on Sunday, 15 March 2020, where I will be addressing the issue from a Federal Government perspective.

From the organisers’ Facebook page:

“Sunday March 15 - 9.30am Sculpture Park Mundaring.

Join us to launch the dangerous and destructive North Stoneville plan as an official state election issue. March 15 is one year - to the day - of the next State election.

We have chosen this March 15 to launch a united political front against the madness of the North Stoneville plan and the debacle called ‘planning’ in Western Australia.

In this unprecedented summer of fires around Australia, it’s gobsmacking that plans like North Stoneville are even ALLOWED to be considered.

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NOTES FROM PARLIAMENT MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hon Donna Faragher JP MLC Member for East Metropolitan Region

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uring February it was a pleasure to meet with CLAN Midland to hear more about the valuable programs they offer to community members in the East Metropolitan Region.

CLAN Midland provides essential support to families through a range of collaborative programs that are aimed at enhancing the home, school and community environment for many families. This not for profit organisation services families in the Midland, Bullsbrook, Ellenbrook and Altone suburbs and is currently working with schools in the Swan Hills region.

I was particular interested in learning more about their FAST Program which partners families with a local CLAN team, school and other community agencies to help strengthen relationship between parents, children, families and schools.

Parents who commit to FAST meet weekly for eight weeks where families participate in cooking meals together and engage in activities to encourage family connection. There is also peer group time and community-building tasks. Its proved very successful and is highly valued by the families who get involved.

Thank you to Executive Manager Fiona Lee and all of the staff at CLAN Midland for taking the time to meet with me to discuss the important work they do out in our community and across our schools. For more information about their programs visit www.clanmidland.org/.

It was also pleasing to return to the Ertech Construction Academy in West Swan with the Federal Member for Pearce, Hon

Christian Porter MP and the Assistant Minister for Vocational Education, Training and Apprenticeships, Steve Irons MP. The Academy continues to achieve excellence through their handson training courses offered to Year 11 and 12 students interested in the civil construction industry.

Run by the Motivation Foundation, the Academy continues to achieve a 100% graduation rate with all students securing employment.

The visit provided a great opportunity for my Federal colleagues to meet with staff and students and to learn more about the positive impact the Academy is having on students’ long term training and employment prospects in this critical industry.

If you would like assistance on any State related issue, please do not hesitate to contact my office on 9379 0840.

ADVERTISEMENT

Donna Faragher JP MLC

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Member for East Metropolitan Region

Here to help!

Contact Donna 9379 0840 | faragher.eastmetro@mp.wa.gov.au donnafaragher.com.au DonnaFaragherMLC Ground Floor 108 Swan Street, Guildford WA 6055 Authorised by S.Calabrese, Liberal Party, 2/12 Parliament Place, West Perth WA 6005.

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HOUSE AND GARDEN BACKYARD LANDSCAPING ON A BUDGET - I MARION LOGIE

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andscaping your garden can be a great way to improve your outdoor space and add value to your home. If you're not careful though, all the little things you want to do can pile up, and the cost of doing so can get away from you very quickly.

Materials, plants, and tradesmen can turn that little weekend project into a massive hit to the wallet. But it doesn't have to be this way!

Here are some tips to help you landscape your backyard on a budget.

Figure out what you want, set a budget and prioritise jobs

As it is in life, what you want, and what you need can be two very different things when landscaping your backyard. Sure, that majestic marble water feature might look great, but if you can't justify the price tag, then don't do it.

however in not shopping around!

Call around to a bunch of different local tradesmen and ask them to come out for a quote. Landscapers will be your first port of call obviously, but don't stop there. Builders, concreters, bricklayers and pavers may be able to do some of the jobs you need done that are specific to their trade. General maintenance gardeners may also even offer planting and turfing services.

It may seem easier to have just the one jack of all trades on site doing it all, but we're about saving money here, and this is a great way to start.

If you've got the time, then call around multiples of each trade type. You'll probably find a general average price for the work you want done, and you can use this as negotiation with your favourite. Be careful though of anyone offering super cheap works. You definitely get what you pay for here.

You need to figure out the purpose of your landscaped area

What are you going to use it for? Home produce?

Entertaining? A haven for the little ones? Each landscape style will call for certain purchases. When you know the purpose, you'll know what you need.

This then flows into the consideration of the theme of your garden. Theme will dictate what style of things you need to purchase. Lets go back to the majestic marble water feature, is that really going to fit in a minimalist eco-friendly home orchard? Nope, so then don't waste your money on it, even if it is the best thing you've ever seen.

Figuring out exactly what you want done in your backyard is the first step to saving money. When you know what you want done and where you want it, you can set your budget. This means you can do away with all the little addons and impulse buys that slowly chip away at the bank account.

When you know what you want, and your budget is set, it's time to prioritise the jobs. Breaking the landscaping down into the little tasks is a great way to tackle the bigger picture. It's important to think about the order things will be done first off.

Hard landscaping is usually the first thing to be done. This involves paving, retaining walls, building beds, timber structures etc. These are the things that don't have any plant life involved in their completion.

The reason we do these first is so that all the heavy equipment and material needed doesn't damage our new plants or turf. It's pretty common sense stuff, but can save you a load of time and money by saving the hassle of having to re-do all your soft-scaping.

The next thing to consider when prioritising is what is most important to achieve your desires. These are the things that are must haves in your new backyard. Doing these things first means that if you go over budget, you don't have to find more money down the track to get what you want. It also allows you to stagger the works over a period of time, so you can get the vitals done with the cash you have, and save the minor stuff to later down the track when you get a work bonus or a good tax return.

More next month ....

Get lots of quotes

When it comes to landscaping your backyard, unless you're a full blown DIY hero, you're probably going to need help with the heavy lifting. There's no shame in this, even professionals sub-contract work out when we need help. There is shame 11

COMMUNITY SWAN VALLEY WAGON TOURS DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND-BRUCE

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r Johnson felt that ultimate happiness could be obtained by riding in a fast pony chaise with a pretty woman.

While I really, really, don’t want to contradict the good doctor I do think that a pretty good afternoon can be had in a comfortable wagon pulled by two friendly shire horses down the leafy lanes of the Swan Valley.

Swan Valley Wagon Tours offers just this plus a whole lot of other services, of which more later. The most popular tour is ‘The Wagon Deluxe’, a leisurely three hour tour stopping at some of the nicest tourist spots in the valley.

My wife Angela and I were invited to try the tour and we had a marvelous time. We got to the stable in West Swan in time to say hello to the two horses that would have the task of pulling the large, old-fashioned covered wagon. This was Toffee, a roan Clydesdale, with a sweet disposition and Violet, a grey Percheron, new to the team and still learning the ropes.

Both are beautiful and gentle, allowing rubs of the forehead and affectionate nuzzles.

Our hosts were owners Alida and Peter, long time horse people. Alida grew up on a cattle station in the Pilbara and Peter, a retired police officer who used to race motorbikes.

Both have great stories and a vast knowledge of horses and horsemanship.

We all introduced ourselves, climbed aboard, settled into the well-padded seats and we were off. The novelty of clipclopping along the road swaying gently to the rhythm of the powerful beasts is just enchanting.

Our first stop was the Margaret River Chocolate Factory and Providore for a wine tasting and general browse around the place. The Chocolate Factory is well-known enough not to require talking about but the new extension, The Providore, is exceptional. It’s an extension of the Margaret River original, offering jams, jellies, preserves, organic foods and goods as well as a very substantial range of wines, including chocolate liqueurs, so good you absolutely have to try them to believe how good.

From there we took a leisurely drive up to Windarra Honey (www.facebook.com/windarrahoney/), where we not only sampled some delicious honeys but got a short, fascinating, lecture on bees, hives and why hives have three levels – the bottom one if for the queen and the next up for honey that the bees live on and the top for honey for the beekeeper and us.

The difference in taste depending on the nature of the blossom the bees forage in is quite phenomenal, from light flowery Marri and Wandoo to the full richness of Jarrah – now the most desired honey in the world, according to head beekeeper Phil, who together with his wife looks after the small shop and several million workers.

From Windarra we meandered down back roads looking at the houses, various horses in paddocks who rushed to the fence to peer interestedly at us as we passed. Quiet, shady ways in dappled sunlight, with a light breeze and the sound of bird-life.

We made our slow and stately way to Lancaster Wines (www.lancasterwines.com.au) for a wine tasting. Located on the banks of the Swan River, Lancaster boasts some of the oldest vines in the Swan Valley, producing outstanding wines including Chenin blanc, Verdelho, Chardonnay, the legendary Old Vines Shiraz as well as the beautiful dessert wine – Late Picked Chenin.

There’s a shady tasting bar, with wine barrels and umbrellas to sample or eat the cheese platters and antipasto available. Service was swift, knowledgeable and polite.

Our final stop on the tour, after a pause for Toffee and Violet to munch some grapes left on the vines for them was Yahava Koffee Works (www.yahava.com.au) for a coffee Tasting.

Yahava has expanded dramatically since the new owners 12

hours, but there is also the Wagon Express for a half-hour ($30 per adult) and their special events – weddings, Private Tours, Corporate Events, Birthdays, Hens Parties, School Balls, Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Fetes, Fundraising, Promotional, TV & Film, Parades and Photoshoots.

The question everyone asks is ‘Doesn’t it hurt the horses to pull that heavy wagon?’

Well, no, it doesn’t. Two Shire horses can pull a massive weight, more than two tons with ease for many hours a day – this is what they were bred for, long, hard hours of farm work, ploughing, pulling tree stumps and the like.

Toffee and Violet, for example, were pulling about a quarter of capacity in short shifts.

They didn’t even break a sweat.

I grew up among horses and I can tell you these were in wonderful condition, fat and sassy, coats gleaming, hoofs trimmed and glossy, obviously loved and cherished.

Very highly recommended indeed.

took over and now offers tastings, a wide range of drinks, foods and you can watch coffee being made from roasting the beans up to the final cup of golden deliciousness.

Yahava also offer a ‘Koffee Safari’ an incredible taste adventure around the world’s great coffee estates without leaving town.

Learn about the different types of coffees, how best to brew them and how to savour the different mouth watering flavours.

Experience coffee in a new way. That’s 90 minutes well-spent.

We made our slow way back to the starting point (which has a excellent fresh fruit and veg stand) gave the horses a final pat, said goodbye to our new friends and drove home faster, but a good deal less pleasantly that we had spent the previous three hours.

We went on the Wagon Deluxe Tour ($89 per adult) which lasts three

SWAN VALLEY WAGON TOURS

Enquires and bookings: 0412 917 496 wagons@swanvalleywa.com www.swanvalleywa.com 13

DINING OUT

The Thoughts of an Ageing, Balding Foodie

warm and inviting.

The menu is manageable in size and variety and full of the food that both couples and families actually like to eat – old favourites, comfortable and comforting foods.

You will look in vain for oven baked Sasquatch drizzled

CHEF & CO

F

DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND-BRUCE

rom time to time I am asked by people finding out that I’m a food writer and restaurant reviewer ‘What’s your favourite restaurant?’ My invariable answer seems to surprise them: ‘For what purpose?’

Because we don’t only go out to a restaurant simply to eat – purposes can be romantic; to try something new in the way of cuisines; to see and be seen; to celebrate an occasion; as an indulgence or simply to give the cook a break and have a quick, cheerful family meal. And, of course, value for money must be a factor.

Each of these can have a favourite restaurant ranging from The Loose Box (of happy memory) to MacDonalds. Think about it; do you want to take the girl of your dreams to a restaurant on a nervous first date, and find a huge family of three generations having a noisy birthday party at the next table? Fun, but it could ruin the moment.

For pure classic silver service fine dining two restaurants stand out in my memory over the past thirty-four years of being a professional restaurant reviewer and a longish stint as a Gold Plate Judge – and that’s The Vigneron at The Vines and Alexander House in the city (both now long gone, alas).

For the very best pure French cuisine there was only one for nearly thirty years – The Loose Box, still one of the best restaurants I’ve ever had the pleasure of patronising.

But, just when you think you’ve found them all along comes a new discovery, in this case a wonderful couples/business/ family restaurant on Beaufort Street in Bedford.

It’s run by two long-experienced restaurateurs – Yvonne Khan, who ran both Padbury’s in Guildford and Carilley’s in the Swan Valley for many years. Her business partner in this venture is Darren King, a highly qualified and experienced chef, formerly of The Loose Box, Riverbank Winery Restaurant and more. So, with a massive collective experience they have opened Chef & Co.

It’s a family style restaurant that just oozes charm and welcome. It’s quite big, but with a control booth and bar in the centre and the tables around the perimeter it seems almost cosy.

Situated on the corner, it has two street frontages, a raised platform at the back and a beautifully large, immaculately clean kitchen visible through glass walls.

The walls are rich Kelly green with large patches of distressed raw brick showing – shabby chic charm. The tables are large, the chairs comfortable and the welcome from the front of house

with peanut or plantain fricassee with passion-fruit foam, but you will find Garlic Prawns, Surf and Turf and Lamb Cutlets.

We, the family of four and baby Evelyn, ate off the new standard menu (changes seasonally) of six appetisers, seven entrees and nine mains. There are options for the vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian and those with gluten intolerance as well as separate menus for kids ($12) and seniors’ specials ($18).

We began with a ‘to share’ platter of Garlic Bread ($6) and Chicken Liver Paté and bread ($12). The Garlic Bread was delicious and the paté was out of this world. Described as paté, it was so smooth and fine that I would really describe it as Parfait and with a light layer of, I think, quince jelly rather than the clarified butter more usually used to seal.

It was absolutely divine, rich and full without being sickly and just so morish …

Fortunately, as one of the entrees we ordered a ‘Tasting board for 2’ ($35) of cured meats, olives, (pitted) aranchini, pickled vegetables, relish, a grilled baguette and another portion of that delicious paté.

I ordered a Chicken Caesar Salad ($19), one of my absolute favourites, but seldom made as well and as traditionally as here. It came complete with Cos lettuce, anchovies, croutons, Parmesan flakes and crispy bits of bacon and a softly-poached egg and a wonderful smooth, flavourful dressing – one of the best I have 14

eaten in years and years.

And a very large portion indeed. Interestingly, the balance of the ingredients was perfection. So often too much lettuce, not enough anchovies and so on – not at Chef & Co. Perfection.

Jessi chose Grilled squid with garlic, chili and wakame salad ($19).

(Wakame is an edible seaweed).

Cooked to perfection, the squid was tender, full of flavour and delicious.

Angela chose, as I did, sizzling garlic prawns, for a main course ($38), although you can have it as an entrée ($22) and with chili if you wish. I don’t know how many of you remember The Witch’s Cauldron in Subiaco – they were there for decades and their garlic prawns were world famous. These prawns from Chef & Co were at least as good, probably better.

Served in the traditional cast iron pot a large portion of fat, succulent, prawns came in a rich garlicy oil replete with nice toasty bread to soak up the left-overs. Didn’t count them, but somewhere between fifteen and twenty I thought.

James also had prawns, but in a cream sauce on top of a huge (not joking) rib-eye as Surf & Turf ($36) cooked exactly as requested – medium rare – the meat was tender and delicious and plentiful at 450g, although that included the Bedrock bone.

Jessi’s selection of ‘Braised pork belly with crispy crackle, seared scallops, bok choy and a soy glaze’ ($35) was delicious and tender.

We also had a side dish of ‘Duck fat potatoes’ ($10) – which were outrageously delicious. Also a vast portion, enough for all of us to have a potato or two, or three.

Although we were by this stage replete, even stuffed to bursting, dessert menu presented its usual temptation and we

were unable to resist. Chef Darren was crafty enough to put ‘Sticky date Pudding in Butterscotch sauce’ on the menu, which I am powerless against. If I were Superman, Sticky Date pudding would be my Kryptonite.

I wasn’t alone – puddings all round (including a superb crepe Suzette and an outstanding apple pie, made with a shortbread crust) accompanied by excellent coffee rounded off one of the most delicious and pleasant meals I’ve had in years – every element was perfection.

The service was friendly and swift, the prices exceptional value for money and I can, and do, whole-heartedly recommend Chef & Co to anyone looking for quality, value and a damn fine meal.

Chef & Co is licensed with a serviceable wine list of mostly local wines and a range of spirits, beers and ciders.

Chef & Co serves breakfast, lunches, $38 Business lunches and can host functions and events five days a week (closed Mondays and Tuesdays).

The excellence of Chef & Co has been recognised by a couple of prestigious awards, but the real achievement can be found in the smiles of the happy diners leaving Chef & Co. Very Highly Recommended Indeed.

A modern Australian Restaurant in the heart of Bedford - come and try our award-winning food!

Opening Hours Monday & Tuesday - Closed Wednesday, Thursday - 11:00am to 9:00pm Friday & Saturday - 11:00am to 9:30pm Sunday - 11:00am to 9:00pm Contact Information 1000 Beaufort Street, Bedford, WA Email: bookings@chefandcorestaurant.com.au Phone: 0438 803 630 15

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WHAT’S ON IF YOU WOULD LIKE AN EVENT LISTED IN THIS COLUMN RING our office on 0418 934 850 Entries for non-profit entities are free.

SWAN VALLEY COMMUNITY CENTRE

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS - Glen Forrest Group Every Monday evening We meet at 7.00pm at the Glen Forrest Uniting Church, Mc Glew Rd, Glen Forrest. Call Dermot 0488 905 211 or John 0448 074 536 or the Perth Office (all hours) 9325 3566.

Monday Mornings The Art Group meets at Baskerville Hall from 9am – 12pm for just $5.00 per session.

Group leader Gilly can help and advise with most media. Feel free to come and have a look and meet our local artists – they are a very friendly lot, new members welcome!

For more information call 9296 1976 or enquiries@swanvalleycommunitycentre.com www.swanvalleycommunitycentre.com

AUSTRALIAN BREASTFEEDING ASSOC. Discussion groups, guest speakers, morning tea. Free breastfeeding counselling. Expectant mothers, mothers, babies and children welcome. National Breastfeeding Helpline 1800 686 2686 is a 24 hour 7 days a week service.

EASTERN DISTRICTS MACHINE KNITTERS

Friday - second and fourth We meet from 9:00am to noon at 10 Brockman Road, Midland.

Feel welcome to join us for morning tea and see how easy it is to make your own garments.

For more information contact Pat 9309 3260; Liz 9572 7074 or Pat 9295 2793.

Swan/Mundaring Group meets every Monday, 9:30-11:30am at the Gumnuts Family Centre, 8 Mudalla Way, Koongamia. A qualified ABA counsellor is present at each meeting to give confidential information and support on breastfeeding issues.

Contact Natalie 9572 4971.

Kalamunda Group meets fortnighly on a Thursday, 9:3011:30am at the Maida Vale Baptist Church, Edney Road, High Wycombe. Contact Jenny 9252 1996.

SWAN HARMONY SINGERS

Wednesdays Come and sing with us! Swan Harmony Singers is a community choir that meets, 7-9pm, to sing music ranging from jazz to pop, plus the occasional classic. No auditions.

Join us at the Salvation Army Church Hall, 371 Morrison Rd, (opposite Swan View Primary School), Swan View. Enquiries: call Anna on 9299 7249, or Chris on 9298 9529 or 0435 062 728.

Northam Group meets each second Tuesday of the month at the Bridgeley Community Centre, Wellington Street, Northam 10am to Noon.

Fourth Tuesday each month at Toodyay Playgroup, Stirling Terrace, Toodyay. Noon to 2pm. Please phone Louisa 9574 0229.

TALKING HORSES

ELLENBROOK COMMUNITY WEIGHT LOSS CLUB

Wednesday evenings 6:00pm The WA Horse Council equestrian radio program is now in its seventh year. The programme is broadcast on the Community Radio Station 91.3 SportFM. To ensure that your club, event, breed or business gets coverage, call Diane Bennit 0409 083 617.

Every Tuesday evening We meet from 6.45pm to 8.00pm at the Woodlake Community Hall, Meeting room 1 Highpoint Blvd, Ellenbrook. Friendly support group at low cost. Male and females of all ages welcome.

Contact Shirley 9276 7938 shirleysardelich@aapt.net.au.

THE ZONTA CLUB OF SWAN HILLS

HILLS CHRONIC PAIN SUPPORT GROUP

Dinner meeting 3rd Wednesday February – November Meets Swan Mundaring area. ( venue to be advised ) Zonta International envisions a world in which women’s rights are recognized as human rights and every woman is able to achieve her full potential.

In such a world, women have access to all resources and are represented in decision making positions on an equal basis with men.

In such a world, no woman lives in fear of violence.

Guests are welcome to join us please contact Ruth 08 92729442 or ruth@amsaustralia.com.

1st Wednesday of each month Hilltop Grove Estate, 1645 Jacoby Street, Mahogany Creek.

Morning tea provided, between 10.30 - 12.00 noon.

Enquiries Terina 9572 1655.

MORRIS DANCING

All welcome. It’s like bush dancing, with sticks and bells. It’s aerobic exercise and great fun!

Tuesdays 7-9pm practice, Guildford Town Hall, cnr James St and Meadow St, Guildford. And drinks later at the Woodbridge Hotel with live Irish music For more information please contact: Christine Hogan: 9279 8778 Email: madtattersmorris@iinet.Net.Au Website: madtattersmorris.myclub.org.au

JUST A PIECE - TEXTILE KINSHIP Fortnightly Fridays This textile art group meets every fortnight Fridays 9.30 to 12.00 at Just Add Passion on Richardson Rd Stoneville. $5 per session, everyone welcome Check us out on Facebook or text Janette on 0407 633 771.

SWAN WOODTURNERS GROUP

The group meets in the rear hall of The Senior Citizens’ Centre, The Avenue, Midland, at 1-00pm. on 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Tuesday, and at 7-00pm. on 2nd Tuesday of each month. A demonstration and cuppa are the norm. Men and Women are welcome. Enquiries to Ted 9295 4438.

ELLENBROOK AND DISTRICT MENS SHED INC.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday We are open at 4 Transit Way Ellenbrook from 10.00am to 3.00pm. Potential members can turn up on those days and there will be someone to explain what we do and give membership 18

WHAT’S ON details. Annual fees are low and members can do their own thing, participate in projects for the community or simply just come in for a chat and a cuppa.

We are considering extending our days to include Saturdays or evenings if there is enough interest.

MUSTARD SEED - DISCOVERING COMPUTERS

Mustard Seed is a nineteen year old non-profit organisation and teaches all aspects of everyday computing. Ability levels from beginners onwards.

Want help with Windows 10? In need of instruction with your Mac computer? Have an iPad or Android tablet and don’t know what it will do? We can help. Cost is $2 per session.

Classes are held at 56 McGlew Road, Glen Forrest. To gain a place enrol now by phoning 0491 044 805 or emailing: mustardcomputers@gmail.com W: noodlebytes.com

SWAN VALLEY COMMUNITY CENTRE SWAN VALLEY HOMESCHOOL FAMILY PLAYGROUP

Thursday mornings 9:15am to 11:15am Older siblings welcome to join playgroup in a rural setting in the Swan Valley. Normal playgroup guidelines apply for children zero to five years old.

Baskerville Hall, 129 Memorial Drive, Baskerville. For more information ring 0419 922 792 or email enquiries@ swanvalleycommunitycentre.com

MIDLAND MEN’S SHED

Call us on 0407 888 759 or email: singaustraliaswanvalley@outlook.com for inquiries.

THE HILLS CHOIR

Monday Evenings Do you enjoy singing and joining with others to make beautiful music? Come and join the Hills Choir. We meet from 7.30 to 9.30pm at the Uniting Church on Stoneville Road, Mundaring.

Contact Margie on 9295 6103 for further information.

DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT THIS YEAR - SING!

If you enjoy singing and have been thinking about joining a choir, now is the ideal time to do it. Community choirs are starting to learn a new repertoire of songs, which means you get in on the ground floor as everyone is learning together, and you don’t have to worry about catching up with the rest of the group.

Swan Harmony Singers are always keen to welcome new members at the start of a new year. They meet every Wednesday night from 7-9pm, and have just moved to a new home at the Midland Arts Centre in Cale Street (opposite Midland Gate).

You don’t need to have a musical background and there are no auditions. You just need to enjoy singing and be prepared to make a reasonable commitment to attend rehearsals regularly.

The choir sings a wide variety of music ranging from jazz and pop to the occasional classical piece, and gives performances towards the end of the year.

Interested? Come along on a Wednesday evening and give it a try. If you’d like to know more, contact Maureen on 9299 6588.

Every Tuesday morning We meet socially every Tuesday morning from 9.30am to 11.30am in the Bellevue Baptist Church Hall and our usual attendance is around fifty-five. At least once a month we have a guest speaker on a range of topics.

We also go on excursions to various places of interest (e.g.

HMAS Stirling, Aviation Museum, Fremantle Ports, ALCOA, etc.).

Our workshop with wood working and metal working is in Midvale and for the opening hours and further details please contact Brian Beer on 0411 833 055. Also in operation is our music group – the Rockin’ Shedders which is going from strength to strength and their repertoire of songs increases each week.

For more information on the Shed please contact Kevin Buckland on 0417 961 971 or email: kebinsv@tpg.com.au.

THE HILLS CHOIR Mondays We practice on Mondays from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm at the Uniting Church in Stoneville Road, Mundaring. We are looking for Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Basses over the age of sixteen to join us. We sing a range of sacred and secular music in four parts.

Please phone Margie on 9295 6103, email the thehillschoir@ gmail.com or visit their website www.hillschoir.org.au.

SING AUSTRALIA SWAN VALLEY Monday nights We are a community singing group in the Swan Valley and welcome anyone who loves to sing.

There are no auditions or expectations on ability. We welcome absolute beginners and experienced singers.

Singing has enormous health and wellbeing benefits which helps promote joy and positivity in people’s lives.

Come along, give it a go and bring a friend for a great night of singing. The group meets 7.30 to 9.30pm in Baskerville Hall, 129 Memorial Ave, Baskerville.

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COMMUNITY ANNIE’S COLLECTIVE WONDERLAND DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND-BRUCE

s you drive around the UK, if you’re at all interested Aeverywhere in old, antique and vintage you will see just about ‘Antique Centre - 60 Dealers. Places like Leominster (pronounced ‘Lem-stir’) seem to have huge buildings convered into collective antique stores with the dealers taking turns to man the counters or even hiring a manager.

This means that you can see specialist collections and dealers, rents are shared, and dealers have time to source new (old) material while business continues.

We don’t seem to have the same concept here in Australia yet. Or we didn’t until Annie had a very bright idea when Swan Settlers Markets was floated as a concept.

If you love vintage, retro, antique, flea markets, shabby chic and just plain quirky, I expect you already know about Annie’s shop at Taylor’s Art House Annie’s Vintage Wonderland. If you don’t, immediately put it on your ‘To Visit’ list.

But the shop at Taylor’s, even with knocking into the next building is too small for Annie’s wonderland of wonders, so she has joined up with Swan Settlers Markets and rented a huge area in it, acting as a collective with a number of other dealers and suppliers.

She even has her eye on an expansion within the markets, which would double the area and dealers’ spaces available.

Annie has moved some of the more portable items from Taylor’s, raiding her large stock from the warehouse and buying in new old stock. ‘New’ seems like an odd word to use, but ‘old’ seems less accurate - perhaps ‘odds and ends’ might be better. A sampling of her goods might include, vintage jewellery and clothing, collectable stamps, matchbooks and boxes, suitcases, tins, Australiana, toys, books, walking sticks, 50’s furniture and she is one of only five Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint stockists in Western Australia.

Annie is a real person, unlike Betty Crocker, and is on hand to talk, deal and her happy cheerfulness is a huge asset to her shop.

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COMMUNITY

The collective is open from Thursday to Sunday, plus Public Holidays from 10:00am to 3:30pm, but if you ‘like’ her on Facebook - facebook.com/AnniesVintageWonderland/ you can shop on her ‘Annie’s Vintage Wonderland Online Wonders’ pretty much all the time as treasures are photographed and posted in batches.

Prices are open to negotiation, so now’s the time to call in and have a browse, make an offer and collect something you’ve been seeking for ages - be it a 1963 Beano comic, a matchbook from the Playboy Club, a plastic soldier originally found in a Cornflakes packet, a street name or a dresser in peppermint green with orange trim.

Whatever it might be - Annie may well have it, will get it, or knows where there is one.

And while you’re there, you can browse the vast range of other stallholders at Swan Settlers Market - the newest addition to tourism in the Swan Valley.

If you’re a dealer looking to open a low-rent shopfront, talk to Annie - she can probably help.

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FILM REVIEWS Film: Director: Reviewer:

stunningly intelligent with the predominant theme of class struggles and status being portrayed in a scintillating manner.

The story revolves around the poor Kim family, who live in a semi-underground apartment, which is open to the street and subject to the elements.

When an opportunity opens up for the Kim’s eldest son Ki-Woo (Woo-Sik Choi) to take a job as a tutor for the daughter of the wealthy Park family, the Kim’s see a window to put themselves in a more comfortable position.

Parasite Bong Joon Ho Chris McRae

E

very now and then, a film comes out of nowhere and becomes an instant cult classic. South Korean writer and director Bong Joon Ho put his name on the Hollywood map in 2013 with Snowpiercer.

But now comes Parasite. Opening to incredible critical acclaim, the South Korean Film built momentum throughout the recent awards season, taking home numerous Foreign Language Feature Film Awards and clinching the SAG Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture.

Just last month, it made film history, sweeping the Academy Awards, claiming Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and the top prize of Best Picture. It became the first film not in the English language to claim the Academy’s top prize.

Since then, it has enjoyed further cinema releases and its profit margin has gone through the roof, making director Bong Joon Ho a household name and a hometown icon in South Korea.

All this acclaim comes for good reason, as the film is

Gradually, they con their way into the Park family home, using deception to take up servant jobs. Father Ki-Taek (Kang-Ho Song) becomes a chauffeur, daughter Ki-Jung (SoDam Park) serves as a art therapist for the Park’s young son and mother Chung-Sook (Hye-Jin Jang) works her way into the house as a maid.

Soon, a dark secret in the Park house is exposed and the Kim’s face the risk of their deception unraveling.

The tension in this film is palpable and the lengths the Kim’s go to, in order to try for a better life are extraordinary.

The unexpected twists and turns this film takes are unbelievably sudden, unexpected and tense.

This really is a film about the stark contrast between wealth and class in modern society and Bong Joon Ho has scripted a masterpiece with an intricate storyline, relevant themes and ideas.

The result, anchored by an incredibly strong ensemble performance is an exquisite modern take on the juxtaposition of class in society today.

This film will surprise you, shock you, make you laugh and cry, all at the same time. Not only one of the best foreign language films of all time but one of the great films of the decade!

Very Highly Recommended Parasite is still in limited cinemas and is now available on Blu Ray, DVD and digital platforms. ~oOo~ 22

Film: Director: Reviewer:

Edmond Alexis Michalik James Forte

How to write a play urrah! The annual French Film Festival is on again. Perfectly timed for the publication of this Swan Magazine, it opens at Palace and Luna cinemas on Wednesday 11th March and closes, forty-nine films later, on the 8th April.

A chance to brush up your school-day French perhaps; if not, all have English subtitles. And, let’s face it, no one does romance, charm, style, gastronomy, art and panache as well as the French.

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handsome but dull, protégé, Christian to woo the beautiful Roxane.

Viewers do not need to have seen the play Cyrano de Bergerac although that would add an extra dimension to their enjoyment. It gets a production in Perth every few years. I remember a particularly impressive season from Black Swan at the old Playhouse in St George’s Terrace.

There are at least ten easily obtainable films of the play. I recommend those with Jose Ferrer (1950), Christopher Plummer (1962), Derek Jacobi (1985) and (my favourite) Gerard Depardieu (1990). The story also formed the basis for Fred Schepisi’s Roxanne with Steve Martin sporting the long nose.

As an aside, also in this year’s French Festival is Roxane - a comedy about a poultry farmer who performs scenes from Cyrano de Bergerac to his hen house and his favourite chicken (named Roxane of course).

I suspect Edmond is as much a fiction of Rostand’s life as his play was of Cyrano’s life. We end up with a feast of Gallic humour.

There will be multiple screenings at Palace and Luna cinemas over the next month – see their web pages.

Highly recommended. Four stars. ~oOo~ Film: Director: Reviewer:

And when it comes to panache, no one does it as well as Cyrano de Bergerac. Soldier, poet, novelist, playwright, wit, swordsman and amateur philosopher.

He lived from 1619 to 1655 and wrote two classics of early science fiction - collected as: The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon and Sun. He fought a number of duels and was twice wounded in a war with Spain.

However, the real Cyrano’s fame has long been overshadowed - by the play of the same name, written by Edmond Rostand in 1897. The play was a spectacular success from its first performance in Paris, immediately became a leading light of French theatre and has since been staged a thousand times around the world. Rostand borrowed Cyrano’s name and a few incidents from his life but most of his script is fiction.

The film Edmond is a comedy. Directed by Alexis Michalik and executed at breakneck speed, it portrays the frenetic writing and staging of the five-act play in just three weeks.

Those involved in theatre will have no problem recognizing the characters – the producers and financiers who so desperately need a hit in order to survive, the egotistical behaviour of the actors and the faulty technical equipment.

The young Edmond Rostand (a bravura performance by Thomas Solivérès) is hounded by people demanding to be involved in his next play. These include the legendary Sarah Bernhardt (Clémentine Célarié) and Constant Coquelin (Olivier Gourmet).

Unfortunately Edmond is suffering writers block. And his wife is becoming suspicious of his late nights.

We discover why Cyrano has an enormous nose and why he writes passionate love letters to enable his young,

Emma Autumn de Wilde James Forte

A Spoilt Heroine ithin certain sections of our society, the production of films based on the books of Jane Austen is as bankable as James Bond or Star Wars epics.

Apart from the many adaptations of the six novels, there are the works (incomplete at her death) made into the film Love and Friendship (2016) and the TV series Sanditon (2019). Bankable?

Whereas the description ‘formulaic’ is unfair, they do follow a certain pattern. In Regency England, a young lady goes through a number of romantic tribulations reflecting on the behaviour of the gentry and then gets married.

Emma was the fourth of Jane Austen’s novels. According to Wikipedia, there have been eight television series and two feature films of it. The latest is Autumn de Wilde’s (a directorial debut) Emma.

It follows the book reasonably faithfully, but is distinctively different in style to its predecessors. Yes, there are all the familiar characters and situations. I love the picnic on Box Hill.

However the production is flamboyant and over the top.

The locations are eye-catching and the gowns (Alexandra Byrne) are superglamorous. A crocodile of girls (from the local school) in white dresses and scarlet cloaks crosses the screen at much too frequent intervals.

Bill Nighy as Emma’s elderly father is amazingly sprightly. Johnny Flynn as Mr Knightly is rather sexier than Jane intended.

In one scene, Emma (alone in a drawing room) stands with her back to the fire and hoists up her nightdress to warm her bare derriere. Now that is NOT in the book!

Anya Taylor-Joy has the title role, following a long line of notable Emmas including Doran Godwin, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ramola Garai and (recommended) Kate Beckinsale. Emma is a rich, young, beautiful, willful, devious, spoilt little monster.

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A NIGHT AT THE PALACE OF THE STARS! Based on the Best-Selling Novels by Karina McRoberts Add a subheading Saturday 4th April 2020 6.30pm – 11.30pm $40 per ticket general admission includes light supper York Town Hall Avon Terrace YORK, Western Australia BAR AVAILABLE NO BYO ALCOHOL ls

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n Ba

Cossacks are Back London West-end Sensation Jamie Papandicolau stars as Michael Harker

Starring the Magical Ellen Brookes as Mae Belle

Booking Partner

89 Avon Terrace York WA 6302 P: (08) 9641 2328 E: york@crc.net.au

https://www.palaceofthestars.com 24

around the world. This film is inspired by their story.

Sadly the song is not included in the film, but a performance at the Albert Hall is. There is no Gareth Malone character either – the ladies look after themselves.

The film is directed by Peter Cattaneo (best remembered for The Full Monty), who immerses us in the daily frivolity covering the dread of bad news from overseas.

The film also brought Brassed Off to mind with its focus on the use of music during difficult times. Dame Kristin Scott Thomas is perfectly cast as the aristocratic wife of the commanding officer – a lady with a very stiff upper lip who believes she runs things.

But for my money, acting honours go to Sharon Horgan (as the wife of the sergeant major) - who really does get things done.

The author confessed she was writing about a heroine that no one but Jane herself would like.

But the audience must want her to reform before the ultimate wedding. I thought Taylor-Joy miscast. Within a few minutes of the start I no longer cared whether she made it or not.

Emma is currently showing at the Windsor, Luna on SX and Camelot cinemas.

Recommended to Jane Austen and regency romance fans who wish to see something a little different. Three and a half stars. ~oOo~

A captain who salutes with his left hand is rather disconcerting,

Film: Military Wives Director: Peter Cattaneo Reviewer: James Forte Keep Calm and Sing any readers would be familiar with the British reality TV series The Choir: Military Wives which was shown in Australia in 2012. A group of wives and partners of Brits serving in Afghanistan formed a choir to keep themselves occupied, maintain morale and provide mutual support.

The BBC immediately picked up the idea. It had been making programmes about the benefits of choirs in all-boys schools – led by Gareth Malone who specialized in introducing choral singing to the inexperienced.

In the TV series he takes two military women’s choirs from basics to performing at a Remembrance Day service at London’s huge Albert Hall in front of the Queen.

Their song Wherever You Are (using words taken from their correspondence with their husbands and put to music by Paul Mealor) raced up the charts at Christmas 2011 to become number one.

There are now more than a hundred such choirs at army, navy and air force bases

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but otherwise life on an army base and around a garrison town seems to be well depicted.

This is an inspiring comedy/drama which will be particularly liked by admirers of British (and Australian) stoicism in times of hardship.

Military Wives is now showing at Luna cinemas.

Highly recommended, four out of five stars.

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TV WITH CHRIS MARCH 2020 WHAT’S COMING UP

and Chauncley’s efforts to complete relatively simple everyday tasks often end in disaster with hilarious results. Steve Buscemi is excellent as he considers the profession of ‘shitshovelling’ to be a great honour to the point where he has his own special techniques and personalised shovel.

Radcliffe demonstrates his comedic talents well and is very likeable as Prince Chauncley and Peter Serafinowicz is a great addition as his demanding, sinister and ultimately quite funny father.

Geraldine Viswanathan’s character of Alexandra is almost bewildered by the seemingly dimwitted characters around her and strives for intelligence which creates a great juxtaposition between the other characters.

If you are a fan of black humour and enjoyed The Blackadder and Monty Python, Miracle Workers: Dark Ages will definitely be your cup of tea.

Episodes of Miracle Workers: Dark Ages stream weekly on Stan. ~oOo~

etflix, Stan and most recently Disney N + have transformed the television landscape. Netflix alone racked up seventeen nominations in last month’s Golden Globe Awards between original films and series’.

We take a look this month at some of the offerings to land this month.

Title: MIRACLE WORKERS ~ SEASON 2 Network: Stan

After a quirky, original and humorous first season centred around two angels (Daniel Radcliffe and Geraldine Viswanathan) attempting to stop God (Steve Buscemi) from destroying humanity, this series moves into its second season.

Rather than following on from the first, it shifts the actors into new roles and a new time period and context entirely.

Season Two, subtitled Dark Ages sees Radcliffe playing Prince Chauncley, the disappointing son of King Cragnoor (Peter Serafinowicz) in medieval times.

Buscemi is the lowly Edward Shitshoveler whose name literally describes his occupation as he takes pride in clearing the waste of the local villagers. His daughter Alexandra (Viswanathan) strives for more and seeks education.

There is a lot to like in this new direction the series has taken. It almost has a bit of a Monty Pythonesque feel with medieval parody elements and black humour.

In one episode, a family games night turns into a bloodbath

Title: Network:

ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST ~ SEASON 1 Stan

Stan is beginning to produce some fresh, original content to rival the juggernaut that is Netflix and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is a great example of this.

Marketed as La La Land meets Glee, this toe tapping musical series is vibrant and highly original.

Zoey (Jane Levy) undergoes a precautionary MRI scan to test for a potential genetic disorder. However when something goes awry, she is soon able to see and hear the innermost thoughts and feelings of those around her.

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The unusual thing is that these thoughts come in the form of songs and musical numbers. Soon, she is surrounded by music as family members, co-workers and perfect strangers reveal their true feelings through song.

Firstly, this is a terrific concept and one which has excellent potential.

In the early episodes of the series, we see some fantastic musical sequences, opening with the Beatles’ Help and ranging from everything from the Jonas Brothers’ Sucker (which is performed by Broadway personality Skyler Astin) to Mad World (by actor and singer/songwriter John Clarence Stewart).

The great thing is that all cast members have their chance to sing and shine, including Lauren Graham, Alex Newell, Peter Gallagher and Mary Steenburgen.

There is some phenomenal singing and dancing talent within the cast and this prevents the concept from becoming cheesy and instead gives the light hearted story a sense of energy and vitality.

It is really impossible to not smile throughout this fresh and energetic series. For all lovers of musical theatre, pop music and original comedy, this is the series for you.

Episodes of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist stream weekly on Stan.

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COMMUNITY RARE MARINE CREATURE DISCOVERED EMMA CHADWICK

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team of researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has discovered a rare population of rare benthic siphonophores, in Western Australian waters.

A field of the fragile cnidarians, a relative of sea anemones and jellyfish, was found during a study of an ancient 17,000-year-old WA coastline, which is now 125m underwater.

Australian Institute of Marine Science project leader Dr Karen Miller was heading the expedition onboard the AIMS Research Vessel (RV) Solander when her team made the surprising discovery.

“We were undertaking towed video surveys to characterise the seabed biodiversity on the Ancient Coastline Key Ecological Feature in the Kimberley Marine Park, when we noticed lots of what looked like “pom poms” seemingly floating just above the seabed,” Dr Miller said.

“On closer inspection of high-resolution images, we realised what we were seeing were fields of benthic siphonophores.

“As far as we know, there have been no other benthic siphonophores recorded in Western Australian waters, and the only other reported observation in Australia was in the Great Australian Bight.

“These creatures are generally found in deep water down to 3000m, and are rarely ever seen; hence why our observation in depths of 100m to 150m is so exciting.”

A–C — three specimens of benthic siphonophore in vicinity of undersea Piyp Vol Dr Miller said the discovery emcano; D and E — fourth specimen, more detailed screenshots - Images by Karen Sanamyan phasised how little is known about these marine ecosystems, and the importance of protecting undiscovered biodiversity. species of Archangelopsis, although they are very hard to

“The ancient coastline is thought to provide crucial identify from pictures and video alone. habitat for sponges, corals, crinoids, molluscs, echinoderms “To properly identify this species we will need to and other invertebrates, particularly where it emerges as collect specimens and work with international taxonomists rocky outcrops in a surrounding environment dominated by to determine if it is a new species, or one that is known from soft sediments,” Dr Miller said. other oceans.”

“We have been working with an international taxon This will be a challenge for researchers, since collectomist and we think these siphonophores are likely to be a ing samples of such fragile animals from depths over 100m will require specialised equipment.

DISCLAIMER

In the meantime, AIMS researchers will be on the look out for more benthic siphonophores on the northwest shelf The information in this publication is of a general nature. The articles contained and in Australian marine parks. herein are not intended to provide a

Dr Miller said less than twenty-five per cent of Austracomplete discussion on each subject lia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has been mapped, and and or issues canvassed. there is a great need for further baseline biodiversity surveys, in order to better understand the values within marine Swan Magazine does not accept any parks and to protect their unique features. liability for any statements or any

Find out more about these marine animals at the Ausopinion, or for any errors or omissions tralian Marine Parks Atlas: www.atlas.parksaustralia.gov. contained herein. au/exciting-discovery-kimberley-marine-park.

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FLINDERS UNIVERSITY WHEN PENGUINS RULED CHATHAM ISLAND PROVIDES MISSING LINK IN EVOLUTION

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hat waddled on land but swam supremely in subtropical seas more than sixty million years ago, after the dinosaurs were wiped out on sea and land?

Fossil records show giant human-sized penguins flew through Southern Hemisphere waters – along side smaller forms, similar in size to some species that live in Antarctica today.

Now the newly described Kupoupou stilwelli has been found on the geographically remote Chatham Islands in the southern Pacific near New Zealand’s South Island. It appears to be the oldest penguin known with proportions close to its modern relatives.

It lived between sixty-two and a half million and sixty million years ago at a time when there was no ice cap at the South Pole and the seas around New Zealand were tropical or subtropical.

Flinders University PhD palaeontology candidate and University of Canterbury graduate Jacob Blokland made the discovery after studying fossil skeletons collected from Chatham Island between 2006 and 2011.

He helped build a picture of an ancient penguin that bridges a gap between extinct giant penguins and their modern relatives.

“Next to its colossal human-sized cousins, including the recently described monster penguin Crossvallia waiparensis, Kupoupou was comparatively small – no bigger than modern King Penguins which stand just under 1.1 metres tall,” says Mr Blokland, who worked with Professor Paul Scofield and Associate Professor Catherine Reid, as well as Flinders palaeontologist Associate Professor Trevor Worthy on the discovery.

“Kupoupou also had proportionally shorter legs than some other early fossil penguins. In this respect, it was more like the penguins of today, meaning it would have waddled on land.

“This penguin is the first that has modern proportions both in terms of its size and in its hind limb and foot bones (the tarsometatarsus) or foot shape.”

As published in the US journal Palaeontologica Electronica, the animal’s scientific name acknowledges the Indigenous Moriori people of the Chatham Island (Rēkohu), with Kupoupou meaning ‘diving bird’ in Te Re Moriori.

The discovery may even link the origins of penguins themselves to the eastern region of New Zealand – from the Chatham Island archipelago to the eastern coast of the South Island, where other most ancient penguin fossils have been found, 800km away.

University of Canterbury adjunct Professor Scofield, Senior Curator of Natural History at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, says the paper provides further support for the theory that penguins rapidly evolved shortly after the period when dinosaurs still walked the land and giant marine reptiles swam in the sea.

“We think it’s likely that the ancestors of penguins diverged from the lineage leading to their closest living relatives – such as albatross and petrels – during the Late Cretaceous period, and then many different species sprang up after the dinosaurs were wiped out,” Professor Scofield says

“It’s not impossible that penguins lost the ability to fly and gained the ability to swim after the extinction event of sixty-six million years ago, implying the birds underwent

huge changes in a very short time. If we ever find a penguin fossil from the Cretaceous period, we’ll know for sure.”

‘Chatham Island Paleocene Fossils Provide Insight Into The Palaeobiology, Evolution, And Diversity Of Early Penguins (Aves, Sphenisciformes) by JC Blokland, CM Reid, TH Worthy, AJD Tennyson, JA Clarke and RP Scofield will be published in Palaeontologia Electronica – the oldest electronic professional, peer-reviewed journal of paleontology sponsored by the Palaeontological Association, the Paleontological Society, and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

The new species is based on the fossilised bones of five partial skeletons. Another two specimens showed a second larger penguin species was also present on the main Chatham Island but there was not enough material to formally name it.

All of the described skeletons were collected by a group led

by Monash University palaeontologist Jeffrey Stilwell. Dr Alan Tennyson from Te Papa Tongarewa the Museum of New Zealand and Professor Julia Clark from University of Texas at Austin were in the group and are also-coauthors of the paper.

The species is named after Associate Professor Stilwell with all specimens now cared for by Te Papa.

Jacob Blokland at Flinders University Palaeontology Laboratory 29

REVIEWS

country scenes (Benedict Chau), projected onto the rear white cyclorama.

George Boyd and his team (Mary-Anne Dawson, Liam Simpson, David, Sharon and Sarah Zuiddam, Zac and Steve Moloney, Ian Ashman, Owen Davis and Ambro Vonk) produced several intricate and well-built mini sets on castors.

These included a kitchen with a huge cauldron, stove and workbenches; a fabulously colourful set of mushrooms and toadstools for the caterpillar, with the pièce-de-résistance being the tea table – Brilliant, loaded with magical, colourful props.

Supervised by Shelly Miller, the lighting design and operation was by Bailey Fellows who produced a few good ‘threatening’ effects. The follow spots were in the capable hands of Tegan Leggett and Timothy Zuiddam. Careful not to wash out the projected scene with too much light, otherwise well done.

Guy Jackson’s soundscape worked well and was operated

by James Bell. I saw the final rehearsal and the major gremlin again reared its head. Poor Chelsea Cook seemed to be struggling to get any of the very necessary (young kids need them) headsets to operate, but I have full faith in her and Guy. If anything goes wrong, it will be the headsets.

The efficient Stage Manager Belinda Beatty and her Assistant Stage Manager Locklen Falkingham became part of a dance routine – great movers both scenery and bodies.

The White Rabbit (Kate Temme) ran through the auditorium clutching her watch. She is late. In the woods young Alice (Daisy Churchman) is out collecting berries.

Just after meeting a French Mouse (Sophie Hennigan) Alice found herself down a rabbit hole and in a strange world.

The Dodo (Katelyn Barr) The Duck (Sophie David – Dance Captain) The Duckling (Tahli Redgwell) Eaglet (Lily Churchman)

Production: Alice in Wonderland Producer: Darlington Theatre Players Reviewer: Gordon the Optom

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lice in Wonderland is a musical pantomime, loosely based on the book

by English writer Lewis Carroll. This insipid adaptation is by Mike Carter.

The novel was thought to have been written after one of Carroll’s migraines or epilepsy attacks.

Carroll’s real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, he was born 180 years ago and became world-famous as a children’s fiction writer. He was also a mathematical genius – in 1855 he became one of the inventors of algorithms – he was a controversial photographer and High-Church Anglican deacon. He studied and taught at Christ Church College in Oxford, where the Dean of Christ Church, Henry Liddell had a daughter Alice, widely identified as the original for Alice in Wonderland, though Carroll always denied this.

Carroll was born in All Saints’ Vicarage, Daresbury, near Liverpool; this church now has a stained-glass window depicting characters from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. About ninety years after his death, a memorial stone to Carroll was unveiled in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.

This two-hour Darlington Players Production can be seen at the Marloo Theatre, 20 Marloo Road, Greenmount each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evening at 7.30 until Saturday 14th March.

The scene: The set:

Around 1910 in an English woodland.

The scenes backdrops were colourful symbolic

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The Caterpillar (Niamh O’Hehir – excellent) The Fish Footman (Bailey O’Hehir) The Frog Footman (Jenn HurleyGreen) The Cook (Megan West, very good) The Duchess (Rebecca McRae) The Cheshire Cat (Saoirse Gerrish) The Mad Hatter (Sean Wcislo, best in show) The March Hare (Chris McRae, very good) The Dormouse (Jemima Lee) Card Guards (all good fun); Lilly Miller, Oscar Uetake, Talia Barley, Evie Madeleine, Caitlyn Moloney The Queen of Hearts (Tracey Morrison, wonderful) The King of Hearts (Jackson Lucas, very good) Knave (Guy Jackson) Tweedledum (Jack Churchman) and Tweedledee (David Bell) good fun teamwork The Gryphon (Mike Moshos brought sparkle) The Mock Turtle (Kika van Wilde, great voice)

Director Rachel Vonk is a theatre veteran who has tackled all genres, but my heart went out to her with this adaptation and its backing music. Musical director Michelle Ezzy handled the fifteen uninteresting and repetitive songs accompanied by the poor bland backing disc.

We know that Michelle is one of WA’s best musical directors, but with such a young cast, the songs and tunes need to have to have plenty of kick and a strong beat to keep them interested. Only with the revamped ABBA song at the end of the pantomime did everyone come alive.

Choreographer Ebony Uetake did an amazing job, with some of the youngest dancers being outstanding – especially well-done Jemima Lee as dormouse. Loved Mad Hatter and March Hare’s clock hands dance routine.

The amazing costumes by Marjorie DeCaux not surprisingly required a large team of creators and helpers (Lynda Stubbs, Amanda Moloney, Anna Wright, Evone Miller, Tobi Galley, Kylie Barr, Gill Lee, Angela Gerrish, Rebecca Bev, Shelly Miller, Tracy and Rachel Vonk) to produce the dozens of high-quality outfits.

However, I did not recognise the Cheshire Cat in her black silk and net evening gown; and the Tweedledee and Tweedledum are usually quite fat, but this might be a little difficult to create and still be practical – the school uniforms worked.

Bravely, director Rachel selected the performers, technicians and stage crew a huge percentage of whom were in their early to mid-teens and gave them a chance. They worked so incredibly hard in every department but were let down by the one thing outside their control – the adaptation; sadly, this happened to another extremely talented group with their last pantomime. ~oOo~ Production: Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore Producer: Hayman Theatre Reviewer: Gordon the Optom

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edipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore is Aussie playwright Daniel Evan’s extremely fast, savage and fiendishly funny action-packed 2014 play. The play has won the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award. This classic Ancient Greek Tragedy is

delivered as a contemporary Australian experience, showing us the underside of society in the raw.

Daniel Evans is a Creative Arts graduate interested in all types of creation from writing to sculpture and painting.

Like most of his plays, the playwright wrote this script with teenage actors in mind. There is even a script allowing two actors to perform this show – the mind boggles, these five worked hard.

This ninety-four minute, life experience can be seen at The Hayman ‘Pop Up’ Theatre in Building 203 (art department), Curtin University, off Manning Road, Bentley. The Pop-Up thanks to Stephen Carr is a central stage with tiered seating around the four sides and an impressive lighting rig.

The New Hayman theatre that opened a couple of years ago is being extended with a new foyer, ladies’ toilet and another smaller performance space.

These four ninety-four manic minutes of dark and sick humour shows commenced at 7.00 pm each evening until Saturday 29th February. Please DON’T think ‘another secondrate student show’, this small cast gave everything – including incredible quality.

The Scene:

the house next door to you in North Perth (?) 2020

The Set: that was designed by Jasmine Valentini and Kiri Siva comprises a 3-metre square platform, 30 cms above the ground. The stage floor is covered in torn magazines and newspapers. The paper hides a dozen trapdoors that open throughout the action to reveal everything from hidden actors to fresh ice cream. The myriad of strange properties was sourced by Thomas Bach, Mikayla Fanto and Ella Randle.

Chloe Palliser was the lighting designer and operator. The lighting plan was extremely complex but once again flawless, even with the many split-second changes and effects.

Sound designer, Jonathan Hoey produced sounds that ranged from heavy punk music to gun fire. He had just the right volume and kick in each noise. He worked in perfect union with the lighting operator.

The Stage Manager, poor Hayley Neil had the thankless and intricate task of ensuring that sixty props were under the correct trapdoor and in the appropriate order. The set ended like an Albee play – I will say no more. Production Managers Stephen Carr and Sarah Connelly had a huge challenge and it worked!

What if Oedipus lived next door? What if the whole 31

street knew what he’d been up to with his own mother, because of the words daubed in fluorescent letters on his garage door?

like déjà vu, only with two actresses in their dressing rooms.

This two hour dramatisation is a two-hander biography and it can be seen at the Garrick Theatre, 16 Meadow Street, Guildford.

It appears that many people in their twenties have never heard of these Oscar winners, so here are short biographies.

EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THIS COUPLE you will love this play.

Texan Joan Crawford was known as suave, arrogant, aristocratic and elegant. She started as a dancer and by sleeping around was signed up by MGM for two decades. Married four times plus extras on the side; her last husband was President of Pepsi Cola.

Bette Davis was unattractive, rough as they come, foul mouthed, shabbily dressed but got to the top purely by her acting skills. She worked for Warner Brothers for eighteen years, winning three Oscars. Married four times.

The film they are making is Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and is about a former child star who torments her paraplegic sister living in their crumbling Hollywood mansion.

Director, Lynne Devenish has produced a wonderful threeminute compilation of film clips and facts presented before the curtain rises.

The audience is effectively a group of voyeurs judgmentally watching and learning the inner most secrets of all the quirky characters with their tragic and hopeless lives.

The play’s five stars – and each and every actor in this play was a star – they were slick and packed with personality. Their whole bodies lived their parts. Well done Nelson Fannon, Alex Hutchings, Travis Koch, Hetty Lobegeiger and Jade Woodhouse.

Brilliant.

Don’t worry if you do not know the story or have trouble following the flow of the play, this is a intensely detailed character study of Ancient Greeks, who still seem to be remarkably familiar in today’s society.

The costume designer and wardrobe supervision was by Kiri Siva. The styling was excellent.

These highly talented student actors performed flawlessly, even communicating with the audience. They were rehearsed to perfection with a clever but tricky script that was made up mainly of personal outbursts from highly charged characters.

Every actor had several very different parts to play, often running straight into the next with a total character change. The ultimate challenge.

The set was in the round and so the cast had to work the audience by rotating as they delivered their dialogue. It meant strong projection was required throughout by the actors.

Director Leah Mercer saw a reading of the play by the Queensland Theatre Company and so with Assistant Director Kyra Belford-Thomas, Dramaturg Matt Jones and Fight Director Lawrence Hassell the play was vividly brought to life.

The intensely demanding delivery of the acting is a little wearing on the audience who must be focused 100% of the time.

The drama is unrelenting and there is no interval to recharge the batteries. The cast however showed no signs of flagging, but by the end they must have been hurting inside.

An amazing piece that would be even better on a second visit. ~oOo~

The scene: Early morning in 1962. Two adjacent dressing rooms in the rundown B block, the Hollywood set of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

The set: was designed and constructed by James Nailen, Caileb Hombergen-Crute and Geoff Holt. It showed two adjacent dressing rooms with a thin plasterboard wall separating them. Bette’s to the left, Joan’s to the right. The stud walls were mustard yellow.

Each room has a couch, a dress rack and a makeup counter with the obligatory multi bulb array around the mirror. Joan’s room had her character’s wheelchair.

The numerous 60s props were supplied by Marion West and Kerry Goode.

The lighting and sound were designed and operated by Caileb Hombergen-Crute and Stuart Ridgway. The balance of the

Production: Bette and Joan Producer: Garrick Theatre Club Reviewer: Gordon the Optom

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ette and Joan is a construed biography brilliantly written by Anton Burge. Anton Burge is a universally respected playwright and theatrical actor whose plays, pseudo interviews, historical works (both accurate and interpreted) are based around notable women of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Burge has a queue of famous older actors from Who’s Who, desperate to get a part in his plays for mature actresses.

Bette and Joan opened in the West End of London in 2011 and starred Australia’s adoptee Greta Scacchi – who is sixty next week – as Bette Davis, and Anita Dobson as Joan Crawford, after escaping from almost threehundred episodes as Angie in EastEnders.

This production for adults, has been rewritten since the play’s premiere.

After seeing The Actress last week this was

L to R: Bette (Siobhan Vincent) and Joan (Sarah House) 32

from her immaculate gold silk chemise and cami knickers, to her gold lamé coat and scarf. Then there was Bette’s well-worn unexciting underwear and her chocolate brown knitted dress with white spots. Lynda Stubbs has again come to the rescue again with two ideal wigs.

This is one of those COMPLETE productions. An authentic ‘shabby’ set, smart period costumes, a short introductory film, clever lighting and sound, brilliant direction and two real-life stars as amazing as the actresses they are portraying. This play will win awards and is certainly a DO NOT MISS production. ~oOo~ Production: Alice in Wonderland Producer: Darlington Theatre Players Reviewer: Douglas Sutherland-Bruce Youth at the Prow and Alice in Wonderland he Rev Dodgson would have little realised on a warm afternoon in 1862 when he and his friend Duckworth took his boss’s three little daughters out for a row up the river and a picnic that he would change English literature, but that’s what happened.

As a result of the picnic where he was begged by one of the girls, Alice, for a story, he told of a little girl, called Alice, who chases a rabbit with a waistcoat and watch down a rabbit hole into a magical world of talking creatures.

He later wrote it up for her, illustrated it himself and eventually it found its way into print as Alice in Wonderland, using Dodgson’s pseudonym of ‘Lewis Carrol’. It’s full of jokes, very adult themes of mathematics (of which he was a Don at Oxford) and purest fantasy. It caught the imagination of the world at the time and has never ceased to do so.

It has been adapted many times for stage and screen since publication. There have been thirty-three films (the first in 1903) and the first stage presentation was in 1888, while Dodgson was still alive. This was followed over the years by musical versions, operas, ballets, and traditional English pantomimes, all proving the enduring attraction of the story.

This is the musical chosen by director Rachel Vonk as the opening production for Darlington Theatre Players’ 2020 season at Marloo Theatre.

Let me say at once that there is much to admire in the production. Marloo has a reputation for superb costumes and sets and this was no exception. The costumier, the well-known and much-awarded Majorie de Caux, working with a large team

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L to R: Joan (Sarah House) and Bette (Siobhan Vincent) lighting in each room changed according to the dialogue. There were several clever and original flicker effects as the actor talked about their times in a movies.

Stage managed by Wendy Goodwin.

Bette Davis (Siobhan Vincent) and Joan Crawford (Sarah House) were once Grandes Dames of Hollywood, but by 1962 these adversaries were becoming cinema hasbeens. When they were asked to appear together in a movie, one called ‘Baby Jane’.

Each actress always wanted to be the one in charge, the one being noticed! Behind the conflict, bitching and the practical jokes, we see each woman’s insecurities and regrets.

Very strong and meaningful direction

by Lynne Devenish. Both actors had just the correct hint of American accent. The script was superbly constructed but must have been difficult for the actors. It contained dozens of two- or three-minute monologues not simply spoken but ACTED to the audience.

Often a good test is to see an actor on the telephone; even with a thirty second piece, the one-sided conversation often becomes false. In this play both actors had a couple of minutes of shouting and arguing down the phone that left you in no doubt there was someone at the other end. Both Siobhán and Sarah showed incredible and rare acting skills.

The 60s period costumes were carefully researched by costumière Colleen Bradford; they covered Joan’s finely presented outfits,

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has produced the most beautiful and amazing works of art for the cast to wear and work in.

She has not tried to re-create the Tenniel illustrations from the book, but was driven by the script and her own imagination to create a most marvellous White Rabbit (Kate Temme) in tailcoat and baggy Indian breeches; a caterpillar (Niamh O’Hehir) in Renaissance scalloped trailing sleeves and train; a Steampunk inspired March Hare (Chris McRae) and a Mock Turtle (Kika van Wilde) of elegant simplicity in tones of grey.

Alice was clad in the traditional white and blue and I was pleased to see Marjorie retained the ‘Alice’ band.

The set is simple and elegant, making much use of projections onto a cyclorama at the back, also used for the ‘singalong’ words, and extensive use of ‘trucks’ – set pieces rolled in on wheels to dress up a scene – designed and built with his usual genius by George Boyd and a talented, hard working team. The caterpillar’s mushroom set, the semi-painted rose bushes, the beach, all good, but paled into insignificance by his Duchess’ kitchen and the Mad Hatter’s Tea Table – amazingly good.

Both the crew and huge cast is very young from my perspective and, I’m guessing here, aged between about seven to mid-twenties, worked very hard to produce their effects. There are some very talented youngsters coming up through the ranks.

Alice in Wonderland is not actually billed specifically as either a musical or a pantomime, though it has elements of both.

I attended the last technical dress rehearsal so some of the smaller glitches may well have been caused by being at the end of a long rehearsal process or the first live audience.

There is a problem with the production and it lies entirely outside of the control of the performers – and it lies in the adaptation, by Mike Carter. He has adapted many stories for the stage aimed almost entirely at audiences of children. Gordon the Optom called it ‘insipid’ and I think that’s a good word for this adaptation.

It has the broken fourth wall and audience interaction of a panto, but no Dame, no comic duo, no double-entrendes for the adults, none of the stock panto characters – but the very pantolight elements stop it from being a pure musical either.

The songs are bland, with perhaps Crash! Wallop! And Bang! (which went on too long), The Caucus Race and the Mad Hatter’s song It’s All a Matter of Time being exceptions. Sound levels were not good, the music too loud and the performers mics not being turned up enough – easily remedied, and that’s what rehearsals are for.

There were some exceptionally good voices – Tracey

Morrison (The Queen of Hearts), Kika van Wilde (The Mock Turtle) and Sean Wcislo (The Mad Hatter) standing out.

The choreography (by Ebony Uetake) was energetic in the extreme and somewhat free-form, although there were several set pieces.

Tempo was slow and Carter’s adaptation has removed all but a few of the jokes from the original, on the basis, I guess, that everyone would know them, yet the delighted laughs on the ‘lessons’ and ‘tortoise’ lines proved that not to be the case.

All in all, a huge effort by a lot of talented people to produce a confection that will be enjoyed by children of all ages.

Alice in Wonderland runs at Marloo Theatre, 20 Marloo Road, Greenmount from the 28th February to March 14th at 7:30pm. Tickets cost $25 (adults) and may be booked on line at Trybooking. ~oOo~ Production: Bette and Joan Producer: Garrick Theatre Club Reviewer: Douglas Sutherland-Bruce A day in the life of dearest frenemies on a movie set nce upon a time, in a faraway imaginary land called Hollywood there lived two famous stars, one a great actress, the other a great star. Equally glorious at the time, they each tried to outdo each other and had a friendly rivalry that dipped, from time to time into real enmity.

By the early 1960s both stars, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, their scintillation waning, were short of cash, both having expensive tastes in husbands. 1960 saw the publication of a new kind of Gothic horror novel – Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? by Henry Farrell.

Clearly perfect as a film, Joan and Bette wanted to make the film to revive their fortunes and careers. But working together might be… tricky.

This is the basis of the latest production at Garrick Theatre Club – Bette and Joan, being one day on the set of the movie being shot. The play is a two-hander, for two exceptional actors who carry all the weight of the two-hour play.

Directed collaboratively by Lynn Devenish it is a masterpiece of a play as presented starring Sarah House and Siobhan Vincent – two stalwarts of the Perth theatre scene.

The play starts with a filmed brief run-down of the historical facts and a few clips of the finished movie showing key scenes. This brilliant idea was suggested, I am told by the

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director, by Siobhan and immaculately put together by Sarah and her techie husband Stuart Ridgeway.

This trailer is necessary since, while no one over fifty needs to be told who they are a truly surprising number under that age do. Blank looks and ‘who?’ arise when discussing the play with infants of thirty or so.

However, the actual personalities do not really matter – dropped references to ‘Papa Warner’ and ‘dearest Louella’ may mystify you, but who they are and their role in the story is perfectly clear from the context and there are very, very few ‘in jokes’ – except a crack about Joan’s adopted daughter Christine – ‘Mark my words we’ll be hearing from her in the future.’*

When the curtain rises we see two back to back dressing rooms on a rather threadbare movie lot where ‘Baby Jane’ is being filmed.

The two ladies duly appear and here I’m going to gush a bit.

Both have made the decision not to be ‘impressions’ or mimic the actors – Sarah’s eyebrows are normal-sized, Siobhan’s voice is standard mid-Atlantic and she has eschewed the famous ‘Peter, Peter, Peter’ delivery and the play is the better for it. We are shown the people behind the facades and, by turns, shown their fears, vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

This would be a very easy play to do badly and it was something of a gamble by Lynne to choose it. Any imbalance in the skills of the two actors would have been a disaster, any attempt to camp it up, to make it ‘authentic’ via make-up or tricks would have detracted from the essential story – two aging women, slowly dying in their chosen profession.

There is a psychological term for this – it’s called ‘a dying tigress’, where a once commanding figure slowly loses their grip through age or infirmity, while fiercely trying to maintain it and both actresses portray it perfectly.

All the conventional settings are here; set (James Nailen, Caileb Hombergen-Crute and Geoff Holf), neat but not gaudy, workmanlike and convincing; make-up (Colleen Bradford) and wigs (Lynda Stubbs), competent and convincing; wardrobe (Colleen Bradford) – particularly outstanding – those dresses were perfection.

I originally had some doubts about the script which starts off slowly, establishing character and situation, at a gradual pace. For the whole of the first act, we get a one-dimensional Bette – pure bitch, dragging desperately on an extremely convincing prop cigarette, while Joan has all the best lines.

But persist, because act two is where the real fireworks begin.

I am a great admirer of the two, perfectly cast, actors in

this piece and as a personal friend I thought I knew them and their acting well. I always knew they were good, but I don’t think I appreciated just how damn good they are. (Sorry about the language, but if you’re going to see Bette and Joan, and I strongly recommend you do, you had better get used to it.)

A massive task with many long monologues for each actor in which they need to be faultless in their lines, all in a perfect mid-Atlantic accent, while doing all kinds of stage businesses – Swedish exercises, applying stage make-up, dressing and undressing and making it all look perfectly easy and natural.

This is an amazing play, perfectly performed by two actors at the absolute height of their game. Do not miss it is you’re a fan of either Bette, Joan, good acting or superb theatre.

Very Highly Recommended Indeed. *Christine wrote a tell-all bitchy expose about her mother called Mommie Dearest many years later. ~oOo~ Production: Bette and Joan Producer: Garrick Theatre Club Reviewer: James Forte Feminine Fireworks anuary/February each year is a tough time for community theatre. The play lovers out there can go and see the best there is at the Perth Festival. Or they can dive into the hundreds of dramas and comedies on at the Fringe Festival.

The latter vacuums up practically all the most energetic young actors and directors.

Thus it is particularly pleasing to note that for the next two weekends (until 29th of February) one can see a first class comedy/drama in a suburban theatre at a reasonable price.

The first play for 2020 at Garrick Theatre in Guildford is Bette and Joan. Not suitable for children (there is some mild but necessary coarse language), it will particularly appeal to those of us who love the golden age of Hollywood.

In the 1940s, the two top actresses were Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. One was under contract at MGM, the other at Warner Brothers. Both were accustomed to topping the bill, both had won Oscars and both were past their prime, when in 1962 they made their first movie together – the now classic horror film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Surprisingly they worked together quite well, until the Hollywood publicity machine decided there would be more interest generated if they were at each other’s throats.

Directed by the experienced Lynne Devenish, Siobhan Vincent (as Bette) and Sarah House (as Joan) seize these two fabulous character roles and have a ball. All three are multiple award winners and have worked together on such exceptional theatre as The Way of the World directed by Ray Omodei. The script by Anton Burge gives them an abundance of situations and great lines to explore.

Counter-intuitively the play opens with the projection of a couple of scenes from the original 1962 film. It is as if we are seeing the rushes from the previous day’s filming and the idea works particularly well by introducing us to the real actresses.

The screen then retracts into the ceiling and the live actors take over.

The stage is divided by a mock wall down the middle - into the dressing rooms of the two stars. Almost symmetrical, the ladies occasionally visit each other through doors at the rear.

Concluded on page 60 ...

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OLD MILL THEATRE

SPIDER’S WEB AT THE OLD MILL Web of intrigue in Agatha Christie comedy whodunit unique blend of suspense and humour come together at the Old Mill Theatre this March in an Agatha Christie play parodying the detective thriller genre.

Directed by Donna Foote and June Richardson, Spider’s Web delivers tension and laughter in equal parts with an intricate plot of murder, police, drug addicts, invisible ink, hidden doorways and secret drawers.

Clarissa, a diplomat’s wife, is adept at spinning tales of adventure – but when a murder takes place in her drawing room she finds it much harder to cope with real-life drama.

Desperate to dispose of the body before her husband arrives with an important politician, she enlists the help of her guests until they are interrupted by a detective.

Spider’s Web was Agatha Christie’s second most successful play, after The Mousetrap.

“It appears at first to be the typical detective thriller play she was well-known for but it’s also a play with comedy,” Donna said.

Jennifer McGrath plays the main role of Clarissa in Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web “It’s the only time she incorporated both.

“Comedy is not any easy genre to direct Australia Post).

– the adage ‘timing is everything’ absolutely applies to this play.

Tickets are $25 (adults), $20 concession – book at www.

The characters are given funny lines but, in delivering those lines trybooking.com/BHLEV. or performing sight gags, they have to be timed perfectly or it all falls flat.

“Then there’s the other side of the play, dealing with murders and murderers, and we have to make it all work together.”

Both directors have known each other for fiftry years, after originally going to school together.

Donna was previously the State Manager of Musica Viva and has directed with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of WA three times over the past thirty years. Each Alan Kennedy as the irascible time, the show was I’ve Hugo Birch, the local JP Got A Little List, co-written with her musical director husband Andrew.

June was previously a professional stage actor in the UK during the 1980s.

“June and I were originally looking for a comedy play to direct at the Old Mill Theatre,” Donna said. “But when we came across this Agatha Christie comedy. It has the tension of a whodunit alongside some humorous characters.”

Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web runs at 7.30pm from March 13th to the 28th with 2pm matinees March 15 and 22 at the heritage-listed Old Mill Theatre on the corner of Mends Street and Mill Point Road, South Perth (opposite the Windsor Hotel and

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ROLEYSTONE THEATRE A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM AT ROLEYSTONE Sweet sounds of Sondheim deliver funny foray into forum farce ake a trip back through time and laugh yourself silly as Roleystone Theatre presents the popular Stephen Sondheim musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.

Inspired by the farces of ancient Roman playwright Plautus (251-183BCE), the musical was originally produced on Broadway in 1962 where it won several Tony Awards.

The musical, directed by Mark Thompson at Roleystone Hall, tells the story of Roman slave Pseudolus who yearns for his freedom, while his young master pines for the girl next door.

In exchange for his freedom, Pseudolus promises to find a way to unite the two young lovers but, as always, the course of true love never runs smooth, paving the way for many humorous moments and twists in the tale.

The title of the show stems from a line often used by vaudeville comedians in music hall shows of yesteryear, as they announced: “A funny thing happened on the way to the theatre…”

“The musical combines 2000-year-old comedies with the gawdy, infectious energy of classic vaudeville,” Thompson said. “It’s basically a non-stop laughfest. It has a lot in common with British farces, in that it’s unrelentingly fast and

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Terrance Ngai, Ben Small and Taye Wickland are appearing in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Photograph by Zyg Woltersdorf)

Phila (Arianne Westcott-King) and Hero (Chris Alvaro) (Photograph by Zyg Woltersdorf)

full of witty dialogue.

“Towards the end of the show, the musical – which started at a light jog – turns into an all-out sprint to finish. Getting through it without an actor tripping on a doorway or hurting themselves will be a miracle.”

Involved in theatre for the past fourteen years, Thompson has worked with the Koorliny Arts Centre, Murray Music and Drama, Laughing Horse Productions and the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of WA.

He has received several best actor or supporting actor nominations at the annual Finley Awards for roles in Beauty and The Beast, Cinderella, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and Oliver!

“I’ve wanted to direct a musical for the past three or four years but couldn’t quite settle on one I wanted to do,” Thompson said. “I knew I wanted to do a classic – something funny and charming.

“When someone mentioned Forum, I bought a copy of the soundtrack and practically listened to nothing else for about a month.

“Everybody Ought to Have a Maid is now a banned song in my home.”

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum runs from March 28th at 2:00pm and 7:30pm; Sunday the 29th March at 5:30pm and April 4th; 7.30pm March 28, April 3rd and 4th at 7:30pm and another matinee at 2:00pm on the 4th April at Roleystone Hall, 44 Jarrah Road (corner of Wygonda Road), Roleystone.

Tickets are $25 (Adults), $20 concession – book at www. trybooking.com/ BITWB. 37

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GARRICK THEATRE CLUB INC THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

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DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND-BRUCE

t was a dark and stormy night, suddenly a blood-curdling scream rang out. It was a scream of laughter - yes, that’s right Teens at Garrick were rehearsing their next production, The Hound of the Baskervilles under the direction of Gail Lusted and Rodney StickellsPalmer.

The play is adapted, fairly loosely, on the classic novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by Kent R Brown, who has taken the main thread and booted out Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr John H Watson, replacing them with the two, more usual, protagonists’ close relations - Shirley Holmes, Sherlock’s neice (which makes her Mycroft Holmes’ daughter, I guess) and Jennie Watson, who are minding the shop at 221b Baker Street while they’re away.

Shirley, studying logic, and Jennie, studying medicine, are busy preparing for upcoming exams A dramatic moment in rehearsal for the Hound when there’s a knock on the door. It’s asn.au or on Trybooking: www.trybooking.com/BHWCY. Dr. Maxine Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskerville, who’ve come to seek the assistance of the famous Sherlock Holmes.

There’s no time to recall Holmes and Watson from their trip. “We’re all you’ve got,” says Shirley. And indeed they are!

In this fast-paced adaptation, full of wailing hounds, thundering hooves, and the slithering mists of the moor, Shirley and Jennie follow the trail of evidence and intrigue until, at last, they are confronted by the ravenous Hound itself!

Shirley Holmes is played by Victoria Abbott and Jennie Watson by Olivia Fellows plus a large supporting cast of adults and teens.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, as a comic thriller opens at Garrick Theatre Club Inc on the 30th April and runs at 8:00pm (and 2:00pm for matinees) at Garrick Theatre, 16 Meadow Street, Guildford until the 16th May.

Tickets cost $25 for adults ($22 concession) and $15 for the twelve and under and may be booked by ringing Elaine on 9378 1990, emailing her on bookings@ garricktheatre.

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IRISH THEATRE PLAYERS

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LAUGHING HORSE PRODUCTIONS JEKYLL AND HYDE AT DON RUSSELL Musical explores what evil lurks in the hearts of men aint-hearted beware! The musical horror-drama Jekyll & Hyde is coming to the Don Russell Performing Arts Centre.

Presented by Laughing Horse Productions and directed by Zoe Jay, the show is loosely based on the novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Dr Jekyll is grieving over his father who has become mentally ill and distant, so he promises to find a cure that will rid his body of all evil.

As the board of governors denies his research, Dr Jekyll starts experimenting on himself but, instead of ridding evil, it becomes embodied within him and Mr Hyde is born.

The show follows Mr Hyde’s violent outbursts while Dr Jekyll L to R: Justin Mosel-Crossley, Brittany Isaia, Royce Newall and Liam Tickner becomes obsessed with his work.

(Photograph by Viva Photography Rockingham)

The musical Jekyll & Hyde was first staged at Houston’s Alley Theatre Note: The show contains adult themes and is recommended in 1990 where it broke box office records and played to sold-out for people aged twelve and above. houses, leading to the run being extended twice.

After moving to Broadway, the musical scored four Tony Awards, three Drama Desk Awards and six Outer Critics Circle Awards.

“The musical follows the power struggle between good and evil with Dr Jekyll representing everything good while his alter ego Mr Hyde is as evil as can be,” Zoe said. “There is a lot of violence, sex and mature scenes – trying to direct that kind of movement, and the feelings, is really challenging for any director, as well as for the actors involved.

“But I don’t want to take the easy way out, I want it to be real.”

First performing at age nine in The King and I at Rockingham Theatre, Zoe has never looked back although is more known for her dancing skills after graduating from the WA Academy of Performing Arts in 2007.

She has choreographed numerous shows, including Beauty and the Beast at the Regal Theatre and Oklahoma! which scored her a gong for choreography at the annual Finley Awards.

More recently, Zoe has turned her hand to directing Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and Bonnie and Clyde – nominated for three Finley Awards – with the Murray Music and Drama Club.

“I’ve always been weirdly fascinated with the id, ego and superego theories and I’m intrigued by these underlying themes in Jekyll & Hyde,” she said.

Jekyll & Hyde runs from March 13th, to the 21st at 7.30pm, with 2pm matinees March 14 and 21 at The Don Russell Performing Arts Centre, Lot 13, Murdoch Road, Thornlie.

Tickets cost $30 (adults), $22 concession and $15 children (ages 12-16) and may be booked at tinyurl.com/ jekyll2020.

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LIMELIGHT THEATRE QUARTET HITS THE RIGHT NOTE Equal parts poignancy and comedy

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et ready to laugh, sigh and cry a little as four retired opera singers take you into the bittersweet world of facing up to age and mortality.

Written by Ronald Harwood and directed by Gwen Browning at Limelight Theatre, Quartet is set in a retirement home for professional musicians with Cecily, Reggie and Wilfred ready to celebrate Verdi’s birthday with an annual concert.

Reggie’s ex-wife Jean arrives and upsets the balance, continuing to act like a diva and refusing to sing – but the show must go on.

In 2012, a film adaptation was directed by Dustin Hoffman and starred Billy Connolly, Maggie Smith, Pauline Collins and Tom Courtenay.

“I loved the film,” Browning said.

“For those of us in their 60s and above, the L to R: Susan Marsh, Chris Juckes, Gino Cataldo and Susan Vincent situation and state the characters are in is located on Civic Drive, Wanneroo. all too familiar.

Tickets cost $21 (Adults), $18 concession, and may be

“I felt the play would appeal to our more mature patrons booked at www.limelighttheatre.com.au or on 0499 954 016. while also providing a good laugh for everyone.”

Involved with Limelight Theatre since 1983, Browning has performed – as she puts it – in “too many productions to remember”.

She was named best actress at Limelight Theatre in 1992, 1996, 2004 and 2006, also scoring the accolade at the 1995 State Drama Festival.

Browning has directed the plays Hotel Sorrento, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Life x 3 and Talking Heads, winner of best production in 2012.

The main challenge with Quartet, she says, is working with a cast of only four. It goes without saying that a group of strong actors is essential,” Browning said.

“The actors must also be able to bounce off each other and work well as an ensemble.”

Quartet runs from April 8th, to the 18th at 8:00pm with a 2pm matinee April 11 at Limelight Theatre is

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NON - FICTION THE NOBLE RECREATION

DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND-BRUCE “The detective-story is the normal recreation of noble minds.” Philip Guedalla

THE RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Freeman was forty-five at the time and from then on until his death in 1943 he produced on average one book a year, enjoying considerable success with Dr Thorndyke over twentyone novels and forty short stories.

Freeman’s other claim to recognition is his claim to the invention of the ‘inverted detective story’, one in which we know from the outset ‘who’ did it, and the action revolves around how they will get caught - as they inevitably must be in a Silver Age story.

The stories are interesting in a clinical sort of way - any of the Dr. Thorndyke stories involve genuine, but often quite arcane, points of scientific knowledge, from areas such as tropical medicine, metallurgy and toxicology.

Thorndyke is described by his author as a ‘medical jurispractitioner’: originally a medical doctor, he turned to the bar and became one of the first — in modern parlance — forensic scientists.

His solutions were based on his method of collecting all possible data (including dust and pond weed) and making inferences from them before looking at any of the protagonists and motives in the crimes.

The stories have little or no literary merit - renowned detective story historian and commentator Julian Symons described them as ‘very much like chewing dry straw’, and cites an example - Thorndyke is talking to his ‘idiot friend’ Jervis: ‘a philosophic conclusion, Jervis, and worthy of my learned friend. It happens that the most intimate contact of law and medicine is in crimes against the person and consequently the proper study of the medical jurist is crime of that type.’ It doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, does it?

Thorndyke resides at 5A King’s Bench Walk, Inner Temple.

He is often assisted by his friend and foil Christopher Jervis, who usually acts as narrator, and always by the resourceful Nathaniel Polton, his crinkly-faced lab technician.

Thorndyke tended to have a better relationship with the police (usually in the form of Superintendent Miller) than Sherlock Holmes did, despite proving them wrong on numerous occasions. Thorndyke, although tall, athletic, handsome, and clever, never married.

Freeman, like Doyle before him, was much influenced by one of his teachers - in Freeman’s case, Dr Alfred Swaine Taylor, an English toxicologist and medical writer, who has been called the “father of British forensic medicine”. He was Lecturer in Medical Jurisprudence at Guy’s Hospital.

Dr Thorndyke has been described as ‘the greatest medicolegal detective of all time.’ He is a forensic scientist and lawyer whose methods are extremely technical and specialised. He is the exact diametric philosophical opposite of say, Father Brown and those detectives that arrive at the truth by using psychological and intuition.

Thorndyke is interested in things, physical evidence, not people. He seeks clues from physical entities which may eventually serve as evidence. He is hardly ever more than an

THE SILVER AGE ~ PART TWO 1890 TO 1925

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ontinuing our look at the many imitators and emulators of the Sherlock Holmes stories and novels.

RICHARD AUSTIN FREEMAN (1862-1943)

Like Dr Conan Doyle, Richard Freeman trained medically.

Firstly as an apothecary and then as a Doctor, entering the Colonial Service, being posted to the Gold Coast as an Assistant Colonial Surgeon.

Unfortunately, he contracted Blackwater Fever and was invalided out of the Service in 1891. In order to support himself and his family, he opened a medical practice in Gravesend and started to write in order to supplement his income.

His first book was Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman (1898). In 1907 he produced the first story featuring the detective who would start the whole genre of ‘medical detectives’ - Dr John Evelyn Thorndyke - in The Red Thumb Mark.

R Austin Freeman (1862 - 1943) 44

collections of short stories and anthologies.

In one of the stories a character says ‘It is a world filled with the mysterious joinder of the accident’. To which Abner replies: ‘It is a world filled with the mysterious justice of God!’

In all, Post was remarkably prolific, writing 230 titles in all.

Certainly the best characterised are the twenty-two about Uncle Abner, who looks and sounds like a Virginian Lincoln - rugged and austere, God-fearing, moral and with a profound knowledge of the Bible.

The Abner stories are deeply, even aggressively American in The Edge of the Shadow, for example, there is an argument about the validity or otherwise of slavery and the murder is that of an abolitionist.

Dr John Evelyn Thorndyke

arm’s length away from his research kit; ‘the inevitable green case’ with its collection of miniature instruments and chemicals.

This is where the fascination lies in the Thorndyke stories the originality and accuracy of detail. When we watch Thorndyke going to work on a footprint with his plaster, water-bottle, spoon and little rubber bowl, we are conscious of watching an actual and likely process of forensic detection.

Physically Thorndyke is the most handsome of the detectives. freeman gave him every possible advantage; tall, slim, athletic with a fine Grecian nose and classic features. He also enjoys acute eyesight, hearing and an extraordinary manual dexterity - amazingly desirable skills for a doctor and surgeon.

Thorndyke is not claimed to have super-human intelligence but merely scientific imagination couple with enormous experience and knowledge. The ability to perceive the essential nature of a problem before the necessary evidence has been accumulated.

He approaches each case with solemnity and painstaking exactitude, sublimating his wit to become reserved and secretive.

He has profound knowledge over a wide area of fields as far apart as anatomy, archeology, botany, Egyptology and opthalmology.

MELVILLE DAVISSON POST (1869 – 1930)

If Dr Thorndyke, for all his skill, may be regarded as a ‘plain man’, there is no possible doubt that Post’s detective, the splendidly named Uncle Abner, is a ‘superman’.

Uncle Abner seems to speak not only to speak with the voice of men, but that of God.

Abner’s creator, Melville Davisson Post, was an American lawyer and politician who lost interest in politics and turned to writing.

Little known outside America, nevertheless Post’s stories about Uncle Abner and his other five detectives are often found in

Melville Davisson Post (1869-1930)

And in A Twilight Adventure Uncle Abner stops a lynching and at the same time giving a lecture on the dangers of circumstantial evidence.

Abner’s knowledge of people and his ability to judge their souls enables him to dissect the mysteries. One of the best stories is An Act of God, in which the solution is provided via a cunning phonetic mis-spelling, proving a deaf man had not written a disputed document.

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However, the attractions that the stories hold for Americans Shadows Around Us, a collection of supernatural stories. simply do not exist for non-Americans. No matter how cleverly

Three years later Morrison published his first detective structured the plots. Abner’s genius is more claimed than story featuring the detective Martin Hewitt. Later in 1894 he demonstrated - in at least one story his reasoning is badly flawed. published Martin Hewitt, Investigator.

He deduced that a man had followed the left side of a wall

Morrison began writing his important novel A Child of the ‘because his controlling side was on the left - because he was left- Jago in early 1896. It described in graphic detail living conditions handed’. in the East End, including the permeation of violence into

Of his other characters, three are American, Randolph everyday life (it was a barely fictionalised account of his early Mason, a lawyer, Colonel Braxton, also a lawyer and Walker of life). Morrison also published The Adventures of Martin Hewitt in the Secret Service.

1896.

However, two are ‘foreign’. The first is Sir Henry Marquis

Like his Tales of Mean Streets, and To London Town the of Scotland Yard (The Sleuth of St James Square, 1920) and the purpose of the book was to highlight the plight of the poor and second a French policeman, Monsieur Jonquelle - complete with disadvantaged. The books were influential and resulted in social monocle, (Monsieur Jonquelle: Prefect of Police of Paris, 1923). change, especially housing reform.

The very best that can be said of their writing and

In 1897 Morrison published seven short stories detailing characterisation is that the speech is demonstrably not the exploits of Horace Dorrington. In contrast to Morrison’s American.

Post, a keen horseman, died at the age of James Forte is a mystery writer and playwright, who will be familiar to regular readers of the Swan Magazine with his stories featuring detective Celine. He specialises in the ‘Locked Room’ genre of mystery. He was asked to give his opinion of the Martin Hewitt stories, which have a similar leaning.

MARTIN HEWITT - AN APPRECIATION JAMES FORTE

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sixty-one as a result of falling off a horse.

ARTHUR GEORGE MORRISON

Arthur Morrison (1863 – 1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London’s East End, and for his detective stories, featuring the detective Martin Hewitt.

He also collected Japanese art and published several works on the subject. He left a large collection of paintings and other works of art to the British Museum after his death.

His 1911 book The Painters of Japan is still a standard work on the subject.

Morrison was born in 1863. Arthur spent his youth in the East End, and in 1879 he began working as an office boy. Morrison published his first work, a humorous poem, in the magazine Cycling in 1880, and took up cycling and boxing.

In 1885 Morrison published his first serious journalistic work in the newspaper The Globe. In 1886. In 1888 he published a collection of thirteen sketches entitled Cockney Corner, describing life and conditions in several London districts.

In 1891 he published his first book The

y opinion of the Martin Hewitt stories by Arthur Morrison - in one word: ‘disappointing’.

The stories are well written with believable characters. The plots are sometimes quite ingenious and I like the fact that (like Sherlock Holmes) most of them are NOT about murder.

However the solution of the first, The Lenton Croft Robberies, was trivial.

/* spoiler */

The moment we read that the sparkly jewelry was taken from a secondfloor locked room with the window slightly open, we think bird. (Ever since Rossini wrote the opera The Thieving Magpie in 1817 – and he took it from a much earlier stage play.) Two pages later we read that one of the suspects owns a parrot.

Morrison was one of the authors that contributed to The Strand Magazine when Doyle stopped writing about Holmes. His stories were also illustrated by Sidney Paget. Perhaps someone told him the first solution was too easy. Because then the stories become impossibly difficult.

Perhaps Morrison was unaware of the conventions of the impossiblecrime genre, which had already been laid down. Or perhaps he decided to ignore them (and his own common sense) to develop his own style.

Unforgivably he introduces new information and vital clues in the detective’s explanation at the very end.

As an example, we can look at The Case of the Dixon Torpedo.

/* spoiler */

Somehow the plans for a powerful new weapon have been stolen from the office of its inventor. They have been taken away and photographed. Only Dixon and his two draughtsmen had access and none of them had left the office. And no one else had entered it.

Only in the final explanation are we told that the junior clerk had a hollow Malacca cane which was left in an outer room and the thief had an identical cane which he swapped. Nowhere in the whole story up to then were Malacca canes even mentioned.

Perhaps the idea was to make Hewitt appear even more brilliant. And Morrison does it in practically every story. Since reading the book, I have looked up some reviews of the Hewitt stories. Many people comment on how revealing the central clue at the end is cheating.

“Hewitt discovers something off stage and returns to tell the reader how

it solved the crime.”

“The reader has zero chance of solving the mystery.”

“Hewitt doesn’t share any deductions or clues with the reader.”

“We are not privy to all the information Hewitt has.”

“Hewitt then builds his entire case on that missed bit of information.”

“This style patronizes the reader.”

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as The Stanway Cameo Mystery in which a dealer discovers that a cameo he has sold is a forgery and steals it back again to save his reputation.

Hewitt’s chronicler is a journalist friend - Brett.

The chronicles of Martin Hewitt are covered in four collections of short stories.

It has been postulated by some members of the Sherlock Holmes Societies that Hewitt is a pseudonym for Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s older, smarter brother based on the less than compelling evidence of a certain similarity between the two as drawn by artist Sidney Paget in The Strand Magazine, plus the coincidence of the initials M H.

Both are stout, with round amiable faces and kind natures.

(So is Nero Wolfe - and we’ll look at that theory more closely later.)

Intriguing as the theory might be, I do not feel much ink need be expended in its defense or destruction.

NICK CARTER

Arthur George Morrison (1863 - 1945)

earlier character Martin Hewitt, Dorrington was “a respected but deeply corrupt private detective,” “a cheerfully unrepentant sociopath who is willing to stoop to theft, blackmail, fraud or cold-blooded murder to make a dishonest penny.”

These stories were collected into a book titled The Dorrington Deed Box.

If Uncle Abner was a superman supreme and Dr Thorndyke a gifted plain man, then Morrison’s main detective, Martin Hewitt must be the plainest of all the imitators of Sherlock Holmes.

He has often been described as who one critic described as a “low-key, realistic, lower-class answer to Sherlock Holmes.”

Martin Hewett began life as a lawyers clerk, during which he had been so successful in collecting evidence for his employer’s clients that he decided to establish a private detective agency.

His office is in an old building near the Strand and has a plain ground glass door on which appears the single word ‘Hewitt’. Hewitt is as unlike Holmes physically as he is similar to him in method.

Hewitt is stout, of average height, with a round smiling face and an amiable nature. He is bland and colourless and he normally solves his cases by means of his skill in statistical and technical matters with ‘no system beyond judicious use of ordinary faculties’.

The first and best of the three Hewitt collections of short stories contains some cases with interesting ideas in them, such

Nick Carter was created by John Coryell and first appeared in September 1886, in the New York Weekly. The character was conceived by Ormond G. Smith, the son of one of the founders of Street & Smith - he also provided an outline of the first plot, published in a thirteen-week serial as The Old Detective’s Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square.

The character proved popular enough to headline its own magazine, Nick Carter Weekly. The format proved popular and many authors continued the series.

As well as Coryell, stories were written by Frederick W. Davis, who wrote eight Nick Carter stories for The New Nick Carter Weekly in 1910 and 1912; Frederick Van Rensselaer Dey who wrote more than a thousand stories; Thomas C. Harbaugh; George C. Jenk; Eugene T. Sawyer; Charles Westerbrook and Richard Edward Wormser among others, all writing as ‘By the Author of Nick Carter’, ‘By Sergeant Ryan’ or ‘Nicholas Carter’.

In an early Nick Carter story, the detective is described as thus: “giants were like children in his grasp. He could fell an ox with one blow of his small compact fist. Old Sim Carter had made the physical development of his son one of the studies of his life. Only one of his studies, however. ‘Young Nick’s mind was stored with knowledge knowledge of a peculiar sort. His grey eyes had, like an Indian’s been trained to take in minutest details fresh for use.

His rich full voice, could run the gamut of sounds from an old woman’s broken, querulous squeak to the deep hoarse notes of a burly ruffian.

‘And his handsome face could, in an instant, be distorted into any one of a hundred types of unrecognisable ugliness. he was a master of disguise, and could so transform himself that even old Sim could not recognise him. ‘ And his intellect, naturally keen as a razor blade, had been incredibly sharpened by the judicious cultivation of the astute old man.’

He sounds as though he could leap tall buildings at a single bound.

The novels and stories were immensely popular and the stories continued in one form or another until the mid-fifties, when they ceased.

However, following the success of the James Bond series in the 1960s, the character was updated for a long-running series of 47

novels featuring the adventures of secret agent Nick Carter, aka the Killmaster.

The first book, Run Spy Run, appeared in 1964 and more than two hundred and sixty Nick Carter-Killmaster adventures were published up until 1990.

The 100th Killmaster novel -- Nick Carter 100 - was accompanied by an essay on the 1890s version, and a short story featuring the character; that marked one of the few times the Killmaster series acknowledged its historical roots.

None of the Nick Carter series of books carried author credits, the Nick Carter name was treated as if it were a pseudonym, and many of the volumes were written in the first person.

honeyed lies? Can you undo what been done! Can you restore to me my girlish innocence?’

Sexton Blake is a detective with ‘similarities’ to Sherlock Holmes. They appeared on the scene within a few years of each other,both are portrayed as private consulting detectives operating from London’s Baker Street.

Both are bachelors, though there is often a strong hint of romance in the Sexton Blake stories, Yvonne Cartier being the object of Blake’s affection. Blake and Holmes both employ a housekeeper ~ Mrs. Hudson looking after the Holmes’ residence and the equally strong character of Mrs. Bardell attending to domestic arrangements for Sexton Blake.

Both detectives have an assistant but whereas Dr. Watson is a mature medical man, Sexton Blake’s assistant is a young man (late teens or twenties) called Tinker who addresses Blake as “Guv’nor” or “Chief”. Sexton Blake also has a bloodhound named Pedro.

Holmes and Blake both work amicably with the Metropolitan Police. Sexton Blake often works closely with Detective Inspector Coutts, a dependable but unimaginative bowler-hatted, plain clothes policeman of stocky build and ruddy complexion.

Blake and Coutts share a mutual respect based on many years of working closely together in their battles with the criminal fraternity.

SEXTON BLAKE

This sort of best-selling trash was very popular. In the UK, the Sexton Blake stories followed the same pattern as Nick Carter

The first Sexton Blake story was The Missing Millionaire.

Written by Harry Blyth (as Hal Meredeth), it was published in the story paper The Halfpenny Marvel in 1893 seven years after the first Nick Carter..

His adventures were published subsequently in a variety of publications, the magazine

Union Jack, the character was featured regularly until Union Jack became Detective Weekly continuing until Detective Weekly ended in 1940.

Blake also featured in a number of serials in the magazines The Boys’ Friend and Penny Pictorial. The Boys’ Friend introduced the first truly lengthy stories (of as many as 60,000 words), allowing for greater plot and character development.

Perhaps most famously, Blake featured in his own longrunning magazine, The Sexton Blake Library, from 1915 to 1968

Writers who worked on Sexton Blake stories throughout this fifty-three year span included Charles Henry St. John Cooper; John Creasey; Jack Trevor Story; Michael Moorcock, and (allegedly) Brian O’Nolan.

One of the most prolific was J E Preston Muddock (18431934) writing as Dick Donovan and whose prose style varied from moderately good to deplorably bad: ‘What the devil was it that prompted me to listen to your honeyed words, to drink in your

Despite the similarities between the Sherlock Holmes and the Sexton Blake stories, there are also a great many differences.

All the Holmes stories came from the pen of one man (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) whereas many authors wrote Sexton Blake stories, some rivaling the talent of Conan Doyle.

Indeed for millions of readers, particularly in the 1930s, there was only one Baker Street detective – Sexton Blake.

ERNEST WILLIAM HORNUNG (1866 - 1921)

Hornung, although born in Yorkshire, as a result of poor health left school in 1883 was sent to Sydney, in New South Wales where he spent three years.

This Australian atmosphere is reflected in many books.

Hornung was a prodigious writer of fiction, publishing numerous books beginning in 1890, with A Bride from the Bush, described 48

by one critic as a “graceful comedy of manners”, although he worked primarily as a journalist in London, all through the Jack the Ripper case.

Hornung married Constance Conan Doyle, the sister of Sir Arthur and they had a son, Arthur Oscar, named for his Godfather Arthur, and a mutual friend of both writers - Oscar Wilde.

The First World War brought an end to Hornung’s fictional

output. His son, Oscar, was killed at the Second Battle of Ypres in July 1915. Hornung joined the YMCA, initially in England, then in France, where he helped run a canteen and library.

Despite his poor health Hornung was an excellent player and something of an authority on cricket. At the age of fifty-four he and his wife went on a trip to France to help him recuperate and during it he caught influenza and died.

Because of the exciting circumstances surrounding the early settlement of Australia , stories of Australian convicts were vastly popular in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Aided by his early experiences, Hornung’s are amongst the best of them.

His Boss of Taroomba (1894) is the story of a girl who, with the aid of a German piano tuner defends her ranch against an attack by bush-rangers. The Rogues March is a serious novel about convicts in a chain gang in New South Wales.

Perhaps this preoccupation with crime and criminals is what led him to create the most famous of all fictional thieves.

Ignoring his brother-in-law, Arthur Conan Doyle’s advice ‘you must not make the criminal a hero’ Hornung created Arthur J Raffles, gentleman thief, introducing him in 1898 in a book entitled In the Chains of Crime.

Although Raffles is always referred to as ‘AJ Raffles’ one can’t help harbouring the suspicion who Hornung was thinking of when he names him ‘Arthur’.

Although much of Hornung’s work has fallen into obscurity,

his Raffles stories continue to be popular.

Raffles and his adoring sidekick, Harry ‘Bunny’ Manders reflect somewhat the relationship between Holmes and Watson, but very much more that between his friend, Oscar Wilde and his lover Lord Alfred ‘Boysie’ Douglas.

According to the stories Bunny a former schoolmate saved from disgrace and suicide by Raffles.

Raffles is stated to have been able to succeed at any career, but chose a life a crime. Penniless and desperate in Australia, he realises that his only salvation is to steal. He had intended that the robbery, forced on him by necessity, was to have been his only such venture, but found he loved the excitement and enjoyed the experience.

As he rather patronisingly explains to Bunny: ‘Why settle down to some humdrum, uncongenial billet when excitement, romance, danger and a decent living were all going begging together? Of course it’s very wrong but we can’t all be moralists and the distribution of wealth is very wrong to begin with.’

The atmosphere of the books and stories is aggressively English public school and latently homosexual. Bunny’s sickly sentimental hero-worship of Raffles is at odds with the underlying sadism of the stories.

For example, this is the plot of what Dorothy L Sayers called the ‘best of the stories’ - The Wrong House.

Raffles and Bunny set out on bicycles to burgle the house of a rich stockbroker at Teddington. Raffles cuts a hole in the kitchen door and thrusts his hand through. His hand is seized on the other side by boys - the burglars have broken into the wrong house, one occupied by a teacher and his pupils.

Bunny urges Raffles to ‘blaze through the door’ with his revolver, but Raffles refuses, nobly declining to shoot innocent children. ‘You get out, Bunny, while you can; never mind me, it’s my turn, old chap.’ His free hand tightens in an affectionate farewell.

E W Hornung

Bunny breaks in through a window and succeeds in drawing most of the boys off on a false chase. only ‘Beefy’ , ‘a red-faced barrel of a boy’ remains, still hanging onto Raffles’ hand. Bunny seizes this boy around the neck ‘with such a will that not a gurgle passed my fingers, for they were almost buried in his hot, smooth, flesh.’ Raffles then chloroforms him and he and Bunny try to make off on their bicycles, the boys giving chase. Raffles finally manages to beat off their pursuit by smashing the glass of his heavy electric torch into the face of the nearest boy.

Back safely at home Raffles celebrates with a Sullivan - one of his own personal cigarettes saying ‘By all my Gods, Bunny, it’s been the most sporting night we ever had in our lives’ ‘and he held out his dear old hand.’

This curious definition of ‘sport’ is peculiar to the times in which the stories were written. The highest compliment novelist Sydney Horler could pay the then Prince of Wales was ‘the world’s greatest sportsman.’ It is to be hoped he didn’t hit too many children in the face with a heavy electric torch to earn the title.

Raffles atones for his crimes, both legal and moral by dying heroically during the Boer War. After the death of Hornung by arrangement with his estate the character was re-created by novelist William Philip Atkey (1908 – 1985) writing as Barry Perowne, another pseudonym he used was Pat Merriman and he also published books under his own name.

The sequels are not as well-written as the originals, Hornung’s style being crisp and clear and widely-admired, but Perowne’s do maintain the same questionable moral stance.

Next time we shall be looking at the Clubland Heroes and their creators, after a sidelong glance at Arsene Lupin.

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SWAN VALLEY

SWEET TEMPTATIONS

TRAIL

handcrafted artisan produce

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swanval

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ley.COM.A

U/sweet

THE IDLER The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Mind

WILD BUTTERFLY GLENNYS MARSDON

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oung mother junkie seeks a second liver transplant after the first one failed due to drug use. Remember that media headline? If so, you might be interested in a movie I saw recently called Wild Butterfly that tells the gripping and insightful story behind the headlines. I know I don’t usually write about movies however this dramatized true crime documentary needs to be seen. It raises so many questions.

Wild Butterfly is a feature length, dramatized true crime documentary, that follows the tragic story of twenty-four year-old Claire Murray. Her parents Val and Michael Murray are telling the hidden story behind the headlines for the first time.

In hearing this the cynical amongst us might envisage a onesided rewriting of history penned by loving parents. True there can be little doubt about the intense love driving Val and Michael, however the documentary is based on nine years of painstaking research.

The research period included accessing medical records through Freedom of Information, years spent obtaining school records and new criminal evidence. Through this the documentary touches on possible cover-ups, medical negligence and missing police records.

One of the most damning aspects though is the trial by mainstream and social media, which is shown using real online, radio and TV social media commentary. I’m sure many of you will remember this aspect of the story.

For those who don’t recall, Claire was depicted as a junkie who after recklessly destroying her first liver transplant was asking for help to obtain another. The media went into overdrive detailing the story, even undertaking a poll into

whether she should or shouldn’t receive the transplant.

The poll showed 76% of 8,000 people disagreed with Claire being given another chance.

Wild Butterfly explores Claire’s teenage years and the relationship between trauma, mental health issues and drug use.

All of Claire’s dialogue is taken from her poetry, journal entries and comments recorded in psychiatric reports.

It’s tough going listening to her inner thoughts. These are supplemented with her parents’ statements about what Claire said to them. The dramatization is soulfully portrayed by Ashleigh Zinko.

Claire was not eligible to re-join the local transplant system as she’d used heroin after receiving the first transplant.

The family found an option on Singapore and the government provided a loan. What was uncovered in Singapore added another fascinating and tragic element to the story (you need to watch the movie).

Wild Butterfly is a tough story beautifully told through interviews and enactments. The revelations will have you considering much beyond this one family’s story. It raises so many questions about society. For starters it is a reminder that we don’t really know what’s happening in people’s lives and yet how quick we are to judge.

It also raises the question, just because we can doesn’t mean we should. Should we really be running polls on what amounts to someone’s life and death? It feels a little like being in the crowd at a public hanging doesn’t it? Thankfully the bad side of humanity is balanced by the compassion and love shown by Claire’s family.

After such a short, tough life the hope is Claire is in a kinder place.

In presenting Wild Butterfly Claire’s parents hope no other family will go through a similar ordeal and that the perpetrator will finally being brought to justice.

They hope that someone watching this film will speak out.

Disclaimer: Wild Butterfly deals with challenging and confronting themes. If watching the film raises any issues for you we encourage you to seek support.

For movie sessions check out the limited sessions between March 9 and May 20th.

In Western Australia: March 9th – Event Cinemas Innaloo and Ace Cinemas Rockingham March 11th – Hoyts Cinemas Millennium March 15th – Grand Cinemas Bunbury April 8th – Readings Cinema Belmont May 20th – Windsor Theatre

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SWAN VALLEY AND REGIONAL NETWORK JOB OPPORTUNITY - BUSHFIRE VOLUNTEERS Sponsorship and Partnership Manager Exciting full-time opportunity to join a small team that makes a positive difference to more than 20,000 registered Bushfire Volunteers.

Remuneration: $70,000 plus superannuation, car and mobile (or allowance). Immediate start.

Background

Bushfire Volunteers is a registered charity and the not-for-profit peak body that represents, supports and promotes WA’s 560 Bush Fire Brigades, their 20,000+ registered volunteer members and the thousands of others who enable them to serve and protect communities all over the State.

The association was incorporated in 1991 and in mid-2019, hired its first ever full-time employee.

One of the primary goals of that appointment was to develop strategies to enable a substantial increase in the number and breadth of services we provide to members, government and the broader community.

Consequently, we now have ambitious plans , however, it has been confirmed and reinforced by our traditional funding body that in order to finance the work required, this association will need to invest in developing alternative sources of revenue.

We therefore seek to recruit a highly proficient, resilient and creative individual to join our team in the role of Sponsorship and Partnership Manager.

Notes: We don't want your application to be just a box-ticking exercise and therefore purposefully have not included selection criteria.

The only non-negotiable criteria we have are that you "get" the concept of voluntarism and support the invaluable work of Australia's emergency service volunteers.

We welcome applications from individuals in regional areas.

Closing Date: There is no closing date for this position. An appointment will be made and this advertisement removed as soon as the right candidate is confirmed.

About the job

Our first Sponsorship and Partnership Manager will play an integral part in the future operational and strategic success of Bushfire Volunteers.

As this is a brand-new role in a very lean team, the successful applicant will need to be willing and able to selfinitiate, take responsibility for their work and deliver positive outcomes from the first week.

This is not an entry-level position.

Among the highest priorities of the Sponsorship and Partnership Manager are to:

Proactively identify, initiate, secure and maintain strong, ethical and mutually rewarding relationships with current and future sponsors and partners, take a leadership role in the on-going development and evaluation of the association’s sponsorship and partnership strategies, tools and procedures, record accurate and up-to-date information on all sponsorship and partnership activities, maintain and share a strong awareness of current news, trends and innovations in not-forprofit funding, actively and enthusiastically participate as a team member in the broader evolution and success of the association.

Are you the one?

You tell us!

If you are excited by what you’ve read, do some research about us and the sector then using any combination of the contact details below, convince us that the association will benefit by investing in you.

Make your application a case study that proves you have the skills we need to forge strong, successful relationships with our sponsors and partners.

Contact details Email: darren.brown@bushfire.org.au Facebook: @BushfireVolunteers Twitter: @bushfirevol Instagram: @bushfirevol LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/bushfirevolunteers Phone: 1800 23 8657 Post: Level 2/161 Great Eastern Hwy. Belmont WA 6104

YOUR COMMUNITY

Public Event Grants are now available!

Grants of up to $20,000 are available to support the delivery of signature community events in Aveley.

Events can be, but are not limited to, the following areas: Culture and arts Sport and recreation Health and wellbeing Youth and community development

For more information or to obtain the Aveley Community Fund - Public Event Grants - application and guidelines, please contact the City of Swan on 9207 8579 or CDEllenbrook@swan.wa.gov.au Grant applications close 31 March 2020

www.swan.wa.gov.au

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CoS2310

• • • •

SWAN VALLEY AND REGIONAL NETWORK BIKE FUNDING BOOST

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GREG PEKIC

ity of Swan has secured $200,000 in funding from the McGowan Government’s WA Bike Network grants scheme.

West Swan MLA Rita Saffioti said the grant will be used to fund a further extension of the West Swan Road and will improve the Swan Valley’s bike network and improve safety.

As part of the annual WA Bike Network (WABN) grants, the State Government matches funding with local governments, who have successfully applied for the funding.

The grant allows the McGowan Government to partner with the City of Swan to build a further 600 metres of Principal Shared Path between West Swan Road between Millhouse Road and Great Northern Highway in Belhus.

The project forms part of a broader need to connect to planned and existing shared path facilities along Gnangara Road, south of Gnangara Road along West Swan Road, and south of West Swan Road along Great Northern Hwy.

Future stages will complete the missing link west of Millhouse Road through to Gnangara Road, although this work does not form part of the current WABN Grants application.

This wider cycling vision for the Swan Valley will complete a vital link between surrounding residential areas, Ellenbrook town centre and the Swan Valley. It also contributes to the eventual completion of an off road shared path loop around the entire Swan Valley tourist area.

City of Swan is one of fifty local councils sharing more than $7.6 million in funding which will add more than ffity kilometres to the WA Bike Network over the next two years.

In addition to local government infrastructure projects, funding has also been committed to continue the Your Move Connecting Schools program, which aims to improve bicycle access, way finding, bicycle education and end-of-trip facilities at schools.

The grants follow a successful WA Bike Month Challenge, which took place throughout November and saw more than 2,300 participants from nearly 200 organisations ride well in excess of 750,000 kilometres.

The full list of funded projects is available at www. transport.wa.gov.au.

West Swan MLA Rita Saffioti: “This latest grant follows the McGowan Government’s previous WA Bike Grants contribution to complete the Gnangara Road PSP through Aveley.

“Bit by bit we are working to create a safe cycling loop through the Swan Valley, which will make cycling more and more appealing for visitors to the area.”

“I encourage all residents to give riding a go. It’s a great way to keep fit and see more of our wonderful community.”

“There are countless benefits to walking and riding, which is why the WA Government continues to add to its record funding of cycling infrastructure through the WA Bike Network grants scheme.

“To get more people riding more often, we need to build safe and accessible facilities, which is why we have prioritised facilities that connect communities to the primary cycle network and public transport hubs.”

F

REVIEW OF 1989 ACT

ederal Member for Hasluck, the Hon Ken Wyatt AM MP is informing residents of the Lands Acquisition Act 1989 (the Act) review.

The Government is undertaking a review of the Act to ensure it reflects modern community expectations and is in line with current public administration practices. Public consultation will inform the Review and feedback from interested people is invited.

The Review will consider reforms made by state and territory governments and refine the Commonwealth’s approach. Any changes to the legislation as a result of the Review will not be retrospective.

Public consultation will ensure views are taken into account and community expectations are understood, noting these may have changed since the Act was introduced.

The Department of Finance has released a discussion paper to seek views on matters relating to the Act and welcomes submissions.

Further details on the consultation process, including how to provide feedback, can be found on the Review website at: www.finance.gov.au/publications/reviews/review-landsacquisition-act-1989

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WE HAVE MOVED

Now Open

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#AdoptLove

Even Superman had foster parents!

With so many animals looking for their permanent homes and families our SAFE branches are in NEED of foster carers.

If you have room in your home for one more, then we need you.

All you need is the home and the love and we will provide the rest. #Fosteringsaveslives to experience the joy of animal companionship and help to save a life, sign up to foster with SAFE today!

We have 11 branches: Metro (located in Perth), Avon Valley, Broome, Bunbury, Busselton, Carnarvon, Esperance, Hedland, Goldfields, Karratha and Newman. To volunteer as a foster carer, go to https://safe.org.au/volunteer/ and fill out the form.

You can even speak with experienced foster carers if you’d like to know more.

PHOTOGRAPH: HELEN OSLER

SAFE Inc. is Western Australia’s largest volunteer-based animal rescue organisation using the foster care model. Founded in 2003, we currently have 12 branches state-wide and have successfully rehomed more than 23,000 homeless animals. More than 80% of money donated goes directly to animal care. We are aligned with a wide network of Australia’s most respected welfare organisations and are the Western Australian arm of Animal Welfare League Australia (AWLA). SAFE Inc is also the 2018 national winner in the category Outstanding Rescue Group in the Jetpets Companion Animal Rescue Awards.

FOSTER CARE keeps animals out of cages and is the key difference between SAFE and other organisations that utilise shelters. Fostering ensures animals are socialised with other pets and children (where appropriate) and greatly improves an animal’s chance of adoption. To become a foster carer, the first step is to contact either our SAFE Avon Valley branch on 0409 000 259 or our Perth-based branch, SAFE Metro on 0475 346 545 or 0448 893 033.

VOLUNTEER: https://safe.org.au/volunteer/

DONATE: https://safe.org.au/donate

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ADOPT: https://safe.org.au/find-a-pet/

FOOTNOTE PEOPLE IN HISTORY AUDREY MARIE MUNSON (1891 - 1996) Long after she and everyone else of this generation shall have become dust, Audrey Munson, who posed for threefifths of all the statuary of the Panama–Pacific exposition, will live in the bronzes and canvasses of the art centers of the world.

- Richmond Times-Dispatch, August 1, 1915 udrey Marie Munson (died February 20, 1996, aged 104) was an American artist's model and film actress, today considered "America's First Supermodel."

In her time, she was variously known as "Miss Manhattan", the "Panama–Pacific Girl", the "Exposition Girl" and "American Venus." She was the model or inspiration for more than twelve statues in New York City, and many others elsewhere.

Munson was also the first American actress to appear fully nude in film, in Inspiration (1915).

Audrey Marie Munson was born in Rochester, New York, on June 8, 1891. Her parents divorced when she was eight, and Audrey and her mother moved to Providence, Rhode Island.

In 1909 the pair moved to New York City, where the seventeen-year-old Audrey sought a career as an actress and chorus girl. Her first role on Broadway was as a "footman" in The Boy and The Girl at the New Amsterdam Theatre, in 1909. She also appeared in The Girl and the Wizard, Girlies and La Belle Paree.

While window-shopping on Fifth Avenue with her mother she was spotted by photographer Felix Benedict Herzog, who asked her to pose for him at his studio.

Herzog introduced her to his friends in the art world.

She posed for muralist William de Leftwich Dodge, who gave her a letter of introduction to Isidore Konti. Konti was her first sculptor, and her first nude modeling.

From this point Munson would pose for a few wellknown visual artists, including painter Francis Coates Jones, illustrators Harrison Fisher, Archie Gunn, and Charles Dana Gibson, and photographers Herzog and Arnold Genthe, but she was predominantly a sculptors' model.

Munson's first acknowledged credit is Konti's marble statuary called Three Graces unveiled in the new Grand Ballroom at the Hotel Astor in Times Square in September 1909.

She posed for all three graces.

Soon after, and for the next decade, Munson became the model of choice for the first tier of American sculptors, posing for a long list of freestanding statuary, monuments, and allegorical architectural sculpture on state capitols and other major public buildings.

According to The Sun in 1913, "Over a hundred artists agree that if the name of Miss Manhattan belongs to anyone in particular it is to this young woman."

By 1915, she was so well established that she became Alexander Stirling Calder's model of choice, when he became Director of Sculpture for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco that year.

Her figure was "ninety times repeated against the sky" on one building alone, atop the colonnades of the Court of the Universe, roughly modeled on St. Peter's Square in the Vatican.

In fact, Munson posed for three-fifths of the sculpture created for the event and earned fame as the "Panama–Pacific Girl".

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FILM FAME

Munson's newfound celebrity helped launch her career in the nascent film industry and she starred in four silent films. In the first, Inspiration (1915), the story of a sculptor's model, she appeared fully nude, the first woman to do so in an American motion picture.

The censors were reluctant to ban the film, fearing they would also have to ban Renaissance art. Munson's films were a box office success, although the critics were divided.

The studio hired a lookalike named Jane Thomas to do Munson's acting scenes, while Munson did the scenes where she posed nude. Her second film, Purity (1916), made in Santa Barbara, California, is the only one of her films to survive, being re-discovered in 1993 in a "pornography" collection in France and acquired by the French national cinema archive.

Her third film, The Girl o' Dreams, also made in Santa Barbara, was completed by the fall of 1916 but appears never to have been released.

Munson returned to the East Coast by train via Syracuse in December 1916, having been involved with high society in New York and Newport, Rhode Island.

There are accounts where her mother insists she married the son of a "Comstock Lode" silver heir, Hermann Oelrichs Jr., then the richest bachelor in America. There is no record of this.

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On January 27, 1919, she wrote a rambling letter to the US State Department denouncing Oelrichs as part of a pro-German network that had driven her out of the movie business. She said she planned to abandon the United States to restart her movie career in England.

In 1919 Audrey Munson was living with her mother in a boarding house in Manhattan, owned by Dr. Walter Wilkins. Wilkins fell in love with Munson, and on February 27 murdered his wife, Julia, so he could be available for marriage.

Munson and her mother left New York, and the police sought them for questioning.

After a nationwide hunt, they were located.

They refused to return to New York, but were questioned by agents from the Burns Detective Agency in Canada.

The contents of the affidavits they supplied have never been revealed, but Audrey Munson strongly denied she had any romantic relationship with Dr. Wilkins. Wilkins was tried, found guilty,

model who was so beautiful?"

In February that year, agent-producer Allen Rock took out advertisements showing a $27,500 cheque he said he had paid Munson to star in a fourth film titled Heedless Moths based on these writings. She later said the cheque was just a "publicity stunt," and filed suit against Allen Rock.Those proceedings revealed that the twenty articles had been ghostwritten by journalist Henry Leyford Gates.

In the summer of 1921 Munson conducted a nationwide search, carried by the United Press, for the perfect man to marry. She ended the search in August claiming she didn't want to get married anyway.

On October 3, 1921 she was arrested at the Royal Theater in St. Louis on a morals charge related to her personal appearance with the film Innocence, in which she had a leading role.

She and her manager, independent film producer Ben Judell, were both acquitted. Weeks later she was still appearing in St. Louis, along with screenings of Innocence, enacting "a series of new poses from famous paintings".

In 1922, Munson attempted suicide by swallowing a solution of bichloride of mercury.

and

sentenced to the electric chair although he hanged himself in his prison cell before the sentence could be carried out.

Whether as a direct consequence or not, the Wilkins killing marked the end of Munson's ten-year modeling career. She continued to seek regular newspaper coverage.

By 1920 Munson, unable to find work anywhere, was reported as living in Syracuse, New York, supported by her mother, who sold kitchen utensils door to door. I

From January through May 1921 a series of twenty serialized articles ran in Hearst's Sunday Magazine in dozens of Sunday newspaper supplements, under Munson's name, the whole series entitled By the 'Queen of the Artists' Studios'. The twenty articles relate anecdotes from her career, with warnings about the fates of other models. In one she asked the reader to imagine her future: What becomes of the artists' models? I am wondering if many of my readers have not stood before a masterpiece of lovely sculpture or a remarkable painting of a young girl, her very abandonment of draperies accentuating rather than diminishing her modesty and purity, and asked themselves the question, "Where is she now, this 57

FINAL YEARS On June 8, 1931, Munson mother petitioned a judge to commit her to a lunatic asylum. The Oswego County judge ordered Munson be admitted into St. Lawrence State Hospital for the Insane in Ogdensburg, where she was treated for depression and schizophrenia, for 65 years For decades she had no visitors at the asylum, but she was discovered there by a half-niece, Darlene Bradley, in 1984. When Munson died, at the age of 104, she was buried without a gravestone of her own in the Munson family plot in New Haven Cemetery, New York.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER PHILIP BENWELL

I

THE SPLIT - WHAT DOES IT MEAN

WHY CAN’T REPUBLICANS TELL US THE TRUTH?

Britain has had a royal family as long as it has had a King n July 2017, Malcolm Turnbull, when Prime Minister and obviously playing to a wider audience stated “Even republicans but the concept of that family being totally engaged in public like myself can be, and in my case are, very strong Elizabethans,” activities is a more recent concept.

The most important figures in the Royal family are those in he paid tribute to the Queen as having embodied “selfless public the immediate line of succession, which is, essentially, those who service, dignity, wisdom and leadership for longer and more would be King. Other members gradually move on to do their magnificently than anyone alive today”. AAP 12/7/17) own things.

However, it didn’t take him long to change his tune. On

In more recent times we have seen this with the Tuesday, the 26th November, when speaking to a republican descendants of Queen Victoria onwards. The Queen’s own sister, dinner in Canberra this so-called Elizabethan said, “it is an Princess Margaret, was a sort of part-time royal, as are her “absurdity” and “crazy” that the Queen is the nation’s head cousins, the descendants of George V.

There is therefore nothing untoward in the Duke and of state when she is “not a citizen of Australia”. (Australian Duchess of Sussex seeking to be more independent and to live 27/11/19) The Queen is Queen of Australia and passports are their own lives. issued in her name through her representative, the Governor Prince Harry, once third in line to the throne, is now sixth in General. line after the birth of his nephew Prince Louis, and his place in

Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, said that the controversy the Succession will move further down the line as the children involving Prince Andrew and the deep divisions over Brexit was of his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, have their own children. a reminder that Australia was “tethered to events in another He, and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, like others before them, country, beyond its control.” (Guardian 27/1/19) believe it is now time for them to carve out a life for themselves

And this is the man who seeks to be the alternative Prime and their son.

Minister. A man who knows full well that the Duke of York has

What was unusual was that they had pre-empted a formal nothing constitutionally to do with this country and neither does statement from Buckingham Palace and thus created confusion over what they were actually doing. Concluded on page 60 ...

Brexit.

Furthermore, he is fully aware that Australia is not ‘tethered’ to the United Kingdom and that we are a free and independent nation choosing ourselves to be under the Crown.

All republicans seem to do is to condemn our current system of governance and raise spurious issues as reasons for becoming a republic.

Their plan is not to tell us what sort of a republic we are to have before wanting us to vote for a republic nor have they ever told us how their republic would be able to duplicate the current checks and balances and all the safeguards Australians currently enjoy under the Crown. The State Opening of Parliament with HM Queen and HRH the Prince of Wales (Photograph courtesy of the House of Lords)

58

COMMUNITY Compassionate Friends of Western Australia strives Tthathetochild’s support families who have lost a child, regardless of age throughout WA.

We are a non-profit, non-government funded charity that provide peer call support, group meetings, a drop in centre, sending out quarterly newsletters, Anniversary Cards, we hold Walk of remembrance and a candlelight service (non-religious) at Christmas.

We are run by volunteers and bereaved parents that are further along in their grief and wish to help others who have suffered this tragedy.

Although everybody’s grief is different it helps to talk to someone who has actually had this tragedy happen to them.

They WON”T say “I know how you feel” as no one can, but they will say “I don’t know exactly what you are feeling but this is how I felt when my child died”.

We raise funds by holding events, charity drives and donation from our members and outside bodies.

Although this is fantastic, we still struggle with the cost of keeping our doors open so any suggestion on fundraising or donations are gratefully accepted.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED We are always looking for volunteers to help man Sausage Sizzles, Charity Shopping Centre Drives and other events along with peer support volunteers (bereaved parents) for telephone support and group meeting facilitation.

WALK OF REMEMBRANCE HELD IN MARCH EACH YEAR Events like these above give the bereaved some hope of a life after the death of their child. They connect with others that have been through the same tragic experience.

In doing so its helps them to feel that they are not alone in their grief, that there is a worldwide connection to other suffering the same.

DONATIONS Donations allow us to purchase stamps so we can send our booklets and other information to the newly bereaved, community groups, doctors surgeries and hospital throughout Western Australia.

They help us cover advertising cost in newspapers throughout Western Australia, pay for our office and utilities allowing us to have Peer Support Workers come in and contact to bereaved that wish to 54 Simpson Street, Ardross have contact.

6107 6257

The Compassionate Friends of WA Inc. receives no Government funding in any way.

59

COMMUNITY

Concluded from page 58 ...

Unfortunately, the hurried release of their statement gave impetus to the media to again talk about a republic in Australia.

However, the Queen had summoned the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry to a meeting, held yesterday, to ensure that the matter was clarified. Her Majesty, herself, has issued the following statement:

“A statement from Her Majesty The Queen

Published 13 January 2020

Today my family had very constructive discussions on the future of my grandson and his family.

My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family. Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family.

Harry and Meghan have made clear that they do not want to be reliant on public funds in their new lives.

It has therefore been agreed that there will be a period of transition in which the Sussexes will spend time in Canada and the UK.

These are complex matters for my family to resolve, and there is some more work to be done, but I have asked for final decisions to be reached in the coming days.”

T

he Awards are all about the passion of people who are committed to making regional and rural Western Australia a better place to live.

“Winning the Prime Super Employer Excellence in Aged Care Award was a proud moment for South West Community Care. I was so pleased that I was able to attend the award ceremony accompanied by my executive team. It was a great moment for our organisation to receive the recognition it deserved. One of our marketing campaigns was for South West Community Care to be recognised as an ‘Employer of Choice”.

Winning this award affirmed the success of that campaign.

Our Board, management team and all employees want to thank the WA Regional and Community Achievement Awards for providing the means for excellent regional organisations to be recognised”, said Claire Roach, CEO of South West Community Care and Winner of the Prime Super Employer Excellence in Aged Care Award 2019

If someone has impressed you with their community spirit, why not nominate them! The Western Australian Regional Achievement & Community Awards will launch on Wednesday 22nd April 2020, and the state-wide search for local contributors who are making a real difference in your region will begin.

Here is a sneak peek of some of the categories that will be open for nominations;

• Insurance Commission of Western Australia Regional Safety Award

• RAC Volunteering Award

• Ricoh Australia Customer Service Award

• Rinehart Development of Northern Regional WA Award

• Curtin University Teaching Excellence Award

Conluded from page 35 ...

A minor quibble: the set was far too clean and new and looked nothing like any dressing room that I have ever seen.

A few more stains and old posters on the woodwork would have suited the ancient ‘B’ studio were the actual film was shot.

But full marks for the design and construction of a set which drove the action.

For the most part, the play progresses as a series of alternating monologues as the two separately describe the same incidents directly to the audience. Each probes the vulnerabilities of the other.

The superb script also provides parallels to some of the incidents in the film. The part where Joan is whispering on the telephone as Bette tries to eavesdrop is particularly powerful.

In summary, this is a fine script pushed to the limit by firstclass character acting. I hope that this will be a great year for community theatre – that there will be stunning performances in the months to come.

But when it comes to dishing out the 2020 glittering awards, this production sets the standard to beat.

Highly recommended.

For further insight on determining which category to nominate into or to read about the other categories available visit www.awardsaustralia.com/waraca

Great prizes are up for grabs, plus every person or group nominated will receive a certificate of achievement.

Already thought of your community champion?

Be sneaky and put in an early nomination by contacting the Awards office on 9201 1155.

Since the creation of the Western Australian Regional Achievement and Community Awards in 2002, it has aimed to encourage, acknowledge and reward the valuable contributions individuals, communities and businesses are making throughout regional and rural Western Australia.

The awards recognise and pay tribute to their achievements, which contribute to making regional Western Australia a better place.

Concluded from page 7 ...

Young people in the Shire of Mundaring may be familiar with Blackboy Hill, and can be imaginative to create a short story about it.

There are cash prizes, books and memberships to the Writers’ Centre, and more information and an entry form can also be found on the KSP website.

Entries close on Thursday 9 April, the last day of Term 1, and winners will be contacted early in Term 2. With Anzac Day approaching, budding writers and those just wanting to have a go, are encouraged to get into the spirit of this very important day by brainstorming their ideas, putting pens to paper and entering the competition.

Good luck!

60

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