The Sapphires
By Tony Briggs
Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney
Until February 20
REVIEW BY BRENDAN DOYLE
Was it because of the tsunami and the sombre mood we've all had to get used to lately? In any case, the Sunday afternoon audience was really pumped up for this feel-good musical play in the grand tradition of Bran Nue Day, Corrugation Road and other Koori musicals.
The four women who make up The Sapphires, Deborah Mailman, Rachael Maza, Lisa Flanagan and Ursula Yovich, with their outstanding singing talent, sang their hearts out with one Motown hit after another, playing up to the need for joy and foot-tapping soul music. And who can do black soul music better than Koori women?
This finely polished performance, directed by Wesley Enoch, is fresh from its premiere season in Melbourne.
The play is set in 1968, in the middle of the Vietnam War. It tells the story of four Aboriginal women from country NSW who form a singing group, The Sapphires. One night, while performing at the Tiki Club in St Kilda, they are noticed by a self-appointed tour promoter, Dave (Christopher Pitman), who signs them up for a gig entertaining Australian and US troops in Vietnam.
The action quickly moves to the war zone, where life suddenly becomes a lot more interesting and challenging for these four country girls.
Tony Briggs largely based his story on true events. His mother, Laurel Robinson, and her sister Lois did go to sing in Vietnam. Briggs expanded the group from two to four for dramatic reasons. He only learned the story of his mother's remarkable adventure five years ago.
The play takes us through many moods, but the primary one is humour. Even when the sisters realise they are surrounded by US soldiers, one of the sisters says: "Don't worry, half the troops here are black!" Briggs says he was surprised how well non-Aboriginal audiences have responded to the Indigenous sense of humour.
While it's the soul music that holds the show together and gives it unstoppable drive, the cast also bring a raw, generous energy that audiences aren't used to experiencing much in the theatre these days. When it happens, we just want more. You feel that everyone on stage is enjoying themselves. They've got a good story to tell and they're dying to share it with you.
"The story of The Sapphires is such an inspirational one that I had to share it with everybody. It had to be told", writes Briggs. His initial inspiration was the Motown music and other classics of that era. "I would listen to the stories in their songs and they would tell me to express myself, to hold my head up high and to be proud."
Black director Wesley Enoch has a similar message: "The more we focus on what we want and where we want to go and feel empowered regardless of whether people give us that power or not — just take it — then I think we will achieve great things."
The Sydney season is already sold out, but watch out for the show if it hits other centres. A movie is bound to follow.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, February 9, 2005.
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