Nov 13 min read

The Kingdom of Eucalypts - Moira Blumenthal Productions (NSW)

Written by Alice Spigelman. Presented by Moira Blumenthal Productions

A powerful, era-crossing exploration of Australian writer Miles Franklin's hardly-known life

Reviewed by Juliana Payne

Presented by Moira Blumenthal Productions

Bondi Pavilion

Until 17 November

Tickets: https://www.bondipavilion.com.au/whats_on/event/the_kingdom_of_eucalypts

The Kingdom of Eucalypts depicts Australian writer Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, exploring the puzzle pieces of her hardly-known life. In the process of writing the play, Alice Spigelman immersed herself in the diaries of Miles Franklin of the 1930s and 1940s, which had been written in code to disguise them from her mother’s prying eyes. The Kingdom of Eucalypts covers the middle period of Miles Franklin’s life, when she has returned to Australia after decades of a storied and exciting life in London and the USA. Feeling smothered in a small house in Carlton with her ageing, conservative mother, Miles struggles to find inspiration or income in 1930s suburban Australia. As Franklin chases the thrill of the literary and political milieu she had overseas, Spigelman uncovers a perhaps not-so-surprising element of Franklin’s associations during this time.

The play is a cleverly constructed framework which sees the young Miles in the first flush of her success (Sarah Greenwood) in constant intellectual battle with the older, disillusioned Miles (Beth Daly). This structure works very well to illuminate her character, and helps to tease out how a person changes over time. The two actors have a natural rapport and both bring authenticity to their portrayals. Alice Livingstone as Miles’ old mother Susannah Franklin is very believable in her role – she just cannot understand her daughter, and is bitterly disappointed in her daughter’s unmarried, childless state. James Coetzee plays Edwin Bridle, the young cousin who Miles refuses to marry, and Lloyd Allison-Young portrays Percy “Inky” Stephenson, the man influencing Miles at the other end of her life. He is suitably manipulative and mealy-mouthed as he tries to use Miles for his own purposes.

Photography by Igor Turin

Spigelman says she was taken by Franklin’s ‘strident, funny, ascerbic’ voice in the diaries, and this energy is captured well in the script. Some of the longer speeches can come across as rather didactic, although we know that was the style at the time. The most striking element of Franklin’s worldview that is highlighted by this play is her complete lack of awareness or acknowledgement of Aboriginal Australians. Her enthusiastic embrace of the neo-fascist Australia First Movement with all its nationalistic jingoism completely ignores the true First Australians. She even goes as far as to call the white settlers of her association the ‘first Australians’. Whilst jarring to a modern audience, these are important sentiments to understand and come to terms with, as it illuminates so much about the problem this country has in reconciling and accounting for our history.

Whilst jarring to a modern audience, these are important sentiments to understand and come to terms with, as it illuminates so much about the problem this country has in reconciling and accounting for our history.

The set by Kate Beere is simple but evocative of the era with its wooden frames and Turkish rugs, and Martin Kinnane's lighting design does extremely well within the limitations of the facility, spotlighting the performers upstage and down to capture the shifting action. Moira Blumenthal’s direction is straightforward and keeps the action moving along rapidly in this depiction of one of the most famous Australian writers. However troubling that Franklin’s engagement with the fascist movement may seem, we need to understand what drives this appeal and what chords it strikes within people, because it is again calling people to the dark side. This play cleverly handles the challenging themes and would be a useful discussion starter for schools and other groups who want to explore how to stop this from happening.