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meteordustIn October, I saw the play The Demon at the Sydney Opera House. It was described as:
A Chinatown for Western Sydney, The Demon reimagines a dark story in the history of White Australia. Using physical theatre and aerial stunts that push the boundaries of magic realism on stage, it tells the story of two Bankstown detectives, Arab Australian Jihad and his Aboriginal Muslim partner Matthew/Muhammad, investigating a crime allegedly perpetrated by a Chinese Australian street fighter. To solve the mystery, the brother-boys must ask: does a curse inhabit a land or its people? Don't miss this noir fable, exploring the demons we invite into our hearts.
I love stories about cultural identity and with multicultural casts, so this was right up my alley. I was also intrigued by the promise of aerial stunts and magic realism.
According to the program book, The Demon is based on a historical event in 1861, when a mob of white men attacked a camp of Chinese miners, at the Burrangong goldfields on Wiradjuri land. They marched in with a brass band and carried a flag with circus and confederate iconography.
The play tells the story of a Chinese woman who was killed there, a treasure she took from the land, her descendant trying to lay those ghosts to rest, and the two detectives who are tracking her down and have also faced racism and death themselves. It's a story about the sins of the past. The demon is a malevolent force that possesses people, causing acts of violence, jumping from body to body over the centuries. (But also, the demon is racism.)
The plot was a bit more lightly drawn than I expected, and some of the dialogue was a bit clunky. But I really appreciated that they're telling this story at all, and giving voice to the experiences of Indigenous, Asian, and Muslim communities in Australia.
The highlight for me was the night driving scene through the outback, elegantly conveyed with the two detectives being wheeled around on a flatbed trolley with headlights. Jihad muses on the Afghan cameleers who built the railways in Australia, and how being in the outback makes him feel a connection to his ancestors, riding their camels through the deserts of their ancient homeland.
Muhammad says, in scathing rebuke, "My desert isn't your desert."
It's a brilliant moment that shines a spotlight on the reality that this land was stolen, and the difference between immigrant and Indigenous experiences. Sometimes we defend ourselves against racist attacks, by stating the truth that Australia has been multicultural for many decades of history, but the deeper truth is we are still trespassers. How do we reconcile the struggle to belong with the fact that this land belongs to someone else? I really loved that the play is grappling with these issues, in a similar way to how New Gold Mountain explores the conflict between cultures.
The other highlight was the looping flashback acrobatic sequence. After a lethal chase where a pursued suspect falls from a construction site, the two detectives are trying to get their stories straight before reporting to headquarters. As they narrate the events again, rewinding when they contradict and correct each other, the two detectives and the two suspects reenact the scene several times. It was really impressive because of the stunts and acrobatics, which involved hand to hand combat, climbing up scaffolding, and - for one performer - repeatedly somersaulting from a height onto a crash mat. Despite the dark subject matter, the physical comedy was a tension breaker amid the otherwise serious plot.
The other aerial acrobatics in the play involved wirework, with performers flying through the air during fight sequences and dream sequences. It was very cool. There were also scenes featuring dance and martial arts. A very multi-talented cast.
The dialogue contained frequent swearing and racial slurs (which were warned for up front). I assume it was to convey the tough guy attitude of noir, or the blokiness of young guys from Western Sydney. Some of it was in-group (affectionate), some of it was out-group (derogatory), and most of it was in conversation rather than used as aggression. It was still kind of jarring. But what weirded me out a bit was the choice of slurs for some groups, which seemed to refer to other groups and were also a bit outdated. I wonder if it was a conscious choice in order to soften the impact, but still get across the attitudes of the characters?
The Demon was performed as part of the UnWrapped arts festival. I don't know how easy it would be to restage it, given that you would need performers with a range of complex skills. But I would love to see more plays in a similar vein, telling stories from more perspectives, about our complicated relationship to this land and to each other.
A Chinatown for Western Sydney, The Demon reimagines a dark story in the history of White Australia. Using physical theatre and aerial stunts that push the boundaries of magic realism on stage, it tells the story of two Bankstown detectives, Arab Australian Jihad and his Aboriginal Muslim partner Matthew/Muhammad, investigating a crime allegedly perpetrated by a Chinese Australian street fighter. To solve the mystery, the brother-boys must ask: does a curse inhabit a land or its people? Don't miss this noir fable, exploring the demons we invite into our hearts.
I love stories about cultural identity and with multicultural casts, so this was right up my alley. I was also intrigued by the promise of aerial stunts and magic realism.
According to the program book, The Demon is based on a historical event in 1861, when a mob of white men attacked a camp of Chinese miners, at the Burrangong goldfields on Wiradjuri land. They marched in with a brass band and carried a flag with circus and confederate iconography.
The play tells the story of a Chinese woman who was killed there, a treasure she took from the land, her descendant trying to lay those ghosts to rest, and the two detectives who are tracking her down and have also faced racism and death themselves. It's a story about the sins of the past. The demon is a malevolent force that possesses people, causing acts of violence, jumping from body to body over the centuries. (But also, the demon is racism.)
The plot was a bit more lightly drawn than I expected, and some of the dialogue was a bit clunky. But I really appreciated that they're telling this story at all, and giving voice to the experiences of Indigenous, Asian, and Muslim communities in Australia.
The highlight for me was the night driving scene through the outback, elegantly conveyed with the two detectives being wheeled around on a flatbed trolley with headlights. Jihad muses on the Afghan cameleers who built the railways in Australia, and how being in the outback makes him feel a connection to his ancestors, riding their camels through the deserts of their ancient homeland.
Muhammad says, in scathing rebuke, "My desert isn't your desert."
It's a brilliant moment that shines a spotlight on the reality that this land was stolen, and the difference between immigrant and Indigenous experiences. Sometimes we defend ourselves against racist attacks, by stating the truth that Australia has been multicultural for many decades of history, but the deeper truth is we are still trespassers. How do we reconcile the struggle to belong with the fact that this land belongs to someone else? I really loved that the play is grappling with these issues, in a similar way to how New Gold Mountain explores the conflict between cultures.
The other highlight was the looping flashback acrobatic sequence. After a lethal chase where a pursued suspect falls from a construction site, the two detectives are trying to get their stories straight before reporting to headquarters. As they narrate the events again, rewinding when they contradict and correct each other, the two detectives and the two suspects reenact the scene several times. It was really impressive because of the stunts and acrobatics, which involved hand to hand combat, climbing up scaffolding, and - for one performer - repeatedly somersaulting from a height onto a crash mat. Despite the dark subject matter, the physical comedy was a tension breaker amid the otherwise serious plot.
The other aerial acrobatics in the play involved wirework, with performers flying through the air during fight sequences and dream sequences. It was very cool. There were also scenes featuring dance and martial arts. A very multi-talented cast.
The dialogue contained frequent swearing and racial slurs (which were warned for up front). I assume it was to convey the tough guy attitude of noir, or the blokiness of young guys from Western Sydney. Some of it was in-group (affectionate), some of it was out-group (derogatory), and most of it was in conversation rather than used as aggression. It was still kind of jarring. But what weirded me out a bit was the choice of slurs for some groups, which seemed to refer to other groups and were also a bit outdated. I wonder if it was a conscious choice in order to soften the impact, but still get across the attitudes of the characters?
The Demon was performed as part of the UnWrapped arts festival. I don't know how easy it would be to restage it, given that you would need performers with a range of complex skills. But I would love to see more plays in a similar vein, telling stories from more perspectives, about our complicated relationship to this land and to each other.
