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The Cherry Pickers

Reviewed by Alfred Hickling

16 May 2002 - The history of Aboriginal playwriting begins here, with a compendious piece chronicling the theft of the indigenous Australians' country. It was written by Kevin Gilbert in 1968, while serving a 14-year prison sentence in one of Australia's harshest jails. You might expect it to be bitter. It's not.

Moodgee, as Gilbert was known, was less interested in reprisals than reconstruction. The Cherry Pickers is a deeply philosophical piece that attempts to formulate a way of reconciling native tradition with the reality of modern life. It oozes optimism under the most crushing circumstances, but Gilbert's favourite saying was that "you sharpen your axe on the hardest stone".

Gilbert sharpened his axe in the most unconventional way, and his play follows no logic but its own. The narrative is a rich stew of creation myths, tribal ritual, political oratory, dirty jokes, terrific songs and interminable hanging about. Indeed, it is the hanging about that forms the heart of the play.

Gilbert structures the work around a group of indigenous Australians condemned to wander the margins of their own continent in pursuit of whatever work they can find. They have set up camp to wait for the commencement of the cherry-picking season, traditionally marked by the largest cherry tree bearing fruit, and the arrival of Johnollo, a talismanic figure who evidently shares Godot's sense of punctuality. In the meantime, they tell stories, sing songs and keep the audience royally entertained for the play's 90-minute duration.

Gilbert refused to license the piece for production until it could be performed by an all Aboriginal troupe, which did not occur until a year after his death in 1993. This is the second production, and the European premiere. It is presented by the Sydney theatre company, one of the world's great ensembles, whose all-Aboriginal members can flip between serious rhetoric and scabrous humour in an instant. It is less like going to the theatre than having fun around a campfire, even while you are made to recognise that it is your host's future that is going up in smoke.

• The Cherry Pickers Tours to Brighton, Salisbury, Exeter and Nottingham.
  

Source: The Guardian (UK)

Further information:

• May 21 - 25: Brighton Festival
  May 28 - 30: Salisbury Festival
  June 4 - 8: Northcott Theatre, Exeter
  June 11 - 15: Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham University

Further information:

• Exploring the pain of the 'Stolen Generations'
  November 10, 2002 - Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo) - Stolen tells the stories of five members of these "Stolen Generations." The work, which is to be performed in Tokyo next month, draws attention to the different forms the removal took and highlights the disastrous emotional impact on indigenous people's lives, particularly in adulthood.
• Look at us now
  June 15 2002 - At school, when the Aboriginal actor Deborah Mailman was cast as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, she protested to the teacher: "Miss, I don't think Dorothy is black?"
• The Aussies are coming
  1 May 2002 - The Observer (UK) - British audiences rarely get to see drama from Down Under, but now Madonna, star of Up for Grabs, is set to change all of that. Daniel Rosenthal meets its creator, the playwright.
• `Sharpen your axe on the hardest stone'
  February 2002 - The Cherry Pickers, Sydney Theatre Company: We laughed, cried, felt uplifted, some felt offended — one blackfella cursed and walked out — but we all felt part of a strong, shared theatrical experience, that will stay in the heart.A voice for his people - Kevin Gilbert, Aboriginal artist, poet, playwright and activist, died on April 1, in Canberra, after a long battle with emphysema. Kevin's daughter, Kerry Reed-Gilbert, prepared the following tribute to her father, in poetry and prose.
• Stolen
  November 23, 2001- The Guardian (UK) - Sometimes in the theatre it is the way you tell the story that matters most. and sometimes it is just the story that is crucial.
• Stolen: An Aboriginal tragedy
  8 September, 2001 - Black Britain News - What do you do when you meet your mother for the first time in 26 years? Shake her hand? Give her a hug? Will she feel like your mother? What does having a mother feel like?
• Aboriginal sin of Australia exposed
  3 May, 2001 -The Ham & High (UK) - 'Stolen' particularly excels when exploring the mental illness, inability to settle down and suicide that result from their upbringing. By the end, you are left with a few eloquent images – snapshots of bewilderment, leave-taking, home-coming and searching.

Further information: culture issues page - includes news index and external links

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