The Last Days

The Last Days
By Manuel Casha. Strathmore Theatrical Arts Group. Director: Mel de Bono. Nov 18 – 27, 2010.

S.T.A.G. supports new playwrights, giving them an opportunity to see their plays performed and maybe gauge the success or otherwise as to the presentation.

The Last Days, a story for many Australians who have migrated to Australia and still miss the old country, is one such example. This storyline is about Gianni, a successful businessman with successful children and grandchildren who love their grandfather. Gianni, a recent widower, feels there is nothing here and wants to return to the old country, although his family and friends are all in Australia and he does not know anyone back in the home he left 50 years ago. The Last Daysis written by a Maltese/ Australian writer and directed by an Australian/ Maltese director. Although this play is set in the Maltese community, it would apply equally to any migrant community.

A well-written play, but as one migrant member of the audience said, why doesn’t he go back on a trial basis instead of permanently leaving his friends and loved ones.

The S.T.A.G. set designer and team did a wonderful job of recreating an Australian suburban home with the Maltese taste.

Overall the cast handled the characters with sympathy and feeling, though I feel that one role was miscast, testimony to the occasional difficulty local theatres have in attracting the correct members of the male acting fraternity.

A moving play covering the difficulties of migration, the Vietnam War, life and death of a partner and family member, particularly when your roots are in another country, which perhaps only now remains as a memory.

A successful and moving evening by Strathmore Theatrical Arts Group well, appreciated by the mixed audience both recent arrivals, long term arrivals and your regular Australians.

Peter Kemp

Photographs from top: Stephen Randall as Phillip & Michael Bently as Gianni, and April Reynolds as Salvina & Elwyn Randall as Georgina -  The Last Days

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.