The Season

Nathan Maynard has written a love letter to his community, which harvests mutton birds on a small island in Bass Strait, and the frequent gales of laughter from the opening night audience let it be known that the affection is contagious.

During the season literally millions of mutton birds burrow into the sand of the small specks of the island off the coast of Tasmania before they embark on their 30,000 kilometre global circumnavigation.  It’s a dangerous business – harvesters reach up to their armpit deep into the holes, not sure if they will score a bird or a deadly tiger snake.

‘Dog Island’ where this play is set is a salty, earthy and lusty place.

The play opens the night before the harvest begins with the elders getting down and dirty.  Stella Duncan opens her top – urging her husband Ben a “black hunk of a spunk” to participate in their “night before tradition”.

“Woman! You know me. I’m all about tradition,” he replies as they dissolve into a sea of kisses.

The central job of harvesting the birds is a gory business. The birds are pulled out of their nest, their heads banged on a barrel as they are gutted. The director Isaac Drandic employed a simple but effective device to replicate this. The mutton birds were small towels, allowing them to be swung, slung and hooked onto a stick without the blood and guts. Wrapping all the action was the set, a gently sloped beach with holes in it that lit luminously at night.

The talented indigenous cast, drawn from across Australia, never disappointed. Kelton Pell (Ben) from Perth tasted his first mutton bird only a week before the world premiere. He told me afterwards that he relished feasting on the flesh which some say tastes a bit like duck and a bit like salmon. His spouse Tammy Anderson relished her equally larger than life role of Stella. She dished up as good as she got when a grandchild plays a prank on her.

Another striking actor was Trevor Jamieson as the ranger/rival mutton birder who frequently had his shirt off contrasting his trim ‘abs’ against a long white beard. His whiskers were so impressive that I was convinced they were fake, but was surprised to confirm afterwards they were the real deal.

Perhaps the only thing lacking in the play is a central climactic piece of drama (think Storm Boy and the rescue of the boat). There are plenty of small episodes ranging from an affair, to young love, a minor brush with the law but overall it is a positive loving memoir.

Given how the narrative of indigenous news in media is often bleak The Season is a nice antidote to that. This a very impressive achievement to debut a play of this quality at the Sydney Opera House complete with an entire indigenous creative team and cast.

David Spicer

Photographer: Prudence Upton