The Lucky Country

In this warm-hearted, joyous show the songs tell the story of the people, places and history that make up Australia.  First in a bush schoolroom but followed by snapshots of contemporary Australia’s vibrant ethnic diversity.  There are glimpses of our dark history too and the show never forgets the First Nations people who were here long before the waves of immigration that make up our ‘lucky country’ today.  The mood, the tone, the spirit, however, is almost entirely upbeat, positive, exuberant, sometimes ironic and knowing but in the end celebratory. 

The show is carried by a cast that represents our diversity – the multi-talented Vidya Makan herself, with Garret Lyon, Naarah, Anusha Thomas, Phoenix Jackson Mendoza, Karlis Zaid, Jeffrey Liu (Jëva) and Billy McPherson – all of whom can sing in any style, dance, make us laugh and quietly move us too.   Karlis Zaid, in a wheelchair tells a tragic wartime story.  But he’s also a mad keen Aussie footy fan – who doesn’t like beer – but who bonds with Jeffrey Liu who’s only pretending to like footy so as to fit in...  Great comedian and singer Naarah, who kicks off the show as the bush schoolteacher, appears, behind a discrete curtain, after a satisfying intimate encounter with complete stranger Zaid, as they wonder, ‘Is this The One?’.  Then there’s a chorus line of the whole cast pretending to be boisterous Russians.  And Phoenix Jackson Mendoza rocks in red-spangled hot pants in the number ‘I could Kill Ya’...

All this happens in front of a giant screen on which is projected Justin Harrison’s resonant, suggestive animated images of Australia – beginning with a sunny seascape, complete with swooping birds and trees and grasses stirred by a by a gentle breeze.  But then there’s that schoolroom... There’s a lonely shack in the bush somewhere.  There’s a farm with rows of vegetables triumphantly growing.  There are native animals.  And there’s a magical starry night.  All working so well to illustrate and enhance the songs as they tell their story.

The finale of this tight (sixty-five minutes) show has the audience repeating with the cast - in language - an affirmation of community – accompanied by Billy McPherson’s didge.  Flawless in every aspect of its execution, Makan and Suares’ The Lucky Country lifts the audience with its performances, animation, music, songs – and positive ‘message’.  The standing ovation is well deserved.

Michael Brindley

Photographer: Jodie Hutchinson

P. S. The ‘lucky’ of the title is certainly not Donald Horne’s famous and mostly misunderstood line, that ‘Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck.’  I’d be very surprised, however, if Vidya Makan is unaware of Horne’s criticism, but she wants it to say something else.  And that is, that contemporary Australia is lucky in its multicultural make-up, its variety and achievements.  (Even if Horne’s opinion still applies...)