Strong socially progressive views, music and poetry distinguish Neil Cole’s new play An Audience with Don Dunstan.
It shines a light on the South Australian premier, who served in the role from 1967 to 1968 and from 1970 to 1979.
The flamboyant and eclectic Dunstan (21st September, 1926 – 6th February, 1999) was born in Fiji and moved to Australia at the age of seven.
From an upper middle-class family, he was noted for his flashy attire, including the pink shorts and long white socks he wore into parliament.
His sexuality was a major talking point. When he rose to power, homosexuality was illegal.
Although he was married twice, he lived out his life with his long-term male partner Steven Cheng.
An Audience with Don Dunstan unfolds in various time frames, charting his legal and political life, and its aftermath.
When it opens, Dunstan is no longer in the highest political office in the state.
It is June 1996 and he is having a drink in a cabaret bar – just he and the singer/waitress Asyia, a Somalian refugee.
A candid conversation follows, interspersed with direct, unfiltered questioning from journalists as we step back to when Dunstan assumes power.
We get an insight into his intellect, his interests and his passion for reform and justice.
The production starts with the song Mack the Knife, for which Dunstan praises the waitress, but points out she didn’t sing it with Bertolt Brecht’s original lyrics.
She is studying drama and visual theatre at university. That doesn’t please her parents, who wanted her to pursue “an honourable profession”, such as medicine or law.
In turn, Dunstan reveals his own interest in the arts … and cooking.
During the course of the piece’s 80-minute running time, his political agenda unfolds.
After he becomes the MP for Norwood, he tells a journalist that he is out to change the dynamic of politics in South Australia … with flair.
And so it is that he sets about decriminalising homosexuality, recognising Indigenous rights, relaxing censorship and drinking laws, and much more.
All these elements are touched on.
After graduating as a lawyer, Don Dunstan campaigned against the death penalty in the wake of a particularly heinous crime.
As a politician, he spoke out against the White Australia Policy and against Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
He appointed the first female judge (Dame Roma Mitchell) and the first Indigenous governor (Sir Doug Nicholls).
Amidst controversy, he also dismissed the state’s police commissioner, whom he had appointed, which results in a court case, to which we are privy close to the end.
Neil Cole has crammed a lot into the show, giving us an insight into the life of a unique reformer, who didn’t run with the pack.
Unquestionably, he left a unique imprint upon his state and the country.
I admire the format that Cole has adopted to bring to life Dunstan’s impact and style. It is a very personable representation of the man and what he stood for.
Adopting theatricality, Cole has even managed to insert a little soft shoe shuffle.
We are taken on a journey by the three actors – Alec Gilbert as Dunstan, Ag Johnson as Asyia and Isabella Gilbert as the journalists.
Notwithstanding some shaky moments, they breathe life into the material and are engaging in so doing.
Alec Gilbert is not backward in coming forward with Dunstan’s strongly held views.
Ag Johnson is friendly and agreeable, while there is a freshness and buoyancy about her when she sings. In fact, the three harmonise nicely.
The musical numbers in the offering include We’re A Couple of Swells (think Fred Astaire and Judy Garland), Sinnerman (Nina Simone).
There is also Feel Like I’m Fixing To Die Rag (Country Joe & The Fish) and Strange Fruit (Billie Holiday).
Isabella Gilbert plays up the reporters’ probing questioning.
The staging involves a bar setting with a few small round tables and chairs, and a platform for the chanteuse and where a court case will play out.
Some of the transitions between scenes could have been tightened.
And a scene near the end – the court case involving the former police commissioner – goes on for far too long. In fairness, it was the only one I didn’t care for.
Part of the reason for that also had to do with the actors singing their lines in that instance, which I thought was totally unnecessary. I should add it was the only time that was attempted as a device.
But the life and times of Don Dunstan makes for rich pickings.
Neil Cole has renewed interest in a man that helped shaped South Australia and had the whole of Australia talking about him.
Directed by Alicia Ben-Lawler, An Audience with Don Dunstan is on at Chapel Off Chapel until 23rd March, 2025.
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