Now, here is a decidedly different conceit – take a real-life criminal trial and turn it into a TV gameshow.
That is precisely what New Zealand writer, director and performer St John McKay has done, constructing The Passion of Pauline over four years.
Just who is the Pauline I speak of? Her name is Pauline Campbell, a retired English schoolteacher.
She turned 55 the day she identified her 18-year-old daughter Sarah’s body.
Sarah had deliberately overdosed on antidepressants while incarcerated.
Soon thereafter Pauline began a campaign to overhaul the justice system, for she recognised the system was far from just.
In fact, she maintained it facilitated her daughter’s devastating death.
At the time, in January 2003, and in the subsequent years, female deaths in custody in Britain reached epidemic proportions.
Pauline decided to take direct action to change that. She began picketing and protesting every time a woman in jail took her life. Pauline became a tireless campaigner.
However, that only worsened her own shattering predicament because she was targeted and hauled before the courts.
The truth is she was a single mother to Sarah, who excelled at art, music and sport, but had a rough childhood.
Pauline’s husband (Sarah’s father) left before Sarah had turned 1. Sarah was diagnosed on the autism spectrum before the age of 6. She was repeatedly molested by a distant relative at age 9. She was bedridden for 11 months after catching pneumonia.
At 15, Sarah was raped at a party by a classmate and everything fell apart after that. She suffered from clinical depression and was put on heavy medication, before falling pregnant at 16 and then having an abortion. Subsequently, she became a heroin addict.
But it was an incident with another girl and the man they were hitting up for money that effectively sealed her fate, after he had a heart attack and died.
The problem, according to Pauline and St John McKay, as he presents it in The Passion of Pauline, is that the justice system is blind.
It is skewed towards protecting the reputations of the big wigs that perpetuate it, so McKay stages a monkey trial to prove it (that is where the gameshow comes in).
When I say a monkey trial, I mean literally that … caught on video – a talking chimpanzee judge, another as the prosecutor and simian witnesses.
Pauline defends herself (McKay as Pauline interacting with the bench and the witnesses), harking back to what happened to her dear daughter.
A crucial piece of evidence is provided by the prison guard who was supposedly looking after Sarah … that should have turned the trial on its head.
There is no hidden agenda in this work. It poses the pointed question: would society be better off without human cages?
Abolitionists would answer with a resounding “yes”, but then we – the audience – are asked for our verdict.
The Passion of Pauline is a bold concept that has been cleverly pieced together.
McKay is a showman, who dresses up accordingly and plays up to the crowd, involving us and questioning us as the story develops.
The problem comes about when patrons don’t react.
The night I saw it (with an almost full house), that part of the journey was hard work.
Instead, we were cajoled into reacting.
To me, this piece would have worked better and would have been shortened from its 60-minute running time – for it did feel stretched – without audience involvement.
In other words, a straight narrative would have done me fine.
Further, McKay has placed ads (based on a New Zealand TV commercial that I don’t believe we are familiar with here in Australia) in his primate showcase.
Given the format he has chosen, I understand why, but I found that unnecessary.
Though, please don’t think that I didn’t appreciate the live documentary feel of the offering. In fact, I did.
I simply could have done without a lot of the song and dance (I mean that metaphorically) that surrounded it.
The tragedy of Sarah’s short life and Pauline’s fate are compelling in and of themselves.
Their collective story raises an important societal issue that we still don’t grapple with effectively and this is where the true strength of McKay’s work lies.
The Passion of Pauline is playing in the Billiard Room at The Mission to Seafarers (717 Flinders Street, Docklands) until 20th October, 2024 as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
For bookings, go to https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/the-passion-of-pauline-a-live-documentary/
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