The Duke played at the Brisbane Powerhouse on February 14-15, and what a few nights they were. If you intend on being late or even if you don’t and happen to be - be warned. I say this because you may very well become part of the performance and attract a bit of attention to yourself due to your inability to attend at precisely the right time, successfully interrupting the show and causing Shôn Dale-Jones to become ever so curious as to your reason for being late in the first place. Point being, no matter the reason as to why you were late, you’ll never get those eight minutes back.
The Duke centres around a Royal Worcester Porcelain Company figure, more specifically the Duke of Wellington on horseback. But what is it that makes this figurine, mind you porcelain, ultimately the uniting factor about family, and the lengths we go to retrieve lost memories. Firstly, Shôn Dale-Jones is a fantastic storyteller, he is able to effortlessly pull you into the little moments and forget where you really are because you are officially in Dale-Jones land and everything seems to be happening. Secondly, Dale-Jones truly understands the beauty and magic to storytelling, pulling in a group of people close and getting them to listen to your adventure and how you remember it, and personally inviting you to join the journey.
Not only does Shôn Dale-Jones understand the intricacies of storytelling, but he understands how to communicate his stories to an audience that includes a myriad of important messages they can take with them in their own life. The importance of family, and the lengths we go for them however big or small is highlighted in the show where Dale-Jones is the writer, the sole cast member and also happens to take care of the audio and sound production during the show. An interesting sight it is, Dale-Jones at a desk with a laptop and a sound panel, operating and incorporating snippets of a selection of sounds and background music when required.
The thing is Shôn Dale-Jones had a special connection with his late father where he had a Royal Worcester Porcelain Company figure of the Duke of Wellington on horseback kept under a bed in a box. Now this may seem like a small detail, but it defined his relationship with his father, as they pulled it out of its hiding place every so often to look at it in wonder and share that very joy and wonder together as father and son. But these moments didn’t last forever and Dale-Jones grew up and discovered a few things along the way. Most importantly, he discovered that he would go to great lengths to find a replacement of this broken figurine and that he would not stop until he saw the delight in his mother’s eyes in seeing it in its full glory once again.
It goes to show that storytelling is a uniting factor, and that we can learn from hearing other people’s stories and ultimately how their journey affected them as a person. From film pitches to spotting a Royal Worcester Porcelain Company figure of the Duke of Wellington on horseback in a stranger’s window, to the very obsession and hunting down of this Royal Worcester Porcelain Company figure of the Duke of Wellington on horseback it shows that there was a deeper connection to this very story of The Duke all along. It is not the love and respect we have for our loved ones but those very moments that we would fight to relive when those very same loved ones are no longer here with us today.
14-15 Feb, 2019
Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
Joanna Letic