A glass is poised in the hands of each performer, backstage crew and patron alike. The glow of the Ferris wheel behind us washes a calm light over the crowd, as acknowledgments to the traditional owners on which QPAC stands are recognised.
By the time the speeches are over, a family of students and mentors alike were laughing and embracing one another. It was a picture perfect moment as heartfelt and meaningful as any performance QPAC’s stages have seen. But let’s rewind a little first. None of this could have happened without the beautiful crew at ACPA; The Aboriginal Centre For The Performing Arts.
For a lot of us, whether you’re a thespian or a theatregoer, it’s the end of the year and a time to reflect. A new decade will rise over the brown snake at any moment. For ACPA, it is a time for it's students to show not just what they’re made of but what they’re here for, and what they’ve had to weather to be here.
ACPA is the only one of its kind in Australia, offering all disciplines of the performing arts as well indigenous cultural fusion. More than just an academy of the arts, this place operates as a family. In saying that, I don’t mean a family business. In the Cremorne Theatre at QPAC you could feel these students were more than just friends who showed up to learn. The relationship between the students and director Simon Lind was something really special.
So, naturally, when you have a room of performers with so much trust in one another, all linked by their own rich and unique stories, the only outcome can be radiating and superb performances. Under the dazzling lights, designed by Glenn Hughes, it was also a spectacle to see the share of roles and skills. By this I mean, there were actors learning to be singers, singers learning to be dancers and dancers learning to be actors.
The Wiz is already an ambitious feat of its own. Young ‘Dorothy’ is swept up in a tropical storm and whisked away from Cairns, yes that’s correct, where she ends up in the strange Land of Oz. In 2019 it’s fair to say Oz is a very strange place at the moment.
Serina O’Connor as a young, and earnest Dorothy truly shone with those incredible pipes. While she seemed dewy-eyed and lamb-like, as soon as she sang a storm unfolded on the stage. The passion in her voice carried over the Cremorne Theatre like a gust of wind, it blew everyone away. Her voice could have carried her back to Cairns let alone help from The Wiz.
‘Scarecrow’ and ‘Lion’ played by Selwyn Power and Garret Lyon respectively, kept the crowd in stitches. A shout-out to the dance teams is also in order, as under Lind’s choreography the performers mesmerised the audience. Ironically, the heartless ‘Tin Man’ played by Gara Doolah had the most heart of all.
Multi-disciplined in both performance and dance, Doolah only outdid himself when at the end of the night on the rooftop of the theatre, he called all past and present ACPA students to join him on stage. This was the picture perfect moment of a united group standing side by side. Doolah reminded everyone that’s there no place like home when you have a family.
5 - 7 December 2019
QPAC, Cremorne Theatre
Photo Credit: Aiden Rowlingson
Review: Meredith McLean