M/C Reviews: Review of 'The Small Poppies'

	Review of The Small Poppies Robert Clarke
	The Small Poppies, written by David Holman and directed by Neil Armfield	07 June 2001

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Bit 1		Australia has been at the forefront of children’s theatre for many years. With the success of annual festivals like ‘Come Out’ in Adelaide, and Brisbane’s ‘Out of the Box,’ the popularity and quality of children’s theatre has never been greater. And it does not take long to learn that the genre appeals just as much to the adult chaperones in the audience as it does to the kids. The Small Poppies is no exception. The problem with this play, however, is that it is a little too adult-friendly for its own good. In fact The Small Poppies is a play that masquerades as children’s theatre.
Bit 2		Originally produced in 1986 through a collaboration between writer David Holman and Geoffrey Rush, then director of Magpie Theatre in Adelaide, the recent version of the play has had successful tours here and abroad. The play has received good to gushing reviews for its Australian performances. So in writing this review I am swimming against the tide. The principal failing of the play is that it (skilfully and successfully) exploits nostalgia for the ‘innocent’ days of childhood and then mixes this up with a cartoonish portrayal of Australian multiculturalism and ‘benevolence’ towards refugees and outsiders. The effect, reinforced by the beaming faces of the first night audience, was one of distinct unease.
Bit 3		The play tells the story of a group of pre-schoolers’ first day at primary school. Clint (Richard Sydenham) lives with his mother (Felicity Price, who also plays ‘Courtney’ and ‘Thuan’) and is having difficulties dealing with the notion of her new boyfriend, and the fact that his best friend, Courtney, won’t be there for him in Mrs Walsh's class (Genevieve Mooy). Theo (Andrew S. Gilbert) is a Greek boy obsessed with crocodiles. His father (Arkie Michael) works in a Mitsubishi car factory and is uncertain about sending his son to this particular school because of the number of Vietnamese students. This racism is quickly overcome once he hears a Vietnamese student recite a Greek poem. And then there is Lep (Ursula Yovich), a young Cambodian refugee girl who has been ‘rescued’ from an internment camp by Australian Immigration officials, and is befriended by Clint and Theo in a quintessential act of mateship. In standing up to Shane Miler (Michael), the class bully, Clint and Theo take the helpless Lep under their wing.
Bit 4		In any theatre that exploits the corny and the cartoonish, the risks of dealing with wider social issues are always going to be great. In a sense the script doesn’t fail in its infantile depiction of an Australian multicultural mosaic, because this is completely consistent with the manner in which the mainstream media, and many on the left and right, portray this reality. This may seem a little harsh. After all, it’s only a kids show, isn’t it? But quite apart from arguing that there is no reason for judging children’s theatre on radically different ideological or aesthetic criteria to that which applies to so-called ‘adult’ theatre, one only has to look at the program to discover that there is something more going on in this play. Six pages of the, albeit, small size program give an outline of the history of migration to Australia and a description of the plight of Cambodian refugees. The big question is, why?
Bit 5		Certainly the plight of refugees, Cambodian or otherwise, is grave. And I am not suggesting that children’s theatre should not address political issues. But any kind of theatre driven by sentimentality inevitably trivialises the political issues it is meant to be exploring. Ultimately The Small Poppies is a feel good play determined to reassure its producers and audience that those old Aussie ideals of fairness and mateship are alive and well (no really). And it exploits the performance signifiers of children’s theatre when in fact engaging with a children’s aesthetic is not amongst its principal concerns. Australian adult audiences love being infantilised and watching a play like this is a lesson in conformity. It is white Australian mythology packaged in a manner that makes any objection seem like unreasonable nitpicking. Call me a killjoy, but The Small Poppies offers no challenge or questions for its audience young or old. It is simple ‘celebratory’ theatre in the more vacuous sense of the term.

Bit 6		Details The Small Poppies by David Holman Directed by Neil Armfield Performed by Company B Belvoir including Richard Sydenham, Felicity Price, Genevieve Mooy, Andrew S. Gilbert, Arkie Michael, Ursula Yovich. Playing from 23 May 2001, Optus Playhouse, Brisbane.

Bit 7		Citation reference for this article MLA style: Robert Clarke. "Review of The Small Poppies" M/C Reviews 07 June 2001. [your date of access] <http://www.api-network.com/mc/reviews/events/smallpoppies.html>. Chicago style: Robert Clarke, "Review of The Small Poppies," M/C Reviews 07 June 2001, <http://www.api-network.com/mc/reviews/events/smallpoppies.html> ([your date of access]). APA style: Robert Clarke. (2000) Review of The Small Poppies. M/C Reviews 07 June 2001. <http://www.api-network.com/mc/reviews/events/smallpoppies.html> ([your date of access]).

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