Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company presents Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman's The 7 Stages Of Grieving in Subiaco
Powerful Aboriginal Australia story The 7 Stages Of Grieving has become a theatrical classic over the past 30 years as a way for directors to showcase their skills and shine a light on a talented actor in the sole role of narrator.
While the one-woman play written by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman may not have originated with such lofty ambition, it is nonetheless an incredible honour for the close friends who met during their days at Queensland University of Technology.
'We were looking for a project to do together and then my grandmother died,' 56-year-old Enoch says, a proud Quandamooka man from Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah).
'When I was explaining to Deborah the grief ritual that my family undertakes, she said 'That might be what we need to make the show on' and off we went from there.'
Presented by Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts, The 7 Stages Of Grieving first premiered in Brisbane in 1995 with Enoch directing Mailman as she stood alone on stage tracing the seven phases of Aboriginal history — Dreaming, Invasion, Genocide, Protection, Assimilation, Self-Determination and Reconciliation.
'We were so caught up in it and didn't even know what it was,' Enoch shares.
'But there's a story I tell about opening night where this elder stood up clapping and then walked down the stairs to the stage, walked onto the stage and grabbed Deborah, hugging her, crying. There was this moment where we went, 'Oh, we've done something more than just make a show here'.
'As a country in 1995, we were on this journey of reconciliation. There was a sense of hope, a sense of what would go forward, but then a very complex sense of 'What do we leave behind? What do we grieve for in our history, that needs to be told?' It's interesting now, after the referendum in particular, we're in this moment of saying 'Actually we're engaged in truth-telling'. We're trying to tell the truth, and the best way to tell the truth is by telling the stories of our families.'
Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company is presenting a 30th anniversary season of The 7 Stages Of Grieving with the WA premiere featuring an all-female team of creatives, as director Bobbi Henry works with actors Shontane Farmer and Shahnee Hunter performing as narrator in alternating shows.
Enoch will be in Perth for Yirra Yaakin's opening night, the play coinciding with a writers' retreat here for another he is working on, and visiting his long-term and long-distance partner, WA Ballet guest artistic director David McAllister.
The playwright defines the production as a collection of stories that has an accumulative emotional impact on an audience.
It features a series of 23 vignettes to express the grief, but also the joy, of being Aboriginal in this country.
'Someone told me that what makes it a classic is that it's open to interpretation and open to people finding their own way through it,' he says.
'Deborah and I have always been open to allowing productions to shift the order of scenes and keep it alive for the now, because what was right 30 years ago, may not be right now.
'When I look back over my body of work, I am fascinated by women and fascinated by women's perspectives on stories, even though I'm a man. This notion of how women see the world differently. There's a toughness in women that also goes hand in hand with a vulnerability. Not to say men can't do that, but there's something about watching a woman go through the emotional highs and lows and the anger of it, it says something about our history and the resilience of women.'
Enoch's own anger as a young man, resulting in violent and antisocial behaviours as a tween, is what led him to find the therapeutic benefits of the arts, discovering a release through storytelling.
'I found that the art could actually heal me, and by telling my story, I could actually help others,' he adds.
Starting out as an actor, he soon discovered he did not respond well to the required repetition, something he takes his hat off to other actors for, especially Mailman who toured in The 7 Stages Of Grieving sporadically for six years.
'I remember her saying at one point, 'I don't know if I can cry anymore' and I said, 'Oh, you're an actor, you'll find a way', but there's something in going over that emotional territory where I'd rather be moving on to the next thing,' Enoch says.
'I love Deborah. We use the word 'love' flippantly, but there is such a deep bond and love for that woman, and I am so happy for all of her success.
'I'm incredibly grateful for 7 Stages. I call it 'the ambassador piece' . . . it gave me every other job for the next 10 years.'
The 7 Stages Of Grieving is at Subiaco Arts Centre, July 3 to 12. Tickets at artsculturetrust.wa.gov.au.
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