‘Jennie’ // Gasworks Arts Park & Melbourne Writers’ Theatre

‘Jennie’ was prescient.

The struggle for equal rights, equity, tolerance and respect has never been more prescient than today. ‘Jennie’ is a play about famed English/Australian suffragette and women and children’s rights campaigner. Jennie Baines highlights the struggles of the early twentieth century that reminds us today that there is still so much more that needs to be done.

Set in a rather intimate theatre space at Gasworks Arts Park, in Albert Park; the cast and set design really showed what a good independent theatre with a good cast and a great crew can really achieve.
Starting off in Manchester, England, very briefly to highlight Baines’ suffragette bona fides, the remainder of the narrative takes place in and around Port Melbourne in the 1920’s. With her staunch trade-unionist husband, George, Jennie proceeds to then try to help the impoverished and starving people on the docks and the local children sleeping rough. Bruce Shearer, the playwright has written an engaging piece, however there are some historical events in Baines’ life not mentioned or completely ignored.

The audience is not informed anywhere during the production that Jennie and George had children and were adults themselves by the time they came to Australia, completely missing that rather important historical detail, that would actually help the audience with some of the discrepancies that occur later in the work.

Four actors, bounce around in multiple small roles for people Jennie would have encountered when she moved to Port Melbourne. However, at times there are some jarring moments that break the tension in scenes which leads to farce, such as the two young actors, jumping from one scene playing street wise, street-urchins then police officers on the beat with oversized uniforms and Bobby’s Custodian Helmets.

During this period, Jennie, re-ignited her activism, fighting for the rights of workers on the docks, the rights of women and children, long before social welfare, at time when mass un-employment, corruption and food storages; union strikes, disease and child homelessness was raging through the country.

As we follow Jennie’s journey through Shearer’s play, we see a lot of the evangelical nature of her early days, from the Salvation army with her parents in England her socialist ideals. There are several moments where she breaks down from the struggle to keep a roof over her family’s head; her crusade is breaking down her marriage and her Christian beliefs, again a lot of her backstory is brushed aside here, while more is said about her socialism and feminism, barely anything is touched upon her family’s history with the evangelical moment or the Salvation Army. Which would help in understanding much of Jennie’s motivation. With some quick research I was able to find a lot.

Several sub-themes of classism, gender roles within society and relationships; the tension between children and adult; the arrogance on both sides, adults deaf to the opinions of children and children not understanding or trusting adults trying to help them. Jennie constantly forgives the children she is trying to save, even after they have stolen from her and lied to her. She tries to be their sage mother and to lookout for them no matter the cost to her health or to her own relationship.
This determination even goes so far as Jennie eventually earning a position as a special magistrate to the South Melbourne children’s court.
Marli van der Bijl, (Jennie) is on stage for the majority of the show. Her strength of character, her warmth and chemistry with the audience and the rest of the cast, really livens up the show. Amir Rahimzadeh who plays George, supports Marli very well, as the character as well as a fellow actor. They dominate the action and carry the play through from beginning to end. There is a genuine chemistry between the two actors that really creates a relatable realistic relationship.
Lucy Norton as Dorothy and Tristan Sicari as Tom round-out the adult cast and show an almost mirror of Jennie and George by being from a higher middle-class background, yet their hearts and sensibility shine.

Ivy Glenfield as Marianne & Joshua Johnston as Fred as the sister and brother Jennie tries to save really give a realism to their performances and though they are very early in their careers expect great things to come from these actors in the years to come.

The production elements were tight and delivered. Sound effects and music to demonstrate strikes and songs from the period matched what’s happening in real time effectively. The lighting suited the scenes well with soft, warm and appropriate colours. The set is compact and tight, changing from George’s cobbling and tabaco shop, the docks, a foodbank and several other settings. Everything on stage felt required and justified. The costumes felt well lived in and realistic. Elements of drabness and shabbiness in the costumes really made you feel that the characters were struggling to make ends meet, but had that nineteenth and early twentieth century prim and properness. The play is utilizing the inter-war years effectively for clothing, props, mannerism and aesthetics.

Overall, this a good production with some minor pacing issues. The dialogue is not trying to be smarter than the characters, which is a real talent in-and-of-itself. There were some issues with info dumping that happens in all historical or period dramas. Everyone knows who Stalin was but most people in the audience don’t know who Stanley Bruce (Australian Prime Minister at the time) was.

Images courtesy of Melbourne Writer’s Theatre.