The Faithful Servant. By Tom Davis. Directed by Caroline Stacey. The Street Theatre. Street 1, The Street Theatre, Childers Street, Canberra City. Until September 18. Bookings: thestreet.org.au or 62471223.
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The epic nature of Canberra playwright Tom Davis' plays, spanning as they do several decades and crossing continents, paints a rich canvas of intellectual ideas and complex moral dilemmas. In his play The Chain Bridge, performed at The Street Theatre last year, Davis examined the enduring influence of a history that never leaves us. In The Faithful Servant, Davis once again probes the life of his central character, Dr Raymond Gerrard (P.J. Williams), over 51 years as a doctor working in poverty-stricken and war-torn Mozambique. Drawing on the biblical parable of the faithful servant, this play asks the question, "What does it mean to be good?" In his desire to perform good works, Gerrard has established Australians For Hope, an NGO to heal, offer hope and bring communities together. His right-hand man, Coetano Perreira (Dorian Nkono), seeks goodness in faith and the education of his people. Gerrard's adopted daughter, Caroline Gerrard (Tariro Mavondo), rejects her father's wish for her to follow in his footsteps, placing the good of family and her practice in Australia as the more worthy pursuit.
In a prologue and eight scenes, the play covers Gerrard's life and death from Australia to Mozambique, from a cabin on the P&O liner, Orsova, to a hospital room in rural Mozambique, to Calvary Hospital in Canberra, a refugee camp in Zimbabwe and the Australians For Hope hospital that Gerrard established. The play leaps back and forth in time, occasionally blurring the linear narrative, but always teasing out our notion of goodness, challenging our attitudes towards cultural difference, notions of colonial supremacy and religious faith. There is no room for complacency and little regard for disengagement. For the perspicacious spectator, The Faithful Servant, while still somewhat skeletal and undeveloped in its dramatic structure, is an intellectually challenging and rewarding insight into Davis' other world, familiar enough in our time, but too easily ignored. The Faithful Servant is an absorbing, thought-provoking and salutary revelation.
It is made even more so by an excellent production team, comprising director Caroline Stacey, designer Imogen Keen, sound designer Kimmo Vennonen, video designer Scott Holgate and lighting designer Linda Buck. The Street Theatre under Stacey's artistic direction has established the highest possible production values and these have provided excellent support to three superb interpreters of Davis' complex and culturally diverse characters. As the central character Williams, in a riveting performance , struggles with the inner turmoil of mortality and will. Mavondo and Nkono take on a variety of roles with absolute truth and conviction. Under Stacey's direction, they are a tight and versatile ensemble.
