COOKIE'S TABLE - An Assistant Director's Story
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In 2004 my beloved granny died. She was the warmest, kindest person I have known but she wasn't a great cook. In fact she nearly poisoned my granddad once by putting daffodil bulbs in a stew, thinking they were onions! But saying that, she made a mean treacle tart, with a little help from her granddaughter, chatting away (yarning) at the kitchen table.
In 2005, I returned to my birthplace, Sydney. I was brought up in the Surrey Hills (South England). I returned to Sydney to be near my sister who was having her second baby and my dad, who lives in Gloucester, NSW – my mum lives in Gloucester, UK!
In 2006, I applied for the NIDA postgraduate directing course. To get in I showed how I would direct Jane Harrison's Stolen, a contemporary indigenous play about the stolen generation. This terrible history shocked me to the core. (I thought ‘shame’. I'm a white English woman.) I think that this story of black/white relations in Australia needs to be told again and again to repair damage done and to move forward in harmony. That's why I wanted to assistant direct on Cookie’s Table for my NIDA secondment.
In rehearsals I could often be found under Cookie’s table pretending to be a little black fella while staring at all the forgotten bits of chewing gum. This was when Blake and Ben, the two indigenous child actors sharing the part of young Nathan, were at school. Funny because my first professional job as an actress in the UK was playing a 12-year old Northern Irish boy for a Scottish theatre company – and I was a 23-year old English actress! Back then the reviewers thought I was a male child actor, but the cast of Cookie’s wasn’t so convinced. I mean it was 'gamin' (not true). I'm a white woman! As is the accomplished Australian director, Marion Potts.
I wanted to assist a female director as I thought a woman would create a working environment that was nurturing. I was right. When Marion works there is a lot of love in the room. She created a safe place for the actors to explore the story. I learnt and laughed heaps in rehearsals from watching three very hardworking, talented indigenous actors (Leah Purcell, Roxanne McDonald and Russell Smith). I love watching actors work, watching them explore ideas and character and then make choices about what to do. My job was to act as ‘audience’, watching and listening as Marion helped them turn Wesley Enoch's words into theatre. Wesley, the writer, came into rehearsal for the first few days and told us some of the story was his own and some was 'gamin' (made up).
After four weeks rehearsal we got into the space. The magical Griffin Theatre. This is when the crew came into their own and Bruce (set design), Brett (sound) and Luiz (lighting) created the haunting land/sound scapes.
The cast and stage manager, Annette are now telling The Story of The Miracles at Cookie’s Table every night for Sydney audiences. They've had rave reviews. I miss them. Lucky HotHouse audiences . . . you're in for a treat and maybe a miracle or two.
Georgina Sutton
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