The "wild frontier town" founded on coal. By Catherine Watson
SOMETHING magical happens when you put the spoken word with music and images. Gill Heal has made it happen many times in her theatre career and the alchemy still amazes her, let alone her audience.
SOMETHING magical happens when you put the spoken word with music and images. Gill Heal has made it happen many times in her theatre career and the alchemy still amazes her, let alone her audience.
The writer and director of seven landmark local history productions, including last year’s Postcards from Loch, Heal says the recollections of ordinary people, supported by songs and photos, draw us in and help us feel part of a grand, ongoing story.
“You can’t know who you are unless you know where you come from,” says one of the characters in her latest show.
A Question of Honour: Korumburra voices, Coal Creek legacy traces the battles won and lost in Korumburra over 130 years: the harsh environment resisting human settlement; the wild frontier town founded on coal; the mine owners versus the miners; and the ongoing battle for control of the town’s own history.
Cast member Peter Gilbert says the battle between management and the miners was long and cruel. “The battle to survive for families, the hardship for the wives to establish any sort of life, let alone establish a society, is evoked very powerfully.”
The battle for Korumburra’s own historical memory, in the form of the Coal Creek historical park, has been almost as fierce and provides a telling counterpoint to the earlier tales.
The cast of five in A Question of Honour – Peter Gilbert, Lorraine Knox, John Watson, Tanya Jackson and Stanley McGeagh – read all the stories and share the narration. Scenes take place in the Mechanics Institute, the mine entrance and the courthouse, where the characters argue their case from the dock.
The show includes songs written 20 years ago for Coal Creek by Sydney songwriter John Warner, who looked at Korumburra through the eyes of the tough, determined folk of previous generations and reimagined their world through contemporary folk music.
Renowned Wonthaggi composer and conductor Larry Hills gives invaluable support and musical direction to the group while Wonthaggi singer-songwriter John Coldebella – one of Heal’s regular collaborators – joins the cast onstage with a song he’s written for the show.
Over the past 10 years, Heal has built up an impressive backlist of local productions: Stories from the Hinterland, Stories from the Waterline, In Their Own Words and last year’s Postcards from Loch have all enchanted audiences.
If you’ve seen one her shows, you don’t need to be told to book your ticket. If you haven’t, you can book in full confidence that she will perform her alchemy once more. But hurry. Her reputation is such that her shows sell out quickly.
A Question of Honour: Korumburra voices, Coal Creek legacy, Written and directed by Gill Heal, The Court House in Coal Creek, Korumburra
Disclaimer: Catherine Watson shares a dog with Gill Heal, who is also a valued contributor to the Bass Coast Post. Nevertheless, the above is a true and accurate account.
“You can’t know who you are unless you know where you come from,” says one of the characters in her latest show.
A Question of Honour: Korumburra voices, Coal Creek legacy traces the battles won and lost in Korumburra over 130 years: the harsh environment resisting human settlement; the wild frontier town founded on coal; the mine owners versus the miners; and the ongoing battle for control of the town’s own history.
Cast member Peter Gilbert says the battle between management and the miners was long and cruel. “The battle to survive for families, the hardship for the wives to establish any sort of life, let alone establish a society, is evoked very powerfully.”
The battle for Korumburra’s own historical memory, in the form of the Coal Creek historical park, has been almost as fierce and provides a telling counterpoint to the earlier tales.
The cast of five in A Question of Honour – Peter Gilbert, Lorraine Knox, John Watson, Tanya Jackson and Stanley McGeagh – read all the stories and share the narration. Scenes take place in the Mechanics Institute, the mine entrance and the courthouse, where the characters argue their case from the dock.
The show includes songs written 20 years ago for Coal Creek by Sydney songwriter John Warner, who looked at Korumburra through the eyes of the tough, determined folk of previous generations and reimagined their world through contemporary folk music.
Renowned Wonthaggi composer and conductor Larry Hills gives invaluable support and musical direction to the group while Wonthaggi singer-songwriter John Coldebella – one of Heal’s regular collaborators – joins the cast onstage with a song he’s written for the show.
Over the past 10 years, Heal has built up an impressive backlist of local productions: Stories from the Hinterland, Stories from the Waterline, In Their Own Words and last year’s Postcards from Loch have all enchanted audiences.
If you’ve seen one her shows, you don’t need to be told to book your ticket. If you haven’t, you can book in full confidence that she will perform her alchemy once more. But hurry. Her reputation is such that her shows sell out quickly.
A Question of Honour: Korumburra voices, Coal Creek legacy, Written and directed by Gill Heal, The Court House in Coal Creek, Korumburra
Disclaimer: Catherine Watson shares a dog with Gill Heal, who is also a valued contributor to the Bass Coast Post. Nevertheless, the above is a true and accurate account.