MY DARLING PATRICIA & MOOGAHLIN PERFORMING ARTS’ POSTS IN THE PADDOCK. 2011
Michelle Blakeney, 2009
My Darling Patricia in Association with Moogahlin Performing Arts
In 1900, relatives of My Darling Patricia’s Clare Britton were murdered by an Aboriginal Bushranger, Jimmy Governor, on a property in the Hunter Valley. Taking it’s name from the ruins of this house Posts in the Paddock explores this moment in history from multiple perspectives. My Darling Patricia collaborate with actor LeRoy Parsons, Jimmy’s great great grandson and Elder, Aunty Rhonda Dixon Grovenor who also shares a family connection. This is a very intimate and personal work of reconciliation.
“My Darling Patricia is a company that uses an astonishing range of performance styles and techniques to explore the way we look back, from the 21st century, on what we have lost, forgotten and need to recover. But even for the company this story is extraordinary.”
John McCallum, The Austalian
“A distinctly unique company with the vision and patience of real artists. And this will be a pinnacle moment of accomplishment in their history. It seemed the personal stakes of the creators in this story of their families had made such specificity, culturally universal for the audience. Wonderful. POSTS IN THE PADDOCK, a wonder.”
Kevin Jackson’s Theatre Diary
Artists include: Bryony Anderson, Katy Beckett, Jenn Blake, Michelle Blakeney, Clare Britton, Nadeena Dixon, Aunty Rhonda Dixon Grovenor, Phil Downing, Marley Grovenor, Fiona Foley, Declan Kelly, Sam James, Halcyon Macleod, Aunty Loretta Parsley, Kirk Page, LeRoy Parsons, Sam Routledge, Lily Shearer and Chris Twynman.
The development of Posts in the Paddock was supported by The Australia Council for the Arts, Arts NSW, Urban Theatre Projects, Casula Powerhouse, Bundanon Artists Trust, Moogahlin Performing Arts and Redfern Community Centre.
We contributed an article on Posts in the Paddock to the Spring 2011 Edition of Ampersand Magazine-”From the Heart of the Forest to the Edge of the Road” the whole magazine is a great read.
Essay Journal of the European Association for Studies of Australia, Vol.4 No.1, 2013.
Watch the Message Sticks documentary about Posts in the Paddock
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/messagestick/stories/s3523310.htmListen to a program on Posts in the Paddock by Daniel Browning on Awaye
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/awaye/posts-in-the-paddock/3673064
Performance Space Published this Catalouge of writing about the work.
Edited by Jeff Kahn, it includes an essay by Djon Mundine OAM about the themes and issues this work brings up.