Song #69 See You Later Reno

 

SEE YOU LATER RENO

 

He was sitting on a footpath in a town down south

Singing to passers-by for joy or some coin

“Man you’ve got a great voice”

Man you wrote some great songs

 

Target airconditioners and fights in the pub

Boring dancing girlfriends and friends who couldn’t swim

Man you wrote some weird songs

Man you made us laugh though

 

People still around who’d I’d rather not see

So full of themselves they’re not interested in me

See you later Reno

See you later Reno

 

We're friends in time and name but the time has gone

Once so close, now so far, we’ve all moved on

See you later Reno

See you later Reno

 

I journeyed there with an open heart

Enjoyed your sun

Sang up and down your coasts and malls

You enjoyed our song

 

So to everyone I’ve ever known

To those who’ve gone, days of yore, and the places we’ve been

I bid you all farewell now

So say goodbye to Reno

Say goodbye to Reno

Say goodbye

(See you later Baterz)

(Thanks for the songs man)

(See ya’ next time buddy)

Let’s say goodbye

Say goodbye to Reno

Say goodbye to Reno

 

Copyright (M Coghlan 2002)

COMMENTARY: Inspired by the death of friend and Adelaide/Canberra artist – Baterz. I think I was trying to make this song a metaphor for all the things we lose in life and it got a little confused along the way. In any event Baterz was an exceptional character – warm, talented, funny, honest. And yes – the first words he ever said to me were ‘man you’ve got a great voice’ so it was love at first sight! (More on Baterz.)

 

 

Song #68 Home to My Song

 

HOME TO MY SONG

(Listen HERE)

It’s a long long way that we all have to go

And it’s harder than we had planned

I’d rather sit tight and take it all in

I don’t want to take a stand

 

CHORUS

When it feels hard, too hard to explain

When it feels hard, hard to feel safe

Safe from the world, away from it all

I go home to my song

 

I can sing my songs and play them loud

And pretend that I sound great

I’m the centre of the sound and the call of my soul

Likes to tempt the edge of fate

 

I can live in that dream where I play all day

And don’t have to go to work

Scream and shout to a catchy tune

About fear pain and hurt

 

CHORUS

 

What is going on when I pick up my guitar

And the tears roll down my face?

I gotta go to work and do my bit as a part of the human race

Check my eyes in the mirror as I drive to see if I look OK

Good morning everyone your teacher is here

There’s a lot to get through today

 

CHORUS

 

(© M Coghlan 1995)

COMMENTARY:  One day, feeling quite happy, I picked up my guitar near the front door just before I left to go to work. Minutes later tears were flowing freely as I sang whatever stream of conscious sounds came out. It happened more than once actually. I had to move my guitar away from the front door to prevent it happening. It wasn’t a sad thing – it was quite a beautiful feeling in fact. This song explores why this happens A clash of worlds at play methinks. Other world views bubbling to the surface unbidden.

Song #67 Life's A Wonderful and Melancholy Thing

 

(LISTEN HERE)

LIFE’S A WONDERFUL AND MELANCHOLY THING

LIFE’S A WONDERFUL AND MELANCHOLY THING

 

THERE’S A LONG LINE OF DOORS AND SO MANY ARE OPEN9VfE0U

WITH NO SIGNS OUT THE FRONT TO TELL YOU WHICH ONE TO GO THROUGH

WHICH ARE THE DOORS THAT’LL SEE YOUR WAY FORWARD

ARE THERE MORE LEADING UP THAN THERE ARE LEADING DOWN

 

YOU MEET THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS AND HE SAYS GO THROUGH THERE SON

WITH A SPRING IN YOUR STEP IT ALL STARTS OUT FINE

BUT THE ROCKS START APPEARING AND FORCE YOU TO SLOW DOWN

YOU FORGET ALL THE ANSWERS AND HEAD BACK TO THE WINE

 

CHORUS

 

LIFE’S A WONDERFUL AND MELANCHOLY THING (X2)

THERE ARE TIMES IT MAKES YOU WANNA DANCE AND SING

AND THERE ARE TIMES WHEN YOU JUST CANNOT DO A THING

COS LIFE’S A WONDERFUL AND MELANCHOLY THING

 

TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE WALK DOWN THE SAME ROAD

ONE COMES HOME WITH A TEAR IN HIS EYE

WHILE THE OTHER FINDS LOVE AT THE END OF THE SAME ROAD

ALL DOORS LEAD TO THE END OF THE LINE

 

CHORUS
 

LIFE’S A WONDERFUL AND MELANCHOLY THING

LIFE’S A WONDERFUL AND MELANCHOLY THING

Song #66 Fear of Being Too Good

 

Karam Board

FEAR OF BEING TOO GOOD

(Listen)

 You've walked the paths of history
 And you've watched the rivers flow
 You've been away for far too long
 It doesn't matter where you go
 You've been to funerals dressed in white
 You've stood pale among the dark skin
 You've looked for patterns around the world
 That describe the common man
  So where's the sense in returning
  To those who do not know?
  That's true devotion
  Or was it fear of being alone
       fear of being alone
       fear of being alone?
 

 You've kept your cool in foreign lands
 When conversation turned to God
 You've managed a touch of sympathy
 For the rundown unkempt sods
 You've drunk from flagons in the park
 And you found it quite a lark
 When the old man turned and told you
 He would never take a plane
 To the destinations across the sea
 That you flew to with your pain
  And the spirit then was lurking
  Like a misfit in your brain
       a misfit in your brain
       a misfit in your brain.
 

 You've sat out on the beach at night
 And were asked about Jesus Christ
 You found that you enjoyed it
 Like the tropics it warmed your heart
 The night wind formed your words
 In a way that you found easy
 But the sunlight left you questioning
 Unsure of where you stood
  It was all too bright and daunting
  Or was it fear of being too good
       fear of being too good
       fear of being too good?
 

 You've walked the paths of history
 And you've watched the rivers flow
 You've been away for far too long
 It doesn't matter where you go
  Where's the sense in returning
  To those who drove you away?
  That takes dedication
  Or was it fear of being alone
       fear of being alone
       fear of being alone?
 
 

 (Copyright  Michael Coghlan 1994)

COMMENTARY: a song that details the struggle between wanting to be away, and wanting to be home; between the freedom to wander where you will and fear of being alone, between a path of giving to others and a life of satisfying the self; and the fear of delving too far into religion in case you never get out! It’s about travel; staying home, and the person you need to/want to/should be 😊

 

 

Song #65 Under the Sea at Night

 

UNDER THE SEA AT NIGHT

 

People will say you can’t behave that way

But you know you can because you did it last night

People will say you wouldn’t risk what you’ve got

But I know I would because I gambled the lot

 

Driven by a force that pulls you down

Under the sea at night as you slowly drown

 

Suddenly she turns and faces your fury with pain

There’s some dumb expression about pain meaning gain

 

Then you notice there’s a fire in her eyes

You push no further or you’ll forfeit the prize

 

Of waking up tomorrow when the cool wind blows

With the one you’ve always dreamed of in a love that glows

 

People might say you’d never hide like a kid

Under the blankets to forget what you did

I know I can because I did it that day

Till she came to me and told me all was OK

 

No need to fret or frown just get on with the day

I didn’t know she’d already been away

 

She’d been down to the ocean in the dark of the night

Had already left me to make everything alright

 

So we’d wake tomorrow when the cool wind blow

With the one you’ve always dreamed of in the afterglow

 

INSTRUMENTAL

 

People might say that your sea looks so calm

They have no idea what can lurk beneath the charm

You’re always so together so much in control

But they don’t know the fire that consumes a restless soul

 

Driven by a force that pulls you down

Under the sea at night as you slowly drown

 

And you’ll wake tomorrow when the cool wind blows

With the one you’ve always dreamed of in a love that grows

 

(Copyright M Coghlan 1994)

Commentary; Speed bumps appearing on the relationship road. Jealousies and neuroses boil over in an uncharacteristic explosion. Fears confronted and staired down by someone who was wise enough to act, depart, and return. I'll leave it there! Quite a powerful song. Was never recorded.... we'll see ;)

Song #64 Santorini

 

CC image courtesy of Maggie Meng

SANTORINI

Santorini

Santorini

Santorini – we had such high hopes for you

They once called you Atlantis a long long time ago

We sailed into your darkness and came up against you -

You’re a jagged unforgiving land and you have lost your soul

You play with us like laughing clowns in a twisted carnival

 

Set ‘em up to knock them down

Get ready – easy pickings

Get ready - there are tourists in town

 

Get ‘em drunk – they’re gone tomorrow

They’re richer than their blue jeans show

They’re captives on this island

They’ll pay the price only locals know

 

La Bamba, Club Atlantis

You can dance down at the Lido,

Boppin’ young flesh down at the Rio

Nirvana in Acapulco

 

Meet Neptune at the Roxy

Get stoned – Marrakesh disco

Cocktails a la Adonis

ACDC rules Atlantis OK

 

Let ‘em stew ‘cos we don’t savvy

Their foreign ways and their weird lingo

There’s no need to scrape and smile

For like the wind they come and go

 

There’ll be more on the next boat

We don’t want them here anyhow

So let’s send them all a-packin’

Let’s have a real good row

 

And rip em’ off.

 

You’ve come to Greece , well here’s Led Zeppelin

A stairway to heaven

Ouzo, Metaxa, and retsina

Dionysus lets the good times roll

 

Apollo rocks with Aphrodite

Woodstock is at the Mars Bar

Get your rocks off at Paradiso

Copacabana

 

Santorini – we had such high hopes for you

They once called you Atlantis a long long time ago

We sailed into your darkness and came up against you

Santorini

Santorini

You’ve lost it.

 

(Michael Coghlan 1992)

COMMENTARY: a possible site of the mythical Atlantis legend, so much of Santorini truly was a big disappointment. Nightclubs and bars with stereotypical names to appeal to mindless young travellers – Lido, Paradiso, the Roxy, etc. But move out of the larger (spectacular!)  towns and you can find the peace and beauty typical of most Greek islands. It was a complicated song – lots of changes of pace – and I’ve almost completely forgotten how it went. Probably won’t try and resurrect it. It belongs to another life.

 

Song #63 Deep Creek

 

DEEP CREEK

(listen and watch HERE, or just listen HERE)

  When the wind comes up you'd better brace yourself
  It can catch you unprepared and sweep you down to the valley below
  Where your fears lie unprotected and your demons stalk too close
  You're gonna need a guide to help you that's never walked on a city street

  And as you look back up you no longer stand above
  All those fears you've been hiding lie awaiting round the next bend
  Of the creek that's deep and winding on its journey to the sea
  The water has gone before you and cut you out a path to see

  You're standing there with nothing but yourself and the water to show you
  The way you must go with those fears inside your head
  About those other people and what they might think of you
  You step into the icy water and it chills you to the soul

  You're losing all your history as you begin to start to know
  That you can't sink any lower so it's onward you must go

  Your eyes caress the mountains as you begin your slow sojourn
  It all looks so familar but you have lost control
  Of everything that's happened in that life on those city streets
  You get a taste of future wisdom as you go down Deep Creek

  You're gonna need a guide to help you that's never walked on those city streets
  You get a taste of future wisdom as you flow down Deep Creek
  Go down
  Flow down
  Go down

  (1992)

COMMENTARY: Deep Creek is a national park reserve south of Adelaide that is quite rugged, remote, and spectacular. This song is about facing demons and doubts and how the unfamiliar world of the bush (for a city boy) can either assist or trigger that process. It deserves a good recording ....)

Song #62 Once Around the Sun

 

ONCE AROUND THE SUN

 

Today I laid a demon to rest

And I fell in love with that lady again

It must be at least ten times this short year

That I’ve shed a fear

 

On our journey around the sun

With the wax on our wings still intact

We’ve been flying so high we’re getting further away

From the valley below

 

And as we lay in our bed at night

Listening to the Irish muse in flight

He takes us to places we’ve never seen

But we’re getting there

 

CHORUS

We’ve been through all the seasons

We’ve been through the heat and the cold

We’ve seen the age clock tick over

We’ve been once around

        once around

        once around the sun

 

And very night I just want to fall

Into her arms without a word

Travel again to that place of peace

Where no demons lay

 

But we keep them alive with our hours of talk

Touching on fears with a torrent of words

Keeping the passion alive and apart

Until we finally give in

 

And play in our bed at night

Listening to the Irish muse in flight

He takes us to places we’ve never seen

But we’re getting there

 

CHORUS

We’ve been through all the seasons

We’ve been through the heat and the cold

We’ve seen the age clock tick over

We’ve been once around

        once around

        once around the sun

 

© Michael Coghlan 1991

Commentary: think it's self-evident really :) The Irish muse referred to is Van Morrison.

 

 

 

 

The Ajoona Guest House - Review

 

Bakehouse Theatre, Wed  1 Dec

Courtesy of some well-deserved grants and funded residencies Stephen House set himself the exciting and daunting task of writing a performance monologue for each of three different cities. He has completed and performed the works on life in Dublin and Paris, and now unveils the final part of the trilogy – the Ajoona Guest House. Set in a dingier part of Delhi, the tale has House sharing memories of a long association with the guesthouse – “a dump with oodles of charm” – and India.

The Ajoona Guest House is something of a refuge for those Westerners who were smitten and subsequently trapped in a strange world of mysticism, drugs, and ultimately desperation. House introduces us to some of the desperados who will never check out, and shares the unlikely joy he finds in the company of a neighbourhood child beggar.

Often bleak, even harrowing, the tale is a sad one but it’s the kind of sadness that accompanies an understanding of what life is truly like. Life may be full of broken souls but even they have created moments of great joy and beauty. The trick is to realise that the wheel turns, that joy and pleasure are just as ephemeral as pain and suffering, that nothing is forever, and you can only hope that if you ever reach this point of understanding you are still sufficiently whole to appreciate the past and present with gratitude, and have enough strength left to pull yourself away from the darkness.

It has been said before but Stephen House is a wonderful story teller. The Ajoona Guest House is perfectly paced. His economy with words, obviously well-honed by the poet side of his creative self, is very easy to listen to, and gradually draws you into an intriguing tale that soon has you experiencing something else below the narrative; that sensation of being there, in the story, and wondering what you would do? How would you feel?

Beautifully presented on an almost bare stage with few props, The Ajoona Guesthouse is both simple and profound, entertaining and instructive. Bravo Stephen House.

(This review also published on The Clothesline.)

 

Weligama - one of the greatest experiences of my life

I recently told a friend in Weligama, Sri Lanka, that my first visit there in 1981 was one of the greatest experiences of my life. He wrote back and asked me to explain why it was such a wonderful experience. These lyrics of a song I wrote at the time went some way to answering this question. Below are some further thoughts - not in any particular order.

---------------------------------

I was absolutely amazed that almost complete strangers would take me in as their friend and share their lives with me.

It was my first experience of living in a place where people lived ‘hand to mouth’. Titus, Walter and others went fishing every morning, got money for the fish at the fish market, and took it home to their wives who went shopping, and made food for the family for the next 24 hours. And then the cycle began again the next day. It taught me a great deal about life, and how simple it can be. And I saw that poor people can live a happy life if they enough food and a place for sleep and shelter.

I became a much more confident swimmer often swimming out to Louise’s island:

I realised that my skills as a musician were really valued. I did so much singing in Weligama!

People would often dance when I played guitar and sang. I felt like a troubadour!

It was my first experience living in a non-Christian culture and I learnt a lot about Buddhism. Titus and I would sometimes talk about the difference between Christianity and Buddhism.

Playing karam on the beach at night with Titus while drinking arak. Magic!

The huge surprise when we came back to Weligama one day and Titus had built us a cadjan house!

Amazing parties out on Louse’s island:

Playing with the children each day in the sea: 

I learnt that I was extraordinarily privileged. As Titus told me, “You can come here anytime you want, but I will never see your country.” Though fishing families in Weligama had enough food and a place to sleep and shelter they had no real freedom to move out of that world. Having spare money – money left over after you have paid for your house and food – is a huge luxury.

Louise and I had a magical visit to ‘the Prince’s island’  - Taprobane. There really was a prince living there and he happily invited us in and treated us to tea and cake! 

Taprobane: the Prince's Island

I learned that people in places like Weligama people do not like to be alone. People would often watch me read, or write in my journal!

I learned that when you live right by the sea the world is never silent. Every night I would fall asleep to the sounds of the waves breaking on the shore

I learned that poor people can be incredibly generous.

In memory of our dear friend Titus. 

Titus was far from perfect but he taught me much about life, I only wish he could have lived long enough for me to tell him. And all of this happened because one day he just stopped a stranger on the streets of Weligama and started talking with them. Rest in peace dear friend. 

Titus and Lilian in 'our' new house

 

 

 

Song #61 Lady Spider

 

LADY SPIDER

(listen HERE. A clearer version coming soon.)

Finally the memory of my first love has gone

I have lived so long in the past – that road is long

Then I met my Lady Elizabeth

         I met my Lady Spider

 

Yes I had lived so long in the past not knowing if I could

Ever feel so in love again – I contemplate your smile

Your smile Lady Elizabeth

Your smile my Lady Spider

 

I’d given up all thoughts of joy of a woman’s charms

I found a gem who held me close – in her loving arms

And I’ll hold you Lady Elizabeth

       I’ll hold you my Lady Spider

 

I feel the wind that blows between our searching souls

It will carry us near and far until we’re old

When I’ll hold you Lady Elizabeth

           I’ll hold you my Lady Spider

 

Whatever I do, whatever I say

You owe me nothing - but I want for you to stay

When you come towards me how can I hold back

And pretend I don’t care?

 

When I love you Lady Elizabeth

           I love you my Lady Spider

 

© Michael Coghlan 1991

 

COMMENTARY: I knew I’d written this song years ago but I couldn’t find the words or the music until recently. Happily I found a muffled but heartfelt old recording and I have relearnt this beautiful song. I love it.

Song #60 Shadows and Sunshine

 

SHADOWS AND SUNSHINE

Life is hell, life is fine

And you’re free and you’re mine

And I fear nothing ‘cept a day

That you may say you’re leaving

 

CHORUS (1)

Shadows and sunshine leading me somewhere

Shadows and sunshine turning me on

 

To a life that is full

Of a place where I know nothing

But today will not end

If I get my way

 

CHORUS (2)

Shadows and sunshine teaching me something

Shadows and sunshine telling me hold on, let go

 

Of a life where you feel

A great joy – like a boy

For a change you’ve arrived

In a place where you’ve got something to lose

 

And it scares the hell out of me

That I would have to go on

Knowing if she were to go

It would be harder than ever before

 

To go on like before

All alone on the shore

Through a life that is fine

Where you’d have nothing to lose

 

CHORUS (1)

Shadows and sunshine leading me somewhere

Shadows and sunshine turning me on

 

© Michael Coghlan 1991

 

Commentary:

Coming to terms with being happy! And being in a relationship I wanted to last and fearing that it wouldn’t. And at the same time preparing myself for the worst should it be necessary! I remember being happy with this song but have no idea how it went.

 

Listening; Still Learning

 

I read recently that The Dalai Lama says the best thing one can do to improve the world, even if you can’t do anything else, is to listen. In the last year or so I have also being trying to live more in line with the dictum ‘you have two ears and one mouth so listen twice as much as you talk’ but it’s hard. Especially as you get older.

What I never understood is that if you are halfway intelligent and live 50 years or more you are likely to have learned quite a bit. You have taken in and processed vast amounts of information, seen countless movies, read hundreds of books and articles, participated in probably thousands of conversations, and simply observed people for half a century or more. You see patterns repeated; you’ve seen what works in situations, and what doesn’t. You have been mulling things over for at least 50 years, and ipso facto, you probably know more about life and human behaviours that someone who is 30 years old because you simply have much more data to base your conclusions on – more conversations, more perspectives, more concerts, more songs, more travelling, more heartaches. So you feel that you know more than people much younger than yourself. And you want to share what you know with them. But in one of life’s strange twists of irony, no one really wants to know, especially those much younger than yourself, for they are busy discovering their own path and realisations about the world. And so they must.

But what does the halfway intelligent older person then do with all this insight? Just listen???? Just learn some more??? Apparently so according to The Dalai Lama.

Something else happens the longer you live: your standards creep imperceptibly higher. If you’ve heard 10 songs, watched 10 plays and 10 movies the chances of you coming across another song, play or movie that is better than these 10 is very high. If you have heard 1000 songs, seen a 1000 plays and movies, those chances are much smaller. Through long term exposure to many fields of human endeavour you develop a keen awareness of what constitutes excellence – quality of life, of relationships, of artefacts of entertainment, of a sunset, of a view, and in a very real sense you become spoiled. You have recognised magnificence in life – of architecture, of art, of writing - and learned that it is rare. So I can go along and listen to a band and I will enjoy it, but I can’t help but subconsciously compare it with the music I have heard in years gone by and it is way less likely, though not impossible, to be as enjoyable as music heard at concerts in the past because my standards have crept up. I am now harder to please. It is harder to be moved by music, by the spoken word, by a spectacular view – because you have already experienced true magnificence in these aspects of life, and know how unlikely it is that you will experience better.

 I guess one of the keys to a successful older life is, despite all the wonderful things you may have enjoyed in the past, to treat every day and every new experience as if it could be as good as anything you’ve ever enjoyed. To go into each new moment unfettered by expectations based on past experiences. And listen 😊

Song #59 There Was A Night

(Listen HERE)

So who are you? I long to be with you
You breezed in from the past
Thirteen years ago have gone so fast
There was a night when I came home

Thirteen years ago - we made our choices
We've felt and caused some pain. Now here we are again
Will there be one night at home?

We've had children and needs
Sorrows and want
And still we both smile through it all
I would like one night at home

In the shadows of the evening you can't decide
Come play with me in the morning sun and we will ride

On for thirteen years - ah but who are you?
You breezed in from the past
Left me with a memory
Of a night when I came home

(Copyright M Coghlan, 1990)

Commentary

Elizabeth and I had met 13 years before and almost got together. Happily we found our way back to each other. Our song.

Song #58 Someone Dressed in Red

 

SOMEONE DRESSED IN RED

 

You have lived a long time

And you like the way you are

You’ve enjoyed your precious life

Though you never were a star

 

You had reached the point of knowing

That it could never be

You were in it for the long run

Lonely and free

 

So you go to another party

That will be like all the others

So many people out of reach

But there’s someone dressed in red

 

Your heart begins to wander

Like a traveller in a cold dawn

And you dare

To tempt the light of day

 

So you decide to follow

Another dangling thread

She seems so pleased to see you

But you do not fill your head

 

With dreams of how it could be

If you had not given up

And she says that she is thinking

Of never going away

 

And your eyes turn to water

Like a stream in wet winter

And you fall

Into the joy of it all

 

 

© M Coghlan 1991

 

COMMENTARY

This is exactly how I felt before I met Elizabeth. I had given up looking for love. And then hey presto Elizabeth turned up at this party in a church hall in Maylands wearing a red dress and the rest is history 😊

 

Destinations - Belle Chen

 

Her Majesty’s Theatre, Thu 21 Oct, 2021.

We have entered a world where one person, with the aid of musical technology, can sound like an ensemble. A solo performer, playing the role of technician as much as musician, can manipulate loops and sampled sounds of multiple different instruments with buttons, sliders and dials to create layers of sound of almost infinite variety.

In this work from Belle Chen, what looks like a grand piano – and occasionally sounds like one – but also functions as a synthesiser, organ, bell ringer, Theremin, and bass guitar. Add a layer of various sounds from nature (birds, water) and you have a luscious soundscape with many guises – soft and delicate, loud and dramatic, ambient and meditative – that feels very much like an exploration into the inner workings of the artist’s consciousness as they lead us through an unchartered path.

Chen’s touch on the piano is gorgeous. Her classical background was often in evidence but when her left hand keeps playing a gentle rhythm on the keys while the right hand adjusts the volume or unleashes the next effect that’s another thing altogether. At times she leans over the keys to hammer or pluck the strings under the lid, or uses the African kalimba to generate melodies and percussive patterns.

Projections that are displayed from floor to ceiling canvases either side of the artist and offer clues to Chen’s Destinations. Many of the images are abstract and allow the audience to build their own connections between image and sound, but other images of the natural world are intriguing and sometimes sadly poignant. I’d suggest that the visual impact of the projections may have been more impressive towards the back of the theatre.

Destinations is a performance of many textures; on offer was a multi-modal experience of contemplation and reflection; a celebration of the creative powers of an accomplished artist. Or one could just as easily close your eyes and simply listen to a bold composition that dares to be exploratory and expose the vulnerability of the artist and the creative process.

(This review also published in The Clothesline.)

The Laramie Project - Review

The Laramie Project

Holden Street Theatres, Fri 22 Oct

Long term Adelaide residents will immediately recognise the eerie similarity between the Laramie Project and our own equivalent moment of shame when Adelaide University Law Lecturer George Duncan was drowned in the Torrens in 1972. In 1998 a young gay man was brutally bashed and left to die outside the town of Laramie, Wyoming. “The skies are so blue here.” “It’s such a great community.”  “People are happy to live here.” “Here we let people live and let live.” “We don’t raise our children like that around here.” The people of Laramie struggled to accept that one of their own could be responsible for this appalling crime.

The Laramie Project is based on material gathered by a New York based Theatre group from 200 interviews with the people of Laramie. It’s an ingenious way to gather the raw material for a play and it works brilliantly. Each member of the wonderful cast takes on multiple roles of the townspeople: friends, barman, parents, staff and students from the local university, church figures, police, and doctors in a fast-moving parade of opinions and facts that essentially casts the audience in the role of jurors.

The first act does an excellent job of helping us get to know the victim, Matthew Shepard, and gives the audience an opportunity to establish their own personal connection with him. We learn that Matthew was a good guy and was universally liked throughout the town. The second act deals with the crime itself and the town’s subsequent shock and disbelief. A media circus invades the town and contributes to a shift in attitude in some of the locals. Sympathy gives way to cynicism and confusion: so we’re the centre of mass media attention because Matthew was gay? Was his life more important than that of a local cop who died around the same time?

Laramie clerics start using Matthew’s story to instruct their parishes. The Catholic priest wonders if the town should be grateful to Matthew for helping the town realise that hate and intolerance exist in Laramie and need to be addressed. The Baptist Pastor, Fred Phelps, took to campaigning against homosexuality. Invoking the authority of the Bible he insinuates that Matthew’s gay lifestyle had brought this upon himself. The final act deals with the court hearings, the ever-increasing debate around hate crimes and the rise of the Angel Action protest movement to counter the rantings of the likes of Fred Phelps. The courtroom apology of one of the perpetrators to Matthew’s parents was really moving, and the electronic candlelight vigil was a nice touch.

This is really fine theatre. The first-hand accounts of the townspeople lend authenticity and the cast really do a great job at managing multiple roles and costume changes and for once the American accents ALL sounded authentic – to my Australian ear anyway! I found the tendency to perhaps eke out more emotion from the situation than was warranted in the way that American dramas are wont to do a little bothersome but that’s the way the play is written, and not the fault of the cast.

George Duncan’s death here in 1972 led to South Australia becoming the first state in Australia to decriminalise homosexuality. Despite the worldwide media attention, sadly not one piece of legislation has ever been passed in Wyoming to address the kind of prejudicial hatred that resulted in the death of Matthew Shepard.

(This review also published on The Clothesline.)