Is blood thicker than water?

Two Brothers
By Hannie Rayson
Melbourne Theatre Company
With Gary McDonald, Nicholas Eadie, Laura Lattuada, Diane Craig, Rodney Afif
At the Playhouse
Until May 14

REVIEW BY VANNESSA HEARMAN

What do two brothers do when they can't stand each other's politics? Is blood thicker than water? In this new play by Hannie Rayson, the relationship between two brothers is tested when lives are lost in a body of water between Indonesia and Australia, within Australia's zone of surveillance by navy and air patrols.

Australia is being inundated by "boat people" boarding leaky vessels to come to the land of plenty. Elder brother "Eggs" Benedict (Gary McDonald) is the minister for home security, while Tom (Nicholas Eadie) heads up a welfare organisation that works with asylum seekers on temporary protection visas (TPVs).

On Christmas Day, as the two families prepare to devour a roast turkey, a boat sinks in the ocean, resulting in hundreds dead and one sole survivor, Hazem Al Ayad (Rodney Afif), an Iraqi who gets a TPV. The ship's sinking has parallels with that of SIEV X, which sank on October 19, 2001.

Rayson's play focuses inward: on the two families and their responses to the events around them. There are strong performances from Tom's no-nonsense, salt-of-the-earth, Greek wife Ange (Laura Lattuada) and the minister's wife, Fiona (Diane Craig), of "good breeding and education". Fiona is a graduate of that bastion of private girls' education Merton Hall.

Anyone in doubt of the existence of class in Australia should come to see a play like this, in the opulent surrounds of the Victorian Arts Centre, and hear the knowing laughter of the audience to references of wealthy suburb Camberwell and elite boys' school Melbourne Grammar. Rayson shows that, too often in Australia, money and power are intertwined and if you haven't got it by the time you take your first steps in the world, then you never will.

In Eggs' case, a very powerful job is up for grabs — if he plays his cards right. But there are a few risks, not least of which are the inconvenient questions being asked about the sinking of the refugee boat. The play is tautly scripted and is a great drama of human emotions and moral conundrums.

Hazem Al Ayad's moving description of floating in the water for hours, waiting for help after the boat sank, reminded me of the similar testimonies given by SIEV X survivors and was very moving. This play — about two brothers — succeeds in bringing Australia's refugee policy into the public eye yet again. It demonstrates how power works in Australian society, though it doesm't necessarily suggest how the less powerful can fight back.

From Green Left Weekly, April 27, 2005.

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From GLW issue 624