Actor Ella Prince has returned to Western Australia for Black Swan State Theatre Company’s production The Shepherd’s Hut.
Perth audiences previously got to see the acclaimed actor when they toured with The Bell Shakespeare Company’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but this time round they’re taking on a brand new work.
Playwright Tim McGarry has taken Tim Winton’s 2018 novel The Shepherd’s Hut and adapted it for the stage. It tells the story of Jaxie Clackton, who is 15, furious, and on the run from the wreckage of his past. He encounters Fintan MacGillis, a disgraced Irish priest living in exile, in a crumbling shepherd’s hut at the edge of the world. It’s described as raw, poetic, and an unforgettable exploration of masculinity, isolation, forgiveness, and the violence of hope.
Under the direction of Matt Edgerton, a stellar cast has been assembled. Alongside Prince there’s the respected George Shevtsov, plus Ben Mortley and Ryan Hodson.
Prince’s journey with the production has been from its embryonic stages. Playwright Tim McGarry suggested they would be perfect for one of the roles while he was writing the script.
“I was approached by Tim McGarry, who’s the adapter, who I had worked with many years ago on my first play in Sydney, The Shadow Box, and he was an actor in that production with me.”
Over the decade that’s followed since they first met on that production, McGarry and Prince have stayed in touch and continued a friendship.
“I guess, as you do with so many artists that you collaborate with, you form a bond and mutual respect. I’ve continued to watch his work as a writer and a performer, and I think he’s phenomenal, and he also happens to have the most extraordinarily generous heart,” Prince told OUTinPerth. “He’s just one of those artists that you love to be near.”
As soon as Prince read an early draft of the play they knew they’d be fighting to get an audition for the role.
“I read the draft before I read the novel, and I just completely fell into the poetry of it and I was really immediately moved and connected to this kind of portrait of the Australian landscape, and within that, this struggle of masculinity, which, through my own lens, I have an understanding of the kind of brutalism of parts of Australia in their expression of masculinity. Entering that portal through Jax’s eyes, for me, was cathartic, but also delicate.”
“I hadn’t quite experienced something so vast in its understanding of that kind of personal history, the trauma around a violent childhood and trying to find oneself, and that of seeking redemption, and then also how the landscape becomes a backdrop for that,” Prince said.
The play comes at a time when society is increasingly talking about masculinity, and how men fit into the world around them.
“I’ve always had a curiosity around masculinity in particular. And of course, that’s embodied in my own experience of gender,” Prince shared.
“There’s also this interesting conversation about how young men can find connection and expression and a safe place, and feel valued.
“Interestingly, I think more and more in a contemporary way the vision of masculinity is becoming narrow, and that’s really sad, you know.
“I identify as a trans person, and I’ve been reading a lot lately. I look to a lot of trans-masc people, artists and other people, and how their lens on what it is to exist in the world, when you’re actually seen as male as well, when you pass as male, and in some cases there’s this adjustment to a sense of loneliness, which I find really curious and compelling.”
Prince describes the play as one that tackles a very simple concept – connection between two people – while at the same time exploring the many challenges faced by the younger and older men at the centre of the story. The remote setting also plays a big part in the narrative.
“There’s a missing element to simple connection. Space and land can give you so much sense of peace. And that is what Jax is after, and he’s sort of grappling with in this vast landscape, which also has a brutalism to it. It’s not easy to survive out there. It’s his companionship with this older man that heals so much in him.”
Prince also shares that this is the perfect story for a theatrical adaptation. At a time when creativity is threatened by artificial intelligence, multi-screen viewing, and constant distraction, there’s still nothing like going to the theatre. Sitting inside a theatre watching a play is one of the few places where audiences can leave behind their lives and give their full attention to storytelling.
“It’s excellent that you have to turn your phone off, and you have to sit there and be in this space together. There is something I find so profound and spiritual about it, because you are in a space where you are holding space for ideas, for connection, and for story, which is so enlivening to all people.”
“It’s a beautiful, ritualistic, fantastic thing that just allows for connection,” Prince said in her pitch for people to embrace theatre. “I love it, and I think you can’t take that away!”
Black Swan State Theatre Company’s The Shepherd’s Hut is playing at the State Theatre Centre from 9 to 31 May. Tickets are on sale now.
