Art should challenge us to think of possibilities we could never imagine for ourselves; to think deeply about what it means to be human, and the society we live in. Jane Harrison’s play The Visitors – being restaged by Sydney Theatre Company after its 2020 premiere – achieves this with an audacious premise: as the first fleet ships sailed into Sydney, how did the First Nations clans decide how to respond? Do you send them away or do you welcome them? What is their motivation? Do they need your help or are they a danger? What can you teach them – and is there a possibility that you can learn from them?
On a set designed by Elizabeth Gadsby to evoke Sydney’s sandstone, the protagonists congregate from around the area to discuss the new arrivals before they land. We meet Gary (Guy Simon) of the Northern Parramatta River, Gordon (Luke Carroll) of Sydney Cove, Albert (Beau Dean Riley Smith) of the South Shore, Jacky (Elaine Crombie) of Manly Cove’s North Shore; Wallace (Dalara Williams) of the River, Joseph (Kyle Morrison) of the Headlands, and Lawrence (Joseph Wunujaka Althouse) of Botany Bay. Together – with dynamics that resemble a local land council meeting – they weigh up argument and counter-argument within the frameworks of cultural protocol, and consensus is elusive.
