Does dredging up the past do more harm than good? This is a central question explored in The Queen’s City of the South, a humorous and fascinating play concentrating on community, identity and Australia’s devastating treatment of queer individuals in the small town of Cooma.
The play focuses on Ryan, played by writer Mark Salvesto – Cooma’s ‘resident homo’ and host of a campy community radio program. His older friend, Maggie, is by his side as she utilises his platform, campaigning to be elected president of the town’s historical society. Albeit once an outsider from Sydney, Lucas enters the scene with questions around his deceased, closeted grandfather, a mystery surrounding Cooma’s Gaol and its insidious past with the queer community is uncovered.
The realistic set design by Elle Fitzgerald of a radio station, complements the genre of the play. However, it sadly lacks detail, production value and literally constrains the scope of locations present throughout. However, the use of a scrim centre stage, illuminated by Lung Ng’s purposeful lighting design, showcases the brief flashback sequences cleverly.
Madeleine Picards’ brilliant sound design spanning gay classics – Cher, Barbra Streisand and Pet Shop Boys etc – will be sure to keep queer viewers thoroughly entertained. Especially as the song titles often act as double entendres – giving humorous insight into radio host Ryan’s emotional state.
Direction from Ryan Whitworth-Jones is adequate throughout. He serves the script well but there’s a need for more heightened and interesting use of dramatic action. Where Whitworth-Jones’s skills soar is in their direction of the three actors.
Salvesto breathes electric and charismatic life into Ryan with nuance, providing beautiful range and great clarity for the text he has written. His performance as a radio host is pitch-perfect and shines most when exploring these aspects of the character. Ryan’s bipolar and manic interview with himself once confronted by the town’s lack of empathy towards the injustices of the past, was a stand-out moment in Salvesto’s performance.
Likewise, Kath Gordon’s headstrong and ambitious Maggie is superb casting. She excels in representing the well-intentioned yet somewhat ignorant and at times catty nature, we all come to expect from older generations in small towns. Maggie had the audience laughing the most throughout due to her exceptional grasp of comedic timing and fully realised characterisation.
Lastly, Jack Calver plays the role of Lucas, an arrogant, self-assured and handsome twink, with charm. His connection to the mistreatment of his grandfather and his need for justice allows audiences to fall in love with him.
The chemistry between all three actors is delicious and it’s fabulous to see an intergenerational cast on a Sydney stage. However, the script doesn’t give Calver enough to play with as his character’s arc is sacrificed to allow more stage time between Ryan’s relationship with Maggie and the rest of the town of Cooma.
Here in lies the biggest problem with the script – Salvesto sets up an intriguing mystery concerning Australia’s devastating past with the LGBTQIA+ community yet those concepts and themes are never realised in enough detail or grit to provide them justice.
Everything is kept too safe and censored. The audience is often told about these atrocities and not shown the brutality of them, preventing viewers from experiencing any meaningful emotional connection to one of Australia’s darkest secrets. Consequently, the play’s pacing suffers as it loses focus on the mystery at hand.
Conventions of an Australian Gothic genre, as showcased in Angela Betzien’s Children of the Black Skirt, would have served the darker subject matter and concepts around Australia’s horrific history with conversion therapy.
Additionally, Salvesto’s more emotional moments and furious outbursts aren’t earnt as the script doesn’t allow watchers to feel this same intensity of emotion. It was frustrating to leave a play built upon such a historical context, with little knowledge of said history and more questions than answers.
Instead, we are given a light-hearted script on a gay man finding his place within the community of a small town – like we haven’t seen that before. I would challenge Qtopia to be bolder and more unapologetic with their work moving forward, not shying away from the fringe aspects of queer identity.
Despite this, the questions, concepts and themes the text explores are all fascinating. Is it a community’s responsibility to take responsibility for the past? Is silence complicity? Does dredging up the past do more harm than good?
All of this, along with the chemistry between the cast, fantastic lighting and sound design makes The Queen’s City of the South a worthwhile watch. This is a fantastic starting point for this script and it’s exciting to see its potential which I hope is realised further in future productions.
The Queen’s City of the South
The Loading Dock – Qtopia Sydney, 301 Forbes Street, Darlinghurst
Performance: Friday 11 October 2024
Season continues to 19 October 2024
Information and Bookings: www.humanitix.com
Image: Mark Salvestro and Jack Calver in The Queen’s City of the South – photo by Bojan Bozic
Review: Lee Andrews