10 Days: A reputation to bury …

The reviewers are Sara Wright, Kylie Eastley, Gai Anderson and Mark Cutle

Title: A Reputation to Bury
Show name: Hatch
Company name: Auckland Theatre Company
Venue: Hobart Town Hall March 27-30. Other venues until April 5
Reviewer: Sara Wright

Auckland Theatre Company has discovered new regional audiences and rediscovered for us the successful and morally righteous entrepreneur, Joseph Hatch. He was accountable for the slaughter of over 3 million penguins on Macquarie Island and destined to lie in an unmarked grave at Cornelian Bay Cemetery.
The performance unfolds as citizens of the community make their way to the Town Hall meeting out of curiosity and concern. Hatch, played by Stuart Devenie with his handsome, acrobatic brow and wily whiskers makes no ceremony: he is indeed a victim of “scandalous lies and sabotage!” His characterisation is spry and endearingly witty – his humanism shines like a beacon fuelled by colonial penguin glycerine. He systematically demonises each of his critics with humour and panache, but also proves glaringly proficient in the high art of one-sided rhetoric!
The crowning achievement of Tony Rabbit’s set and lighting design are his lantern slides. They immediately transport us to another time and illustrate the remarkable execution of such a venture despite the isolation and harsh conditions of Macquarie Island.
I was swayed by a passionate argument and my compassion for a man of both substance and frailty and I became increasingly worried that Joseph Hatch was about to offer us a petition or make us take a vote. As I left the building and walked out into the cool Hobart evening towards the waterfront, musing about which hotel our dear Hatch might take his food and lodging tonight, I noticed the gallant bronze statue of Douglas Mawson on Constitution dock. The reason I had never heard of Joseph Hatch suddenly became clear to me.
Sara Wright is an artist, curator and writer in Hobart

This review is part of arts@work’s Critical Acclaim program, designed to increase critical analysis of the arts.

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Show name: Hatch
Company name: Auckland Theatre Company
Venue: Hobart Town Hall March 27-30 other venues until April 5
Dates: 27 March – April 5
Reviewer’s name: Kylie Eastley
Word Count: 452

Hatch is the story of Joseph Hatch, born in England, undertaking his apprenticeship as a druggist in Melbourne and emigrating to New Zealand, where he became a successful chemist, Mayor of Invercargill in 1877 and Member of Parliament. It was during his migration that he developed an interest for Macquarie Island and its natural resources.

Taking on the lease of the island he produced an industry rendering down seals and penguins, with a reported 3 million penguins killed over a 30 year period.

This one man performance at Hobart’s Town Hall is akin to a re-enactment of the original magic lantern lecture presented by Hatch in 1919 in an attempt to regain support for his now discredited venture. Elderly Hatch, played by New Zealand actor, Stuart Devenie, enters this ideal venue in character and is consistent throughout. His interaction and engagement with the audience is believable, at one point eliciting a ‘hiss’ from the audience.

It is well documented that Hatch was a charismatic public speaker. A skill he utilised when attempting to regain public support. Devenie equally elicits such charisma and humour, leaving the audience teetering between disgust, empathy and admiration.

Creating a sense of British Empire, Hatch’s character paces the stage aided by a few simple props and an impressive slide show. The photographic slides compliment his enigmatic oration, and create a theatrical and fascinating representation. Hatch oscillates between ruthless entrepreneur and vulnerable old man with a history of personal calamity and entrepreneurial hardship.

Devenie performs Hatch extremely well, touching on elements of his personality without becoming labored and sentimental. The inclusion and reference to other ‘colourful’ characters of the time such as Baron Rothschild, depicted in a buggy being pulled by a zebra, reinforces the type of world Hatch inhabits.

Devenie successfully conveys a sense of a man who is losing his grip on what he believes to be right. But the tide of public opinion is moving against him.

The script is extremely well written and well executed by the actor. There are moments of great tragedy in this story, but the script is loyal to the context in which this would have been presented. While there are moments of reflection, these are not over -sentimentalised, but assist in creating further depth to the character and the story.
The pace of the performance suits the content; with Hatch’s anger about what he feels is the injustice of his predicament giving way to moments of silence, reflection, grief and maybe even regret.

More than 70 years on from the days of stacking dead penguins ‘like bricks’ into the Macquarie Island digestors, the issue of humans plundering stocks of fish, animals and birds is one that is debated globally.

Kylie E Eastley is a freelance Arts Consultant based in Hobart, Tasmania.

This is a production from Aukland Theatre Company, which has toured throughout New Zealand and will tour to several towns as part of Ten Days on the Island 2009.

This review is part of arts@work’s Critical Acclaim program, designed to increase critical analysis of the arts.

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Show name: Hatch
Company name: Auckland Theatre Company
Venue: Hobart Town Hall and other venues
Dates: March 31- April 5
Reviewer’s name: Gai Anderson
Word Count: 519

Historic Hobart Town Hall was a perfect venue for this production, as we stepped back almost 90 years last night, to a time when men were men, and penguins were not yet movie stars with attitude, but merely a resource for the resourceful and the doggedly industrious. And industrious indeed was the eccentric, ageing entrepreneur Joseph Hatch, bedecked with the most amazing sideburns, rifling through his old leather bag of notes, as he launched into an action-packed solo journey through his life and times. And what a life it was as pharmacist, industrialist, family man and politician. He was also the notorious lessee of Macquarie Island, where in the early 1900s his gangs laboured to slaughter and render down millions of penguins to create an new product in his world famous Hatch’s Penguin Oil – “Every penguin a pint”.

Auckland Theatre Company’s production of Geoff Chappel’s hugely entertaining play is based on an imagined re-enactment of Hatch’s original lecture tour. It is a quirky interpretation of this bizarre man’s life as he attempts to defend his reputation, and have his oiling licence renewed, against the arguments of such luminaries as Sir Douglas Mawson, HG Wells and Frank Hurley, as part of perhaps the first environmental battle of the modern era in Tasmania

Complete with Designer Tony Rabbit’s brilliant magic lantern show of maps, scientific diagrams and fantastic photographs of the time, this story is packed with anecdotes and insights, laugh-out-loud comedy, and much steaming slander against his enemies.

Stuart Devenies as the solo performer is a consummate story teller convincingly evoking the ageing raconteur and champion of progress. His performance is subtly nuanced and totally engaging as we follow Hatch’s life through moments of rage, seeming madness, poignant tenderness and hilarity.

Sometimes history-based theatre can he boring, but not this show, not only because it is so relevant to Tasmania as it was not so long ago, but Hatch is also cleverly structured and directed to reveal much about this man and the issues of the time, as Hatch builds his case against the allegations which portray him as a cruel exterminator. For behind all the ridiculous detail about penguins and machinery, the bickering and slander lay unsolvable issues still smouldering with us today. As his lecture continues in a desperate attempt to clear his name I think how the same battles still rage here today. How those intent on the good values of progress and industrious wealth – still battle with those opposed to the plundering of nature. And as I leave the theatre contemplating all that I have just seen and heard, I feel a moment of sadness at the thought of this extraordinary man’s demise in Hobart in 1928 but then walking further on into the night I chuckle as I pass the impressive eco warrior ship, the Sea Shepherd, sitting right there at the dock .

Gai Anderson is a writer and performer based in Cygnet, Tasmania.

This review is part of arts@work’s Critical Acclaim program, designed to increase critical analysis of the arts.

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Title: Batten Down The Hatches
Show name: Hatch
Company Name: Auckland Theatre Company
Venue: Hobart Town Hall
Dates: Hobart Town Hall March 27-30. Other venues until April 5
Reviewer: Mark Cutler
Word count: 503

It is precisely 6pm. The houselights in the Town Hall remain up as Joseph Hatch Esquire enters. Dressed in the finery of late last century, complete with mutton-chop sideburns and wispy hair, Hatch ambles through the assembled audience heading for the stage. “Penguin Killer” someone behind me calls out. “I’ll see you afterwards sir” replies Hatch. So begins the Auckland Theatre Company’s production of Hatch. For the next sixty five minutes we are given a one man discourse on the right to slaughter for profit.

The production is a quasi re-enactment of the real Joseph Hatch’s campaign for the return of his Macquarie Island penguin and seal oil production licence. This gives the show an interesting historical perspective and as such it also acts as a kind of conservation litmus test for today. The audience shares an inward smirk at the outlandish notions Hatch proposes – “A pint in every penguin”! The audience laughter carries an unease and indeed it eventually gives way to a more measured response. For this we must acknowledge the performer.

Stuart Devenie, as Hatch, gives a wonderful performance. Clearly he is an experienced and skilled practitioner. His characterisation remained strong throughout and despite Hatch’s bombastic persona; Devenie still at times manages to convey a touching fragility. One caution however. In a piece that relies so much on words; diction, pacing and clarity of delivery cannot be taken for granted, especially so in the cavernous Town Hall. Too often sentences were unclear and key thoughts became lost.

The set and lighting design are credited to Tony Rabbit. It is not a production he should add to his CV. Two soft lights on either side of the stage and a single follow spot do not do justice to the performance, even taking into account the historical basis of the show. The set design is minimal. Colonial and Union Jack flags adorned the stage along with an overly noisy projector.

One person shows are difficult to pace and with Hatch director Colin McColl has his work cut out. At times the production lacked a dynamic. Like the unscripted beginning, I found myself longing for Hatch to engage the audience more often. Perhaps the desire to stay within the historical reality was the director’s brief or belief. If so it should be addressed. The audience lost energy save for the appearance of a toy penguin and the scattering of Hatch’s notes towards the end of the show. Why not call for house lights to go up and engage the audience with a simple show of hands to make a salient point? Or perhaps have the actor venture into the audience for to change the dynamic.

But these are relatively minor quibbles for a production that on the whole is engaging and still has resonance for today. As the world economy shrinks and we are asked to tighten our collective belts, it was disconcerting to hear Hatch declare at one point “The entrepreneur will win through, not the artist or the scientist”.

Mark Cutler is a Hobart based writer/performer

This review is part of arts@work’s Critical Acclaim program, designed to increase critical analysis of the arts.