The Playhouse Theatre is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year and to celebrate will revisit some much loved plays of previous years. The play that kicks off the season is ‘The Fiddler on the Roof’. I had the chance to speak to the director Don Gay recently.
Don has a Tasmanian pedigree, although his parents were living in Melbourne before his birth his grandmother was living in Tasmania and when Don’s mum suffered from ill health she returned to Tasmania and so Don was born here, later he would return to Melbourne and then finally settle back in Tasmania.
‘The Fiddler on the Roof’ is the story of a milkman and his daughters, the big themes of love; love for God, love for family and faith are here; and added to the mix is the question of how traditions survive and are not displaced in changing times. Mirroring this we have the Jewish people who are displaced and must find a home outside of Russia taking their precious traditions with them. In the context of the play that new home is America but Don reminds me that many Jewish people from Russia settled in Australia and there are large populations in Sydney and Melbourne, and of course also some Jewish people settled in Tasmania, of particular prominence were the Solomon family who were involved in the establishment of The Mercury and ironically The Theatre Royal. The Solomon’s also helped build a temple in Hobart Which is located at 59 Argyle Street it’s a building that’s design, Don says, looks, like it has been transported from Egypt. Within it are housed ancient scrolls and wedding canopies, manifestations of a faith and tradition preserved. This temple is very unique and special being the oldest in the southern hemisphere.
The Tasmanian Solomons also have a link which stretches to a rich literary association with Charles Dickens and his character of Fagin. The character of Fagin was based on Ike Solomon however, the Solomon’s of Hobart didn’t emphasise the link because of Ike’s criminal nature. Ike, like Fagin was transported to Van Diemen ’s Land for forming a gang of petty criminals.
Don’s career is no less interesting, having worked in theatre both as actor and director in a career that spans 45 years. Don began in theatre in the early days in Devonport, then the hub of Tasmania’s theatre scene. He went on to do an apprenticeship through the Elizabethan theatre trust with The Theatre Royal and took part in the weekend( Friday to Sunday)presentation of ‘The Wakefield Cycle’, which included the cream of Australian performers. Don also worked in the US. After an accident which left him with limitations Don didn’t pursue his move to the mainland for a career in film and TV.
Don continued his theatre career in Tasmania and this year he is a guest director for a play that resonates with him. Just as many directors have an epiphany when the play comes together, Don believes too, that sometimes a play speaks to you and this one about the triumph of the human spirit and love spoke to him many years ago so much so it was the logical choice to perform in this anniversary year of the Playhouse theatre.
Although the play has a sadness and as one patron said they didn’t want to see it because of this, Don reminds us that it also has a lot of humour which is paramount and the celebrations including energetic dancing makes the characters laugh through the sadness and celebrates the triumph of the human spirit, in this case the Jewish people being ousted from Russia. Don believes the human spirit manages to surmount whatever difficulties are put in front of it and something kicks in, and so with the Jewish people made ‘countries within the countries’ they resettled in.
Don has tried to resist seeing too much of the screen adaptation to allow him to make this version of the story as original as possible and leave us with the image of the fiddler precariously perched on a roof the metaphor of survival of tradition in uncertain times.
‘The Fiddler on the Roof’ plays at the Playhouse Theatre on Friday 22 February 2013 to Saturday 9 March 2013.
Paula Xiberras
