How to live in the Wilds of Tasmania (??)
Strahan was a pretty big move for me - interstate always is. I've had a bit of practice at it now (a woman on the tour today asked me where my accent was from, and wouldn't believe me when I told her I was Aussie through and through! Could be the mixing of NSW, ACT, Qld and Vic accents... hmmm), but have tended to move to bigger cities, rather than smaller. Not to mention leaving my boy behind. Yes, he's always in my thoughts (and so he should be :).
The first couple of days in Strahan were pretty hard - not only did I not have any phone or internet connection in my newly rented 1 bedroom cottage (living on my own! Another adventure, and one I'm thoroughly starting to appreciate!), but the only mobile coverage down here is Telstra, so I left my Vodaphone mobile back in Melbourne. So not only did I not know anyone here, but I had no contact with the outside world for the first half-a-week! That, and trying desperately to learn the 2 hours worth of script (tour + play) almost sent me crazy I reckon. But am feeling much more at home now that I a) have phone and internet access, thank god!! The outside world does exist!!, and b) am feeling rather more on top of things.
At the moment I'm actually finding the tour much more rewarding than the play - I concentrated on learning that much more, and was taking tours by myself within the week, so am much more confident with playing with the tour. And it's obvious how much tourists on the cruise boats appreciate you bringing the Island to life - it's instant gratification. The script is very good too, in relating facts, and adding drama through the telling of Stories. It's theatre as I think it should be - commercially viable, yes, but also getting ppl to think, and relaying info about our history, our past and our roots. The underlying message in both the tour and the play is political, as Nigel (one of the guides) likes to remind us - treat a man badly, and you won't get anywhere, but treat him well, and he'll do his best. Oh, should make that politically correct, shouldn't I, and say 'person'...
The play I'm finding a little harder, as there's no such thing as rehearsal here. I was pretty much thrown right into it, and while I've got the basics of the secondary part down, I've done no real character work yet, so it can feel lame at times - and I'm still getting used to the rough, comic, pantomime style. I'm still corpsing terribly onstage, laughing at the other actors' jokes!! But I am getting better at both responding to and including the audience, and making a fool of myself! Always a handy skill to have as an actor...
But apart from the play, what I found myself thrown right into when I arrived was the politics - of the job, the town and, to some degree, the state. As Nigel says, Tasmania has the same level of government that any other state has - but only a quarter the people! So everyone has to have an opinion on happenings in the state. It is refreshing to be surrounded by people with passionate opinions on current affairs, even if they are often heavily weighted to one side of the argument. On my 2nd training day, Tom, the local doctor's young son, was espousing his reasons as to why the Franklin River should have been dammed! Now there's something that polarised the community here, and you can still feel it...
The town itself has some very interesting politics... it used to be a busy little port for the Mt Lyell mining company in Queenstown... but it was closed down due to its ineconomy compared with freighting overland in the 1970s. It wasn't until the Franklin Dam protests in the 1980s brought so much focus onto Tasmania's nature-reserves that tourism really became it's main industry; and between this and fishing Strahan has since become quite a pretty little hub of tourism. It's situation on the harbour is just beautiful, and despite the cold and the rain 300 days a year (it's raining now!) people come from all over the world to stay here.
Within the town, there are 2 main cruising companies, and you generally work for one or the other. There's the family owned 'World Heritage Cruises' (the red boat people); and the Federal owned Lady Jane (the white boat people). We, working for Round Earth, are in the priviledged (??) position of having free reign on both boats (we tend to go out on the red boat in the morning and do a tour for them; then wait on the island for the white boat, tour for them and go back to Strahan with them). Now, Federal is a Tasmanian company also, but it's a huge and very wealthy one - it owns most of Strahan Village central, and they say u can visit Tasmania without once stepping off Federal owned land or premises. This was a concept I was initiated into on my first day here.
There's also all the politics of a small town, which I only found out later, once Nigel returned from Hobart and briefed me. When I first got here I was working only with Richard, John, and Tom, all of whom had elsewhere to go after work, which meant that I (with my head stuck in script) didn't do a lot of exploring. But I've since been warned by Nigel that I'd better get to know the key people in the town, and all the crew on the boats, or I'll be pegged as snobby by the locals. Ah, the politics of small towns - so it wasn't just highschool that was like that, it was highschool in Bundaberg, yes, another small town (though not quite as small as this one, with it's 1000 locals). Nigel also likes to remind me quite regularly that I'm what's considered to be a 'vulture' (as he so tactlessly puts it) - coming in to work a job here over summer and saving money. I may see it a little different, but it's hard to combat the 'locals', who no doubt feel they have to stake their territory, what with so many hundred thousand visitors coming here every year. So from ppl like Nigel (who's actually a Hobartian, but still holds his local Tasmanian status up like a flag) there's an interesting paradox - the fact that the tourists who visit are his bread and butter; and yet at another level he disdains them. Interesting politics indeed. It's hard to know when to point this out, and when to just smile and nod sometimes... after all, I'm not a local now, am I??
The first couple of days in Strahan were pretty hard - not only did I not have any phone or internet connection in my newly rented 1 bedroom cottage (living on my own! Another adventure, and one I'm thoroughly starting to appreciate!), but the only mobile coverage down here is Telstra, so I left my Vodaphone mobile back in Melbourne. So not only did I not know anyone here, but I had no contact with the outside world for the first half-a-week! That, and trying desperately to learn the 2 hours worth of script (tour + play) almost sent me crazy I reckon. But am feeling much more at home now that I a) have phone and internet access, thank god!! The outside world does exist!!, and b) am feeling rather more on top of things.
At the moment I'm actually finding the tour much more rewarding than the play - I concentrated on learning that much more, and was taking tours by myself within the week, so am much more confident with playing with the tour. And it's obvious how much tourists on the cruise boats appreciate you bringing the Island to life - it's instant gratification. The script is very good too, in relating facts, and adding drama through the telling of Stories. It's theatre as I think it should be - commercially viable, yes, but also getting ppl to think, and relaying info about our history, our past and our roots. The underlying message in both the tour and the play is political, as Nigel (one of the guides) likes to remind us - treat a man badly, and you won't get anywhere, but treat him well, and he'll do his best. Oh, should make that politically correct, shouldn't I, and say 'person'...
The play I'm finding a little harder, as there's no such thing as rehearsal here. I was pretty much thrown right into it, and while I've got the basics of the secondary part down, I've done no real character work yet, so it can feel lame at times - and I'm still getting used to the rough, comic, pantomime style. I'm still corpsing terribly onstage, laughing at the other actors' jokes!! But I am getting better at both responding to and including the audience, and making a fool of myself! Always a handy skill to have as an actor...
But apart from the play, what I found myself thrown right into when I arrived was the politics - of the job, the town and, to some degree, the state. As Nigel says, Tasmania has the same level of government that any other state has - but only a quarter the people! So everyone has to have an opinion on happenings in the state. It is refreshing to be surrounded by people with passionate opinions on current affairs, even if they are often heavily weighted to one side of the argument. On my 2nd training day, Tom, the local doctor's young son, was espousing his reasons as to why the Franklin River should have been dammed! Now there's something that polarised the community here, and you can still feel it...
The town itself has some very interesting politics... it used to be a busy little port for the Mt Lyell mining company in Queenstown... but it was closed down due to its ineconomy compared with freighting overland in the 1970s. It wasn't until the Franklin Dam protests in the 1980s brought so much focus onto Tasmania's nature-reserves that tourism really became it's main industry; and between this and fishing Strahan has since become quite a pretty little hub of tourism. It's situation on the harbour is just beautiful, and despite the cold and the rain 300 days a year (it's raining now!) people come from all over the world to stay here.
Within the town, there are 2 main cruising companies, and you generally work for one or the other. There's the family owned 'World Heritage Cruises' (the red boat people); and the Federal owned Lady Jane (the white boat people). We, working for Round Earth, are in the priviledged (??) position of having free reign on both boats (we tend to go out on the red boat in the morning and do a tour for them; then wait on the island for the white boat, tour for them and go back to Strahan with them). Now, Federal is a Tasmanian company also, but it's a huge and very wealthy one - it owns most of Strahan Village central, and they say u can visit Tasmania without once stepping off Federal owned land or premises. This was a concept I was initiated into on my first day here.
There's also all the politics of a small town, which I only found out later, once Nigel returned from Hobart and briefed me. When I first got here I was working only with Richard, John, and Tom, all of whom had elsewhere to go after work, which meant that I (with my head stuck in script) didn't do a lot of exploring. But I've since been warned by Nigel that I'd better get to know the key people in the town, and all the crew on the boats, or I'll be pegged as snobby by the locals. Ah, the politics of small towns - so it wasn't just highschool that was like that, it was highschool in Bundaberg, yes, another small town (though not quite as small as this one, with it's 1000 locals). Nigel also likes to remind me quite regularly that I'm what's considered to be a 'vulture' (as he so tactlessly puts it) - coming in to work a job here over summer and saving money. I may see it a little different, but it's hard to combat the 'locals', who no doubt feel they have to stake their territory, what with so many hundred thousand visitors coming here every year. So from ppl like Nigel (who's actually a Hobartian, but still holds his local Tasmanian status up like a flag) there's an interesting paradox - the fact that the tourists who visit are his bread and butter; and yet at another level he disdains them. Interesting politics indeed. It's hard to know when to point this out, and when to just smile and nod sometimes... after all, I'm not a local now, am I??
posted by Franki | 4:16 AM
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