On Thursday night we saw the opening of A National Park.

On Thursday night we saw the opening of A National Park. Black Sapphire productions has produced a little gem - a one hour play invested with humour, wisdom and sensitivity. The two performers, Jessie Ward & Killian Harty as respectively Akasha the knowledgeable park ranger on her own boodjar, and Kasey, the Irish ecologist with something of a flaky outlook on things are very well attuned to their roles.

Harty's lovely voice and guitar strumming set the scene in the National Park as he awaits the arrival of Akasha the Park Ranger.

We're somewhere in the South-West of Western Australia 10 years from now - frakking is suspected of destroying the biodiversity of the National Park that Akasha is employed to care for. It being her mob's ancestral boodjar, or heartland, she would have been caring for it anyway I bet, but no harm in being paid, unna?

If you come to this play without any knowledge of Noongar protocols, it's a good first step into awareness of their approach to their relationship with the land and the life on it, and with their interaction with the modern world. Step inside the life of a woman who balances her work, her moort (extended tribe and family), with international travel and rock concerts very successfully.

She makes an extraordinary discovery in the National Park, and things suddenly get complicated - the political and conservation consequences have to be weighed carefully and Kasey the ecologist is very excited about the whole thing. Materialism wars with concern for the land and trust is a very fragile thing. When the very elements seem to be against them while waiting for Auntie some difficult decisions have to be made. You'll laugh a lot, there's some very funny writing there, and you'll think some too.

There's really not a lot I can say further without there being serious spoilers. I'd urge anyone to go and see it, but they're sold out, so perhaps if they extend the season or run it again you might get to enjoy it.

There were a couple of sections that I felt were a bit odd. They go to sleep, with still some way to go to the cave, but when they wake up, after some conversation, they're suddenly there? I'm not sure that for me that there was enough indication that some time had passed in travel. But then time is not the same for wadjela as it is for Nyoongar.

I really liked the soundscape of the birds and the insects, some very familiar southwest sounds there. Nice to have a few Noongar words too, being used and explained.

Andrea Fernandez, the writer heading up Black Sapphire productions has done a great job with these characters and with the story and I look forward to seeing more of her work! The next one will be a musical!

8/10 Boola moorditj and The Real Inspector Hound goes bushwalking with Napoleon Bonaparte on the Sid & Nancy Scale.

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https://fringeworld.com.au/whats_on/a-national-park-fw2019