PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

LURE OF THE ROCK

LURE OF THE ROCK

There is a lure about the monolith that is quite overcoming as you follow the well worn path at the base of the rock moving towards the steeper and higher climbs. The initial winding ascent was quite enticing, as if the natural formation of steps and holds about the rock face challenge hikers to conquer it, inviting visitors to scramble about its deep crevices, discover the secret caves, and hidden paths.

While all surroundings exhibit the colourings of nature -textures of dirt, sandy grit, crumbling rock, thickets of green brush, and the snapped edges of twigs; the clarity of the cloudless blue sky is indescribable almost unbelievable. Once you come to terms with the beauty of the setting, your mind enters an awareness of the thick silence that hangs about the place. To be deeply engrossed in the harsh Australian bush, ears are expected to be immersed in a buzz of insects, call cry of of birds, and whip of wind. But no such orchestra of sounds occur though out the higher panes of the rock, the surroundings exhibit no signs of life. Even the spider webs that hang from sun scorched trees appear disused and dusty.

LURE OF THE ROCK

The mystifying nature setting remains untouched and unchanged from the description laid out by Australian author Joan Lindsey in her 1967 novel Picnic At Hanging Rock. A mystery novel that entranced readers into speculation over the disappearance of three Australian school girls and their teacher during a picnic trip to Hanging Rock on Valentines day year 1900. The 1975 film adaption layers on yet another blanket of conjecture though moody- atmospheric scenery and symbolism.

American novelist and screenwriter Raymond Chandler describes a mystery as ‘one you would read even if the ending was missing’, Picnic at Hanging Rock irrevocably fulfils this description. While many are familiar with

the story of the missing school girls Miranda, Irma, Marion and teacher Miss McCraw, they are often surprised and at times reluctant to believe the mysterious case is of complete fiction. Mystery and inquiry ingrained deep in the psyche of the audiences, neither novel nor film adaption offer any sense of resolution to the puzzle. The 1975 movie adaption stayed true to the novels intention, it posed a plethora of questions, and plenty of plausible explanations, all just as likely as their alternative. Following the film, public interest in the case was so strong that a response was penned by Yvonne Rousseau, Murders at Hanging Rock – a collection of hypothetical accounts detailing explanations as to how or why the characters went missing.

FACT OR FICTION

FACT OR FICTION

Why is Picnic At Hanging Rock popular with audiences, even more of a mystery, why do they want to believe its real? A work of complete fiction, what was within the pages of Picnic at Hanging Rock that felt so realistic be perceived as fact. Through her writing Joan Lindsey captured the beauty of the colonial landscape during the 1900s. Her readers were engulfed by the ancient spiritualism with which she framed Hanging Rock. Readers were enthralled with Lindsey’s juxtaposition of the land’s early dreamtime occupants, and the modern colonial immigration of the English to the Australian country. But the key reason for audience interest may be with in the novels introduction, when Lindsey inadvertently deceives her readers, ‘…whether fact or fiction, my readers must decide for themselves. As

the fateful picnic took place in the year nineteen hundred, and all the characters who appear in this book are long since dead, it hardly seems to matter’.

FACT OR FICTION

FINAL CHAPTER

The secret ending was laid to rest following the death of writer Lindsey. An originally unpublished final chapter that detailed the supernatural end to the girl’s lives came into public eye. Lindsey continues the story, recounting the girl’s climb towards the mountains upmost peaks in a daze, feeling nauseous the higher they got. At one point, the girls remove their corsets and after flinging them off the top of a cliff saw that they hang suspended in the air. This incident touches on a moment of comprehension from the girls, where they finally submit to the rocks appeal. The rock frozen in time, the girls transfigure into crab like critters and enter a hole in space, before being swallowed up by the rock.

Many fans of both the novel and film voiced dissatisfaction with the ultimate ending. Mysteries crave

solutions and the mysteries that remain unsolved are the ones that perpetuate the craving. Until the release of the final chapter, Picnic At Hanging Rock had all the markings of a proper mystery. This explains why many fans longed for the fiction to be a true story, because of its perpetually provocative and mysterious nature.

Over the years Picnic at Hanging Rock has gained urban legend status, despite being based on a novel, it is a story often told when speaking of the area, or visiting the monolith. Today Hanging Rock remains part of a reserve, a true site any person can visit and climb themselves. Unchanged within the area is the spine-tingling and mystifying beauty Lindsey romantically described.

FINAL CHAPTERFINAL

CHAPTER

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

From 26th of February through to the 20th of March, Malthouse Theatre will be staging a theatre adaption of Picnic At Hanging Rock. Directed by Matthew Lutton, and adapted from the novel by writer Tom Wright, the stage play carries on Lindsey’s poetic use of description, and complex use of language to lay the scene.

Speaking with actors Arielle Gray, Nikki Shiels and Elizabeth Nibben, a look into director Lutton workings, and how writer Wright’s use of language transports audiences’ scene to scene.

~ How did costume contribute to your playing of the various characters, at times costume was used, others, simple all black clothing.

Gray:Elaborate, period costume was only worn in key moments, and they are few, which is why they may stand out in mind for the audience.

Nibben: The times we wore all black were scenes during which we had to constantly switch between characters. There is one scene where all five of us actors are on stage, we are portraying 11 characters between us, what is more is we don’t always play the same character. In these instances, emphasised to us by Tom and Matthew was the use of posture status and vocal status distinction in order to distinctly portray each character while wearing the same clothing.

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

How do you each find working with Tom Wrights rich, poetic and complex text?

Shields: I found Tom’s rich language went over my head at first. With every reading, we learned the layers of meaning behind Toms writing as well as though Matthew’s direction. They imparted upon us a specificity of image, logic, and time progression of narrative that isn’t necessarily understood when simply reading though the stage adaption.

Nibben: Tom’s language is the main part of the show, we don’t use much prop, little costume, and often keep a bare stage. Its all down to the description and visual language used by Tom, and as actors our justification of that language.

Gray: I would say the main character I play is Sara, and for her she actually deals with the idea of loss of language and loss of identity. The complexity of Sara’s language isn’t really expressed through constant description and rich language like for the other girls. Its resonance and understanding audiences develop though the single lines she says.

Throughout the play there is a constant use of direct address and transformation into an ongoing scene, was this a difficult transition to master?

Gray: Yes, very much so. The writing often lays out the inner thoughts of a character though direct address at first, and then slip in and out of character inhabitation. Our direction was to do this without pause, breath or hesitation… a ‘clean slide’. Its challenging because with the true nature of story telling, you innately pause, and give the listener time to sit with the images dictated to them. With the way we were directed to carry out the writings, there were at times, little distinction between a character’s lines and the story being told.

~

This production of the much loved, otherworldly story of the disappeared girls leaves audiences enthralled with convoluting mystery. Picnic At Hanging Rock is a text that has been analytically dissected for decades. While Lutton’s adaption is not an entirely faithful rendering, the sophistication of Wright’s language is loyal to Lindsey’s writing and is undeniably as enigmatic.

Picnic At Hanging Rock will be playing at Meryln Theatre from 26 February though to 20 March,

visit malthousetheatre.com.au/

References

Badham. V, 2016, ‘How Malthouse Theatre plans to bring Picnic at Hanging Rock to the stage’, The Guardian -Australian Theatre, viewed 17 April 2016 < http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/feb/23/how-malthouse-theatre-plans-to-bring-picnic-at-hanging-rock-to-the-stage> Brynes. P, 2015, ‘Why Picinc at Hanging Rock changed Australian cinema -and still mystifies’, The Sydney Morning Herald, viewed 10 April < http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/why-pic-nic-at-hanging-rock-changed-australian-cinema--and-still-mysti-fies-20150804-gir7tl.html>

Dunning. B, 2012 ‘Picninc At Hanging Rock’, Skeptoid, viewed 9 April 2016 < https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4308>

Malthouse Theatre, 2016, ‘Picnic At Hanging Rock’, Whats On, viewed 9 April < http://malthousetheatre.com.au/whats-on/picnic-at-hanging-rock>

Minkema. H, 2013 ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock: Retracing an Austra-lian Murder Mystery’, The Bohemian Bog, viewed 10 April < http://www.thebohemianblog.com/2013/09/a-picnic-at-hanging-rock-australia.html> Parker. J, 2016, ‘Peter Weir’s Picnic aAt Hanging Rock’, Book-mice, viewed 13 April 2016 < http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/rock/picnic3.html> Parker. J, 2016, ‘Picnic At Hanging Rock, Bookmice, viewed 13 April 2016 < http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/rock/picnic.html> Wilson. A, 2016, ‘Malthouse’s Mathew Lutton revisits Picnic at Hanging Rock’, The Australian, viewed 13 April < http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/stage/malthouses-matthew-lutton-re-visits-picnic-at-hanging-rock/news-story/a27e10684afdb03c8ce-86848613c13c8>