My current writing commission has taken me into the world of work and welfare, and it has been quite a dive into the deep end. Westgate Community Initiatives Group (WCIG) has 38 years of history, and as it looks to future directions, wants to capture its origins: how does its DNA from the past shape and inform its current form and vision?

With a change of leadership, and emerging from the challenges of Covid-19, WCIG is searching for its stories. ‘Strategy story’ is a well-known business tool for exploring the past to inform the future, and that is the essence of my commission. As part of the project, WCIG wants a book written that will capture the origins of the organisation, trace its history and developments and highlight the values that have remained over the years that drive it today. Just a small project!

WCIG is a community-based, not-for-profit organisation committed to improving lives through practical responses to unemployment and disadvantage, and is one of many employment services competing for government contracts and partnerships that will provide openings for people who find it hard to get a job. There are all sorts of reasons for this: health, discontinued employment experience, lack of qualifications, mental challenges, physical disabilities, language challenges and age and many more. These factors all make it more difficult to find meaningful jobs.

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Our little coastal town of Hastings is not known for its cultural events. A pleasant marina and a mangrove board walk around the bay are its main attractions. It has three supermarkets and a Kmart, a fast-food intersection that is always busy, a selection of cafes and restaurants, multiple fish and chip shops and countless massage shops and nail salons. What more could we want? It’s actually what I like about this little resort town on the side of the Peninsula that is often forgotten. No impossible crowds in summer; always a parking spot in the main street.

But an occasional performance or art show is very welcome for the culture-starved residents who have carved out a niche in this gentle area – sometimes described beautifully and accurately in Garry Disher’s crime novels.

So when a Writers’ Club mate toured the Peninsula directing an Oscar Wilde play and ended in Hastings, I had to go – for myself and for Jonty. Besides, it was a three minute drive down the street! I also took my granddaughter, who had never been to live theatre before. With memories of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, I expected this play to be a humorous satire. It turned out to be darker.

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan is a comedy of manners by Osca Wilde, set in the 1890s in London. The play revolves around Lady Windermere’s jealousy over her husband’s apparent interest in Mrs Erlynne, a mysterious older woman. When rumours surface about Lord Windermere’s payments to Mrs Erlynne, Lady Windermere confronts him, leading to a complex web of secrets, morality and second chances.

The Hastings Hall is a surprisingly pleasant venue. In the chilly burst of near freezing temperatures we were experiencing, I was grateful to feel a warm glow from the heaters as we entered. The stage was empty! Chairs had been set up in the round in the main part of the hall, with a floor rug and furniture in the centre. With my husband, granddaughter and a friend, we settled in for what was quite a long performance.

My initial impression was that I felt involved in the action as the characters entered the corner right next to me and I pulled my feet in out of the way. They made great use of the space, using all four corners and sides with impressive movement and choreography. In the party scenes, we felt present at the event, mixing with the colourful characters. Some had very resonant voices and commanded the whole space; others like Mrs Erlynne, had quieter voices that were absorbed into the high ceiling, but made me lean in to keep up with the story.

The characters were so well cast and provided what humour the play has. An intimidating Lord Darlington, both by size and voice; a flittery Agatha with her constant ‘Yes, Mama’; the ever-present clown figure of a contemporary style Parker, the servant. The famous fan was there from the beginning and seemed to symbolise the way the feelings and understandings (or misunderstandings) moved around each scene, depending on who had the feathery, fluffy fan.

I was impressed with the extensive memory work that Lady Windermere had done to be across all her lines for the whole two and a half hours; she must be exhausted after each performance from speaking, shouting and crying as the dramas of suspected infidelity unfolded. Plays have a history of contrivance driving plot and this play is no exception. The audience was groaning with anticipation until the secret was revealed, as we had known it for a while. I think that is how playwrights draw us in, as we know more than the characters and identify like somewhat omniscient narrators.

Lord Windermere was impressively huffy and ingenuous, and I felt I wanted to shake him and sort out the whole misunderstanding. He valiantly bore the aspersions cast on his character as a gallant, chauvinistic, old world, aristocratic male would.

As for the mischievous Duchess of Berwick – there is always a troublemaker like her somewhere, played so convincingly in this performance.

After the long build up of misunderstandings and flip-flopping of emotions and trust, the play ended suddenly without full resolution, and as my granddaughter commented, raised a number of questions about morality. Who is good and who is bad? And is anyone bad capable of doing good or vice versa? Like all well-crafted plays, this one is about human nature and its foibles, played out in the most intimate of relationships.

It tackles the ambiguity of morality and the slipperiness of language, both of which undermine trust. It is a satire that deals with hypocrisy, shallowness and a rigid society which forces gender roles. Perhaps the context has changed but there are some universal truths in the play, along with warnings about making judgements and taking things and people at face value. It causes the audience to take a vow against shallowness and presumption, and to live for authenticity, loyalty and mutual understanding. The writer in me began to toss around some thoughts about how to write a play, which is the challenging form of writing completely in dialogue.

Well done Morning Peninsula Theatre Company and Director Jonty Reason. Please come back to Hastings soon!

It’s an honour to have a poem selected for this anthology, hot off the press from Ginninderra Press (the publisher of ‘A Voice for Veronica’).

This collection had its beginnings in the shame, sadness and disbelief that was felt by so many after the result of the Voice referendum in 2023. The poems passionately express those reactions and unflinchingly explore some of the truths about Australia and its history, that, if they had been widely known, might have led to a different result. It is hoped that the readers will find solace, inspiration and hope in the pages that follow. Stephen Matthews, editor.

My poem, ‘Four Generations’, reflects my perspective on generational legacy and where I sit in history. I leave my beautiful and very smart grandchildren a mix of hope and sadness.

Four Generations

You were my gentle grandad

I was spoilt and loved, the first female of your line

Quietly spoken grower of delicate gladioli

You named one after me

Companioned by your loyal springer spaniel

But never told me about Fromelles

The horror of your war

Just grew sweet strawberries.

You were my upright father

Brilliant but Depression deprived

Lived for service and duty

Pressured night study late in life broke your health

I think you loved me.

I am still living and loved; married

Have played, planted and bought houses

Studied, travelled, written books and made music

Flourished in my female way

Gathered my grandchildren around me

Some say I am a lucky boomer.

Dear granddaughter, finished school, finding your way

Tossing the dark curls bestowed by my genes

Driving a car to university

Free to choose your life or even gender

Inheriting a broken beautiful world I leave you

with love and some sorrow..

Jeanette Woods ©️ 2024

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