Kat Stewart stars in play that might just be Australia’s answer to Death of a Salesman
When actor Kat Stewart and director Sarah Goodes were looking for a script to collaborate on, they started with the classics. “The usual suspects are the Albees, whom I adore, Tennessee Williams and a few Sam Shepard acts,” says Stewart. “The recurring theme was the American dream, heartbreak, or the disappointment of the American dream.”
But then came Goodes Break of the DayThe script belongs to experienced actor and playwright Steve Rodgers. A heartfelt and moving tribute to the dreams and disappointments of ordinary but recognizable people, the film felt like an Australian version of US classics. “Why don’t we look into this?” asked Stewart. “This is real. This is right now. And this is something we don’t shine a light on.”
Stewart plays Pam, a single mother barely making ends meet working the night shift at one of the massive warehouses that ships every imaginable product 24 hours a day. The customer who unboxes his new smoothie maker, beard trimmer, or yoga ball never thinks about the many hands that got it there. Pam is a member of that invisible army.
like Arthur Miller’s Death of a SalesmanThis is not the life our hero dreamed of. Pam juggles night jobs as well as caring for her extremely incompetent father and her 17-year-old daughter, Rae. He’s devoted much of his adult life to giving his daughter the chances she never had, but he’s reached a crisis point: To give Rae those opportunities, he needs to let her go.
Stewart has two children, so he can relate to how conflicted Pam is. “He dedicated his life to elevating Rae,” he says. “It’s at a really interesting peak where Rae is in grade 12 and has so much potential, and I’m scared about it. She’s about to leave the nest and start making her own decisions, which leaves Pamela at a real pressure point where she’s trying to figure out who she is in that context and how she can best care for her beautiful daughter.”
Pam, who puts her daughter first, doesn’t know who Rae will be if she leaves. His lack of self-identity is compounded by the fact that his job is designed to depersonalize workers, hiding them from public view. All these factors mean that Pam faces a dilemma familiar to many women as she gets older: She feels like she’s becoming invisible.
If Pam’s circumstances sound dire, Rodgers’ attitude is a reminder that Australian humor thrives under pressure. “What really rang true to me about Stevie’s writing was the humor of it and the way Australians talk,” says Stewart. “We use humor to deflect ourselves. We’re really great at that. It’s our armor.”
The armor Pam wears is instantly recognisable. “It’s really funny,” says Stewart. “Dry and harsh but funny. Gets on your nerves.” [her boss] It’s very sunny, but they are really dear old friends. He also has a problematic relationship with his father, but they really love doing game shows together on TV.”
One of the reasons Break of the Day What brings classic American plays to mind is the way he humanizes his characters, warts and all. Pam makes questionable decisions, but we never doubt the motivations behind them.
“Pam is no saint,” says Stewart. “She’s no exception. But we’re all on our own hero’s journey, trying to map everything out as best we can and make the best decisions we can. I always work with the adage that it’s impossible to hate a person when you know their story. In the beginning, people will make assumptions about Pamela, but hopefully in the end they’ll see her more fully and compassionately.”
Rodgers’ script calls for the production to be set in a satellite city, the kind of semi-regional urban center that outsiders often overlook. We’re more used to romantic portraits of rural Australia or gritty dramas set on the streets of a bustling metropolis. It’s less common to see a game set somewhere in between.
Which, incidentally, isn’t that different from the town where Stewart grew up. “It’s bigger now, but in those days the population of Bairnsdale was around 10,000,” he says. “That’s what felt right to me; the local humor, the way the characters talked to each other. These are the voices I grew up around and still hear.”
Stewart lived in Bairnsdale until he was 14. He understands Rae’s ambivalence, torn between the allure of city life and the familiar world that is all she has ever known.
“I didn’t want to leave. The whole family left, so I had to, but I left kicking and screaming. I loved it here and had great friends there. I realized there was a bigger world and that might be the best thing for the family, but I didn’t want to leave.”
The warehouses where Pam works are often built in economically depressed cities, and so they lead to another kind of instability. They may place huge demands on their workers, but they also provide jobs to areas that desperately need them. “This warehouse will be the lifeblood of this town, you know?” says Stewart.
This is no poverty porn: the playwright himself worked in such a warehouse, and there is real originality in the details scattered throughout the script. This is less about a great tragedy and more about the quiet frustrations that the high cost of living has instilled in many of us today.
“I have so much respect for these characters and I protect Pamela’s dignity,” says Stewart. “Stevie has written something that’s sort of a love song to unseen workers, family, sacrifice and longing.”
Break of the Day At the Malthouse Theater from 7 August.
