1/7/2024 0 Comments Corrigan jasper jones![]() ![]() Traversing through the blissful serenity in the daydreams of a teenage boy, overthrown by scenes of violence and hatred, and haunted by images of a dead girl, Jasper Jones is a production that challenges the viewer but tells a story important to be told. And while, at times, the performance lacked in energy, I sensed a shared commitment to telling this confronting story as honestly as it deserves. While this may challenge some viewers in understanding what change was affected, I view this as alluding to a continued ignorance of privilege that translates from 1965 to today. What I find fascinating in this approach, is at the end of the production, Corrigan returns to its level of indifference, and with that, so does Charlie. This juxtaposition of Charlie’s youthful and privileged innocence against Jasper’s older and lived experiences continues throughout the production, and Jasper’s presence challenges Charlie to understand his position and role in the town of Corrigan, in turn challenging audiences to understand their position today. It isn’t until Jasper explains the power Charlie’s presence has on the legitimacy of Jasper’s claims that we see an inkling of possible understanding dawn. Privilege is often unbeknownst to the privileged, as is the case with Charlie Bucktin. And Charlie is caught in the middle of it when Jasper Jones knocks on his window late at night and leads him to Laura’s grave.īy retelling the Corrigan summer of 1965 through the eyes of our young, white, male protagonist, the production highlights the contrasting privilege between Charlie and Jasper. Through the eyes of Charlie, we witness the effect of fear and uncertainty on the residents of Corrigan, from the final collapse of his parent’s marriage to the xenophobic violence towards an innocent Vietnamese immigrant, the father of Charlie’s best friend, Jeffrey Lu, Hoa Xuande. Jasper’s reputation in Corrigan is deplorable and unjustified, but that doesn’t stop the town assuming the worst when young Laura Wishart, Melanie Zanetti, goes missing. Charlie is a white kid in a white town except for 16-year-old Jasper Jones, Shaka Cook, whose father, a ‘white fella’, dared to marry an Indigenous woman. Told through the eyes of 14-year-old Charlie Bucktin, Nicholas Denton, Jasper Jones is set in the summer of 1965. ![]() Queensland Theatre’s restaging of Melbourne Theatre Company’s production Jasper Jones is a powerful reminder of Australia’s history of discrimination and subjugation. The unthinkable happens in the small Australian bush town of Corrigan when a girl dies, a young man is blamed without a second thought, and secrets beg to be revealed. ![]()
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