21-31 October 1998, University Theatre, The Arts Centre
Comrade Savage presents the story of Michael Joseph Savage, the Labour Party's first Prime Minister.
The death of Savage's mother in outback Australia propels him on to the road and to New Zealand in 1907 with a shilling in his pocket and rumours he had been a member of the Ned Kelly Gang! In Wellington, he is reunited with his Marxist friends, Paddy Webb and Harriet Powell, a tub-thumbing fire-brand. They form the Socialist Party and plan for a workers' paradise. But Savage draws back from revolutionary politics and is estranged from Harriet. In 1916, the Labour Party is established. In 1919, Savage is elected to Parliament. Harriet leaves him to return to Australia. Savage meets John A Lee and supports him into Parliament. Comrade Savage climaxes with Labour on the Treasury benches in 1935. An increasingly avuncular Savage is resented by the ambitious John Lee. Lee begins a campaign against Savage with all the passion of a spurned disciple. The play ends with Savage's death as troops leave for World War II in 1940. Savage was a big entertainer in his day. 2000 people turned out to watch him and, during elections, he would givve six speeches a day. He was the first politician to use radio to devastate his opponents. Comrade Savage is a romance, a documentary and a political cabaret. It was first performed by RED MOLE in 1989 as a meditation on the dismantling of the Welfare State by its children, David Lange's Labour Government. There was a special performance in the Legislative Chamber at Parliament on the 50th anniversary of Savage's death. Robert Muldoon attacked the props with his cane. Roger Douglas called it "another socialist garage sale". Jenny Shipley watched incredulously from a passageway. |
ReviewsIt is rare to see in any play such a commitment to the theatrical arts as presented in Comrade Savage. It is an intelligent and immensely poetic piece. It is a ride on a seesaw which pulls you this way and that, but it's an unforgettable trip down memory lane. MediaA full film recording of the production exists in Free Theatre's archives.
Comrade Savage followed Alan Brunton's direction of Love on a Bicycle (1998). He went on to collaborated on and Krapp's Last Tape (1999) for Free Theatre. Alan Brunton also assisted Free Theatre on the project The Last Days of Mankind (2000). |