The play “Rainbow’s End” is a play that narrates the story of three Aboriginal women, Dolly the daughter, Nan Dear the grandmother, and Gladys, the mother to Dolly from Australia. Harrison’s work is a representation of the local peoples’ agony under the white rulers, who took their native land, forcing them into the shanties.

                                                           Significance of the title                                             

The title of the play (Rainbow’s End) possibly depicts t The rainbow has many colours and may be used to depict the European people and their bad governance, which comes to the end, and the people take up the governance role.

The manifestation of the Australian Aboriginal Culture

According to the play, the Aboriginal Australian is a multicultural community, in which some people believe in their traditions and others believe in modernity. For example, Nan Dear, the grandmother to Dolly believes in the traditions of her community while Dolly is a modern woman interested in the city life. Gladys, though uneducated and believes in the two cultures, the modern and the traditional culture, and bridges the cultural gap between her daughter’s modern way of life and her mother, Nan Dear. On the other hand, the Aboriginal Australians live in shanties and lack the basic commodities, such as clean water, sanitation, social amenities, and good schools for their kids.  The other characters are Doll’s boyfriend, Errol, and the husband to Gladys, who does not appear on stage but the characters talk about him often.

Arts are also common with the people and very important, as several people are playwrights and poets. Music is an important activity in any society especially the dance that occurred on the stage. The play brings about the believing in the astronomy as depicted by the title of the play ‘Rainbow’s End by Harrison’. Colour is very important to the people as shown by its frequent use by the playwright to represent various scenes and ideas. In the stage, different colours create an interesting atmosphere to represent the change from the traditions of the people and the modernized society. Traditional medicine is common among the indigenous people, who have their healers and medicine men including the witch doctors. Believe in the spiritual beings is also common among the people, who sacrifice to them whenever faced with community challenges and natural calamities. There is also the practices relation to initiation and dancing ceremonies to celebrate different events, such as different rights of passage.

The cultural clash between the western and aboriginal characters

Since the arrival of the whites in the land, cultural confrontations are common between the Europeans and the indigenous people. The indigenous people want to keep their culture while the Whites think that it is outdated and that they should adopt modernization. Christianity is among the European settlers, whose aim is to spread it throughout Australia and gets many converts. The indigenous people have their traditional religion and the belief in myths and spirits. The Whites tries very had to convert many people to Christianity, but most of the people are resistant. There is racial segregation of people according to the places of origin as depicted in the ways in which the Aboriginal people struggle for acceptance in the community. The formal education is becoming popular to the people of Aboriginal Australia as seen by the way Doll studies hard and the way her mother struggles to study English language. Dolly has a white boyfriend and lives in the city showing that the Australian traditional culture is diminishing as people adopt the life of the white settlers.

Some cultural values such as racism exposed, by the way, the Whites treated the indigenous people are awkward and should not exist in the modern society. Discrimination on colour is evident in the offices and workplaces, where only the Whites work in the top positions, while the Aboriginal Australians do the menial jobs and have no representation in the government. In the play, we see Dolly’s mother struggling to find a job for her in the back, which shows the level of job discrimination for the local people. The relationship between Dolly and Errol faces very many challenges because of the cultural differences, in which the whites consider themselves superior.for their traditions, although some people like Gladys like the idea. She goes ahead to learn English language and participates in politics and reforms. The indigenous people believe in the traditional medicine while the Whites have their modern medicine with health care providers and social health workers.

The significance of the settings and the stage directions

The setting of the play that is on the open area demonstrates places where the Aboriginal Australians live in sharks. The stage is big and open and contains non-realistic and some realistic elements to provide an atmosphere of reality and true living. The family’s house as depicted on the stage, especially the front part is the stage front, and the winglike structures as the other rooms, where the family dwells. The colours bring out the true living conditions of the people and the mistreatment they receive from the foreigners, who invaded their land. The brown colour, when the play starts is the colour of the local people, who are facing serious troubles because of their segregation by the Whites. At some point, there is the colour change to white that is a representation of the life in the concrete and modern houses. The move is the symbolic of the white interfering with the indigenous culture so that they change their way of life. The indigenous people could not acquire so much wealth and depends on recycling the little that they own in their houses.  For example, the materials for the houses are scrap metals and the clothes that Dolly wears are from the old curtains. The curtains belonged to a white settler and were left behind by the Whites since they were of no use to them. The play costumes represent dressing in the late 1950s when an Aboriginal woman used to wear very old clothes and the white wore clean clothes. The clothes for the white are shirts, pants, jackets, and coats that are very elegant.

The Whites wear shoes, while the Aboriginal Australians do not, and the play reflects this scene very well by having the Aboriginal women acting without shoes. In one of the scenes as Gladys goes to see the Queen, she puts on high-heeled shoes and gloves that show that the Aboriginal people want acceptance in the society, which is discriminative.  The discrimination of the race is significant in this scene, in which the Whites feel that they are better than the Aboriginal Australians.  The three women represented theirsto help her to get employment in a bank.

The character who acts Nan’s role, Beryl Booth, does it so well since she is old and from the indigenous people and lived in the events of the play. She brings out the real character of Nan and thrives the audience with her mastery and acting skills. Gladys is a young and energetic woman, who is intelligent although she never went to school and has a different perception of the world as opposed to her mother, Nan. The character acted by Pauline Whyman is challenging though she brings it out very well revealing the strong character of Gladys. Gladys plays the key role of being a mother to Dolly and represents the new generation and knows the rights of the Aboriginal. Gladys enrols to learn the English language and participates in the discussions on politics and development of the nation.

Stage Lighting

Lighting is an important part of any play as it brings out the true appearance of the themes. Light represents the mood and the atmosphere of the play setting, where the poor people suffer and live in shanties. In the cases where the stage has one or two speakers at the stage, light in the form of rectangles plays an important part in bringing out the themes. The coloured lights enhance the disco scene full of dance, which is very captivating. The coloured lights also create a beautiful scene making the audience more vibrant and wanting to watch more. Whenever there is some speech the stage lights with a single spotlight, creating a great scene of parliament with the audience as the attendees. Lights also play a part in bringing out some special thoughts of imagination from characters as they speak. Dull colours in lighting can give an impression of some sadness, hunger or grieve while bright colours show some liveliness in the characters. The white colour may be the adoption of the changes in the behaviour and the norms of the local people after their freedom from the white domination and control. The colour brown is simply the old way of living by the Aboriginal Australian people, with all their beliefs and their cultural norms.

The significance of the techniques

The play portrays the lives of the three women as poor and struggling to earn an identity and acceptance in the community full of the white settlers.  The narration techniques by Dolly create an interesting scene of romance between Dolly and Errol, who is white but has a different perspective of life.  The romance issue is quite sensitive, especially on stage, but the characters bring it out effectively and naturally. The white man loves Dolly and is determined to make the relationship work by sacrificing and disregarding the white culture by courting a local woman. The play has a beautiful crafting demonstrating the writers capability to bring out societal issues into reality. The script is of very high quality, and the actors demonstrate good artistic skills to bring out the real characters in the play. The play is enjoyable as it appears so real, and the stage setting allows creativity for better performance. The characters are quite organized and know their roles on the stage so as, not to disappoint the audience. One can only sit down and watch the beautiful scenes from the play and move with the rhythms, especially during the dances in the disco scene with very good lighting. The technique of using a single spotlight, during speeches, creates a good environment for the audience to listen and concentrate. A single spotlight is less destructive hence good for a scene that requires concentration and attention of the audience

This play is important as it brings out the struggle for the Aboriginal Australians’’ rights and the discrimination of the races during the 1950s and the 1960s.

Theater Semiotics

The use of signs and symbols is very common in the play to bring out various meanings. For example, the use of the Rainbow as the title may denote the end of the era of the traditional culture of the Aboriginal Australians as demonstrated by Dolly, who has a relationship with a white man. The brown color on the stage represents the indigenous people and their land, which is away from the cities. The appearance of the white curtain, which covered the brown color represent the suppression of the indigenous culture to adoption of the white culture as the government forced the indigenous people to occupy concrete houses. The Whites wanted the local people to adopt their culture and leave their traditions considered outdated, something the indigenous people effused leading to conflicts. At the end of the play, there is the removal of the white curtain, a sign of freedom from oppression by the white, who took their land and belongings. In the new era, shown by removing the white curtain shows that they possess all the rights to own land, cultivate, get education, and live a civilized life. The people will also have local leaders to govern them in the best way possible.

Jack Davis play Moorly and The Leprechaun

The play is a narration of an Aboriginal rain making spirit, Moorly, and loopy, an Irish leprechaun when they meet in Australia. Loopy arrives with Captain Cook and together with Moorly are determined to help Joan attend the school excursion. The function will be at Uluru with the softball team, although her father opposes the move through mischievous actions.

foreigners.

The manifestation of the Australian Aboriginal Culture

Aboriginal culture is very important to the playwright, where his characters are mischievous in describing the culture of the indigenous people. There is a lot of racial discrimination of the Aboriginal people by the European settlers, who invaded their land. The whites drove them away, occupied their land and silenced them. The characters Moorly and Loopy brings out the culture of the indigenous people as full of traditions as seen from the way Joan’s father restrict her from visiting places. The two characters try to intervene and convince the father that attending the excursion is good for his child. The scene demonstrates that the traditional culture of the indigenous people conflicts with the Westerna good representation of the strong beliefs, and his presence is very important to the people.

The cultural clash between the western and aboriginal characters

There are many differences between the European’s way of life and that of the indigenous people in which some may be good for adoption while others are not. Discrimination is a common thing in the land, where it happens in many areas such as in schools. There are schools and facilities belong to the whites and those that belong to the indigenous people. Racial segregation does not allow the local people to mix with the white, as the Europeans consider them dirty, outdated, and ungodly. The people have a strong belief in their traditional religion, in which they worship in the shrines offering sacrifices and performing rituals. The Whites have their religion, which is Christianity and is diluting the traditional religious beliefs as many people join in worshiping the God of the Whites. but under their rule and not the Whites. The other culture highlighted in the play is the Irish culture demonstrated by the presence of the leprechaun who participates in the mischief in the play.

Through the play, Davis enlightens the local people to arse and open their eyes and see what the Foreigner is doing to them. Mistreatment and segregation by the Whites make the indigenous people live a silence live in their poverty-stricken villages. Davis is the voice of the people through his work of arts, to arouse the voices of the local people.

Significance of the title Moorly and The Leprechaun

The title of the play is very important in any work of arts and depicts many things, such as the themes, the norms, and the general flow of the work. Moorly is  a rain-making God, whose work is to intervene whenever the rains fail

The significance of the settings and the stage directions

The curtains of the stage open with some bright colour illuminating the stage, which is a big platform with a few items necessary for the action. Some strange voices represent horrific and terrifying scenes in the play, which makes the audience hold their breath.  The front part of the stage has strong lighting, and the audience can see the scene of action clearly

All the play have a very good flow. The single space stage may demonstration of the interrelations between the Whites and the indigenous people in their cultural interactions. The use of a big stage and good lighting captivates the audience and keeps them in a single place to enjoy the captivating play. The activities of the children and the fierce Leprechaun require a big space to do their performance, which involves a lot of movements. The leprechaun uses his mischief to convince Joan’s father to allow her attend the school excursion. The spirit is also fierce, and its presence takes very bright and sometimes dull colours on the stage. The stage arrangement gives enough room for the change of characters and the voices from without denotes a setting of a fierce and scary drama. Where there is one person on stage, the use of a single colour enhances the scene and gives the audience a room to listen to the speech. Many colours emerge where there are confusing and mischievous scenes such as when Loopy appears from nowhere and scares people. The movements on the stage have a good coordination and events have a sequential flow from one item to the next. The audience can follow throughout the play and unravel the actions without the need for a commentator or inquisition.

The significance of the techniques and theatre semiotics

The characters demonstrate perfect theatrics skills on the stage, which captivates the audience to keep glued to the stage. The appearance of the scenes has a good coordination in which there is no wastage of time. There is interconnectivity of different parts, and the audience can follow the story line. The characters have a sense of humour, considering the way they appear and disappear from the stage. The stage colour brings out the rich presentation of the story with the use of bright colours in fiery scenes. The characters make use of the whole stage and provide the audience with good scenery, in which all the actions are in the same space. Some plays use different rooms during the presentations, but Davis prefers a single big stage with a good management to accommodate all the theatrics activities. The use of the Leprechaun and the way he appears on the stage with his bright coloured clothes makes the audience hold their breath in anticipation. The play creates a lot of suspense on the stage and keeps everybody waiting nervously. To enhance the theatre semiotics on the stage, Davis used a combination of many colours and coloured lighting to bring out the changing scenes of the play. The use of Joan and the father, who denies her permission to attend the school excursion, depicts the oppression of the local people by the Whites. The emotional expressions of the Moorly and Loopy on the stage, as they try to urge the father to allow Joan to attend the function create a natural scene to the audience. The use of music and sounds also gives the play a smooth flow, as it interconnects the scenes and ensures that the stage is always active.

The stage lighting

Lighting is an important item in plays, as it enhances the scenes and creates different moods of the characters and the audience. Lighting gives the characteristics of an environment and the surrounding to bring out the reality and the neutrality of the play on stage. . The use of colours brings out some creativity and can make the stage appear more or less spacious depending on what is taking place on it. The playwright, therefore, created very interesting scenes by the use of various colour combinations to bring out the themes of the play. Davis combination of colours is excellent in bringing out the real events that occurred in the community, as people struggled to survive through the hard times. The use of dull colours is a way of showing sadness and agony of the local people since the invasion of their land.

Reference

Jack Davis, Moorli and the Leprechaun, a play for

children. Sydney: Currency Press 1994

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