IN a solitary cell at the bottom of the world, a “sleek little savage” waits alone in the darkness.
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Ankle deep in mud, she plots escape, plans a riot and in biting mockery, rehearses an elaborate, ribald tale for her captors.
Emily Goddard takes her audience to a cold, dark place – the Cascades Female Factory in Hobart, circa 1839 – when HotHouse Theatre presents the world premiere of This Is Eden on Tuesday.
"Mum took me on a trip with her to Tasmania in 2012 and when we were there she discovered two convict ancestors on her side of the family," the popular Melbourne actor says.
"(Great, great, great grandmother) Sarah Ford had been imprisoned at the Cascades Female Factory for seven years.
"When we were down there I learned about the conditions the convict women lived in, and about the shows they would put on among themselves that mocked authority, they used their little shows as a form of rebellion."
A place of hard labour, overcrowding and high rates of infant morality, the factory was the first home for thousands of female prisoners sent to Van Diemen's Land between 1828 and 1856, before their placement into service with the colony's free settlers.
This Is Eden is provocative and Goddard is proud to bring an often overlooked part of Australia’s early European history to a modern audience.
“The convict history taught in our education has often been a watered down version,” she says.
Goddard’s family history research provided the inspiration behind her ambition to write the story.
Two years of training in France provided the tool to tell it – she successfully employs the French Bouffon clowning method, which exposes the hypocrisy of people in power through mockery.
It is a style she learnt studying with master clown Phillipe Gaulier, the founder of École Philippe Gaulier, a prestigious French clown school, in Paris:
"It seemed like such a logical way to tell the story," she says,
Darkly comical, This is Eden draws on the origins of Australian humour with its roots in the convict disdain for authority while exploring the very contemporary themes of power and powerlessness, cultural displacement, compassion and desperation.
“I think those early times were a huge catalyst for the development of Aussie culture, not so much a lack of respect for authority but more our idea of equality.”
Goddard and Melbourne-based director Susie Dee have been rehearsing constantly in recent weeks, and are thrilled to open the show on the Border.
“HotHouse Theatre has been very supportive of the project and it is exciting to premiere the work here,” Goddard says.
