The Hatpin
Produced by Neil Gooding Productions, White Box

Cast: Caroline O'Connor, Barry Crocker, Peter Cousens, Melle Stewart, Octavia Barron-Martin, Nick Christo, Michelle Doake, Jodie Harris, Gemma-Ashley Kaplan, Tyran Parke and Jennifer Peers.

Book & Lyrics: James Millar
Music: Peter Rutherford
Director: Kim Hardwick

Publicist: Amanda Buckworth

Australian Premiere: The Seymour Centre, Sydney. 27th February, 2008.


The Lowdown:
The much-talked about The Hatpin finally had its world premiere production in Sydney in February 2008. The season was largely praised by critics, with The Sydney Morning Herald labelling it a "landmark production". The show received much attention, particularly due its true story, and its stellar cast.


AussieTheatre.com Review
Let's get straight to the point: The Hatpin is my kind of musical – gutsy, gritty, dark, funny, clever, rich in history and thoroughly moving.

As a young boy, James Millar was intrigued by creepy, real life horror stories, often involving gruesome murders and mysterious circumstances. The one story that always stayed with him was that of Amber Murray, a young single mother, who gave her baby boy to carers with the best intentions for his future in Sydney over a hundred years ago. What Amber did not know, was that she would never see her child again and these so called ‘carers’ had conned many more. On Wednesday, Millar’s retelling of Murray’s anguish, coupled with Peter Rutherford’s music and Kim Hardwick’s direction came to fruition and enchanted the audience supremely. Above all, it is a gruesome story, heart wrenching yet beautifully told with humour and pathos a plenty.

Strong casting and rich characters provide us with some outstanding performances, and the small ensemble cast have truly flung themselves deep into the story and the times conveyed. Melle Stewart, who was involved in the project from the earliest days, provides a strong and dogged heroine who grounds the entire work in necessary integrity when a more flamboyant performer could have stripped the piece of truthfulness. Stewart is flanked by an all-star and hardworking ensemble including the always dazzling Caroline O’Connor. This woman can do no wrong. Her Harriet Piper, a green grocer who befriends Murray when she is at wit's end, is stunning. O’Connor gives the role dignity and lashings of comedy though it is never over-played. She isn’t the only one who unearths comic moments in a dark landscape however. Michelle Doake, playing Agatha Makin, has taken what could have been the typical wicked mother role and turned her character into a quirky, testy, multi-layered, frantic, terrible woman. With all this, she is still somehow likeable and each time she appeared the whole piece picked up.

As such, Peter Cousens as her devilishly charming husband Charles Makin, had to step up to the mark. And he does. Cousens is almost unrecognisable as an aging, crippled patriarch, putting on the magnetism when needed and pulling back to reveal a monster. Doake and Cousens’ duet 'Natural Causes' is one of the highlights of The Hatpin. Gemma-Ashley Kaplan as their too-quiet daughter Clara plays her role ever so slightly for the majority of the piece, then unleashes in the title song which she resolutely claims for herself. It is an arresting song, muddled, melodic and completely capturing the mindset of a damaged young mind. Stage legend Barry Crocker graces the stage with dignity and assuredness as Justice Stephens, although unfortunately is not given nearly enough time in the spotlight. The ensemble cast is able and just as determined, particularly Octavia Barron-Martin, Jodie Harris and Jennifer Peers as three women suffering the same circumstances as Murray, yet unable to pursue the same course of justice.

The Hatpin propels itself with such frenetic pace and suspense during the first act, that I was dying to get back in after interval and re-enter the story. It is a shame then, that the piece loses its way during the second act and suddenly gets bogged, especially in the slow and at times jerky courtroom scene. It takes Doake and Cousens to return to the stage to inject the much-needed energy and the piece rockets along once more.

The set design by Mark Thompson is cold and clinical and doesn’t seem to suit the piece. Although the stark, bare sheets lining the wall reflect the cold hearts of many in the story, I found the space too open. The Seymour perhaps isn’t the ideal space for this musical that begs to be sheltered and confined, just as Murray was when she tried to speak the truth. The dialogue is largely witty and intelligent, yet frustratingly falls back on cliche in the final few scenes. The Haptin certainly can do without Amber’s “I think I need to walk alone” line, but there’s very little script that is jarring in such a way. The most crucial aspect to The Hatpin that didn’t sit right with me was the anomaly between the character of Murray and the rest of the cast. Amidst such an interesting and mysterious array of characters, Murray is bland and much too prosaic. She struggles along and undergoes some terrible misfortune, but she keeps plodding along without any real spark. Melle Stewart does her best with the central heroine, although doesn’t get to show enough flicker of personality, which we know she is capable of from her strong role in The Memory of Water. I get the feeling this great actress has been asked to play it safe. This is a mother in dire circumstances, it is too late on in the play when she really lets go.

The Hatpin is a revelation in Australian theatre. Anyone in the audience on opening night could tell that the standing ovation was not just for Millar, Hardwick, Rutherford and the cast. It was a proclamation of a stellar new Australian musical that is finally hitting the big stage and isn’t afraid to tackle some pretty dark issues. It was the heralding of a new age in which we have something to play against the domination of Broadway, a show about our history (no matter how murky) and a show to be proud of. The Hatpin will still grow and evolve, it is by no means a flawless production.


Production Shots:



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