‘Project Xan’ presented by Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and Jedda Productions.
Project Xan reminded me of being the same age as the 12 year old protagonist and riding around the beachfront of a WA country town at sunset when a carload of young men drove by and started to stalk and harass me. I hared off as fast as I could and they continued to tail me, hurling insults (just because they could – I didn’t know them) as I desperately tried to get home safely, my heart racing and fear flooding my body. It happened again several weeks later, out riding with a friend. I never went riding at sunset again after that. The young girl in this play showing at Perth’s Institute of Contemporary Arts was also living in a country town (in Queensland) and her story had a horrific ending. Not only harassed but raped, then betrayed by the legal and school systems, and then made the scapegoat in her small town by supporters of the young men who were not jailed for their crime. Project Xan is ‘documentary theatre’ because it is based on real events, featuring real people, drawing on evidentiary sources.
Daisy Coyle in Project Xan.
Kudos to experienced WA playwright Hellie Turner who noticed this story and searched for Xan Fraser who has been running her own business as well as doing community theatre since 1996. Writer/Director Turner came across Fraser’s story and along with Siobhan Dow-Hall spent hundreds of hours dissecting the court transcripts (and researching online/article/pop culture sources) bringing this 1980’s example of sexist decision making in the legal system into our awareness.
As director, Turner has effectively intercut screen images and text, along with celebrating the young girl’s innocence (played by Daisy Coyle) as she basks in fun rollerblading sessions balanced against this threat – not just from the 1980’s – but into the current day of sexual violence and intimidation that sections of Australian society seem to think are justly put upon women. We see this in scenes expertly performed by the ensemble of Marko Jovanovic, Siobhan Dow-Hall and Nick Maclaine in vignettes that are common to many women. Reminders of ‘the rules’ in regards to parking your car, getting car keys ready as knuckle dusters; being harassed by someone when you are waiting on the streets for your ride; and casual BBQ conversations that trivialise sexual violence against women. The myths around women enjoying rape. The viciousness with which women are targeted for either being too sexually available and/or inviting sexual interest and then not ‘putting out’ is extraordinary, and is referenced in sample twitter messages (and t-shirt slogans) used in the show. We don’t know the number of rapes that are not reported due to the endurance test of re-living the whole experience, and not being believed. This was made cleverly evident in the reversal of roles scene whereby a person claiming robbery was positioned as asking for it and they were to blame.
The effective casting of 19 year old Coyle as the young 12 year old and Fraser as her (real) older self/mother meant we were able to view this crime from a broader perspective as the older self explained what was meant by legal questions. The questions around residual ‘what may have been lubricant’ in her vagina, but could have been any combination of factors, implied that, unconscious as she was, she may have been enjoying it. The final ruling that had she not drunk as much, she may well have consented to these acts which justified the change of ruling to ‘attempted rape’ despite the medical examination after she had been rescued and taken to a hospital. The acting by Coyle and Fraser is fantastic with appropriate intensity of emotions or lightness of touch.
The set design by Lawrie Cullen-Tait enhanced the use of the screen, creating a believable courtroom set and seguing into the roller skating rink. The sound design by Ash Gibson Greig was a necessary energising force for at times bleak moments but also illustrating the many songs that reinforce women as sex objects.
From a theatrical point of view, right at the end, it felt like the play moved to a somewhat didactic position, but hey… if you can’t be a bit preachy about a topic that affects half the population’s everyday safety, hearing throw away comments that ‘you should just stay home’ if you don’t like it, then when is the time to speak up? Project Xan is a powerful and confronting work. Let’s hope those who see it start talking about assumptions underlying women’s submissiveness to the notion that it’s okay for women to be talked about as sexual body parts for men to use (current rap and popular music) and woe betide those who disagree; and that women’s basic dignity and rights may be fought over in court, but may also be completely trampled on.
Until some more men take up positions that speak out about mateship that says ‘my mate can’t do no wrong’ and ‘it’s us blokes against those women’ then rape culture will continue to pervade our society. Theatre that takes a view on this such as Project Xan is courageous, not least for centrally featuring the real person who’s life was changed for ever as an unconscious 12 year old girl seen as sexually available for young men who received no punishment for their crime (suspended sentence because of the ambiguity about her hymen that may not have been unbroken prior to the rape) and left her semi-clothed thrown in someone’s backyard like trash, literally freezing to death.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Project Xan
Written/Directed Hellie Turner
Dramaturg Dr David Williams
Performed Xan Fraser, Daisy Coyle, Siobhan Dow-Hall, Marko Jovanovic and Nick Maclaine.
Design Consultant Lawrie Cullen-Tait
Lighting design Chris Donnelly
Sound design Ash Gibson Greig
AV design Nancy Jones
Photos Daniel James Grant
8 – 19 November 2016 at PICA Performance Space Perth Cultural Centre​
