Events

Robert Merritt’s "Cakeman" by Rakutendan

20 January 2011 - 25 January 2011

From 20-25 January 2011, Rakutendan will produce Robert Merritt's landmark Aboriginal Australian play 'Cakeman'. First premiered in 1975, The Cake Man was the first play by an Aboriginal writer to enter the mainstream repertoire of white Australian theatre. A simple, moving story which shows white Christian paternalism from an Aboriginal point of view, it is set on Wiradjuri country, a mission in Western NSW. Evocative of the memories of the mission where Merritt was raised, it tells the story of an Aboriginal family in Sydney from the colonial era to the 1970s. Yoshio Wada directs Rei Sudo's translation of Merritt's play to mark the 8th production in Rakutendan's contemporary indigenous theatre series. 

Synopsis

Sweet William and his wife Ruby live in the suburbs with their 11 year old child Pumpkin Head. William, along with many Aboriginal men like him, is unemployed and spends his days drinking. He has lost the respect as a man and a father. Ruby finds solace in the Bible and remains a supportive wife and protective mother, while Pumpkin Head steals coal for the family. Before he goes to sleep each night, Pumpkin Head loves to hear Ruby's story of the Cakeman.

'The message of Jesus is delivered to the Aboriginal people through the Cakeman. But they have been struck by evil, and only white children can be seen, so we have lost our way. So that we can return to ourselves, the Cakeman must pierce the hearts of Aboriginal children.' To make his family happy, Sweet William makes a plan to seek in Sydney. Will the Cakeman visit their family? Will happiness visit this family?

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