On a Christian mission in outback Australia in the 1950s, the old and new worlds co-exist uneasily. Bullie, a young Aboriginal whose house has been blown away, is caught in the middle. Was it a freak climatic incident or the wrath of the Aboriginal thunder god? Or even the work of the white man's god?
Bullie's confusion is the confusion of all his people, oppressed and kept in line by petty government officials, stranded between their own culture and that of the white man. In a fast-changing world they are to be studied by anthropologists, then counted, sorted and dealt with by closed minds and red pens that ignore, dismiss and wipe away thousands of years of ancient culture in a few decades. Bullie thinks he has found a way to build a bridge between the two worlds, but the cultures are so at odds with each other that gestures are easily misunderstood and can have tragic consequences.
Thomas Keneally's 20-year-old play is intelligent and deeply felt, but in Border Crossing's often clumsy production it also seems old fashioned and a little worthy, even cliched. It arrives if not 20 years, at least a decade, too late, telling us things about the colonisation of Australia that we already know and not in a sufficiently interesting way to make the story seem fresh and urgent again.
A few of the actors bring life to their roles, most notably Stephen Albert as the elder, who has lived long enough to treat government promises of jam tomorrow with the contempt they deserve, and Natasha Wanganeen (the star of Rabbit Proof Fence) who is terrific as the Aboriginal siren who "sings" disaster down upon Bullie.
· Until May 9. Box office: 020-8237 1111.
