There are a couple of blokes who work for seven months of the year in North Queensland cutting sugar cane. It would be known by more people than just the sort of people who go to see plays at the MTC. While I was telling my brother about this play I realised that if this had been a play written in England or America (and so very American or British) then it almost certainly would have been shown on their television. But the fact is that if this ever was shown on Australian TV, I’ve never seen it.
Also, it portrays a very authentic Australian voice – even if a rather working-class and bohemian one. It is a funny thing, but this is arguably one of the most important Australian plays – if only for the role it played in regenerating Australian theatre in the mid-1950s. Anyway, the Melbourne Theatre Company are currently doing a production of this play and before going off to see it the other night I told my brother I was going and he asked what it was about. I was trying to work out when I first read this play – I must have been when I was about twenty – so, over half a lifetime ago. THE VOICE OF BIRDMAN: You know he's right. How about we take a break and come back in fifteen? I mean, as well as the fact that we're already committed to doing Carver. GALIFIANAKIS: Look Mike, this won't work. We'll take the words of a guy who actually knows how to write great plays and we'll all be ourselves. Roo isn't strong enough to lead the gang. NORTON: So like I said, they were really good in their day. They've been doing this for sixteen years. And then they come back down south for a few months to see their women and live it up. They're good at it and they make a packet of money. NORTON: They go up to Queensland every year to cut sugar cane. There are these two cane-cutters, Barney and Roo. KEATON: Look, what the fuck has this got to do with us? He's only, like, the most important dramatist Australia's ever produced. We should be doing Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. NORTON: Well, I've been thinking about that and I can tell you right now. GALIFIANAKIS: And what should we be doing instead? NORTON: My point's pretty fucking simple. We're cool, right? Now Mike, why don't you explain your point to us and we'll talk about it? How dare you touch his words? How dare you? How fucking dare you? You're a Hollywood hasbeen who's never written anything in his life. NORTON: I'm telling you, it's shit! Like, who the fuck do you think you are? Raymond Carver was a genius. KEATON: So what I want to know is, what do we talk about when we talk about love?
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