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Home > English > Standard > Module B: Close Study of Text > Navigating

Navigating

by Katherine Thomson

This unit has been prepared by Stewart McGowan, Hunter School of the Performing Arts.

Background to the play
Setting
Character
Frequently Asked Questions
The importance of Harmony

Background to the play

Whistleblowing
More about whistleblowers: Quentin Dempster
Katherine Thomson
Private prisons

Whistleblowing
Katherine Thomson's play Navigating explores the experience of one ‘whistleblower”. A whistleblower is a person who exposes corruption in government or business organisations.

There is no one sort of person who becomes a whistleblower. Think about how you would respond in the following situations:

You are an accountant working for the planning department of a local council. You notice that one particular building company is getting preferential treatment. Their plans to build are approved first, when they want land subdivided they rarely have any problems and council officers seem to ignore complaints about them. You accidentally witness the manager of the building company handing a large amount of cash to the head of the planning department while you are in a local hotel. When you ask her what the cash was for, she tells you to stay quiet about it … or else! What do you do?

You are an athlete. Your main sponsor is a sportswear company. When you signed on with the company they assured you that they were part of the “fair wear” program: their workers, you have been told, are paid decent rates and work in conditions that meet Union requirements. As part of your sponsorship you go to visit the workers in one of this company's factories. While you are there you talk to a group of workers and find out that the company is breaching the “fair wear” code, paying workers under award wages and getting them to work long hours in unsafe conditions. When you mention this to a company executive he asks, “Do you want to keep your sponsorship or not?”

You have been working as a mechanic in a large car dealership. This company has treated you well, putting you through an apprenticeship and keeping you on as a permanent employee. One of your jobs is to inspect cars purchased at auction. You notice that eight expensive cars that arrive together have been “re-birthed”: they are stolen cars that have had their chassis and engine numbers altered. You also notice that the company has paid well below the normal price for these cars. When you tell the workshop manager he tells you to pass the cars on or start looking for another job.

Activity:

Take some time to write about one of these situations. What action would you take? What might the results of these actions be? How do you think others would respond? What might happen to you? How do you think others would respond?

More about whistleblowing: Quentin Dempster

Quentin Dempster's book Whistleblowers (1997, ABC Books, Sydney) outlines eleven specific case histories of whistleblowers in Australia. He talks about the confrontations that each whistleblower was involved in and he shows how each of them was affected by their actions. The whistleblowers he talks about expose a range of problems. Here are some examples from the book:

1. A Sydney woman who was concerned about the effects of lead pollution was forced to become an activist because pollution control authorities would not take action - even though they had the scientific proof that her claims were correct!
2. A highly qualified BHP employee conflicted with the company over an environmental issue. He believed a massive fuel leak needed fixing but they allegedly prevented him from taking action. He “blew the whistle” on the company in order to get action taken.
3. A laboratory assistant battled to expose the scientific fraud of a well-known and respected medical researcher in the face of incredible resistance.

The book also shows how whistleblowers were treated as a result of their actions. Some of the effects described in the book are:

• loss of job, or demotion
• disciplinary action - suspension, loss of income, warned for dismissal, legal action
• ignored and ridiculed by fellow workers
• lawsuits launched against individuals
• divorce and family break-up
• forced to sell property to meet expenses
• made to feel powerless by bureaucracies who “lose” documents, deny facts and stall investigations for years
• whistleblower, labelled by others as “mad”, is made to seek counselling
• subject of rumours, gossip, false accusations.

The effect of this kind of emotional and physical attack can be devastating. As well as bankruptcy and the loss of family and friends, whistleblowers may also have to cope with a medical or psychiatric breakdown. Stories of alcohol or drug abuse, or attempted suicide, or hospitalisation for a medical disorder made worse by the stress of the situation, are common.

Despite the effects that whistleblowing can have on an individual, Dempster sees these people as courageous. Whistleblowing is a brave act. Those who undertake it have to be committed to exposing the truth, even though this may involve great personal expense. The character notes on Bea focus on how her actions affect her.

Katherine Thomson shares Quentin Dempster's admiration for whistleblowers. This is what she has to say about them:

“I spent some time with the person who was the head of Whistleblowers Australia (when I was writing the play) and talked generally about case studies. Some of those case studies melded together and became a part of this play. I also met face-to-face with some people but although they often wanted to help many of them felt too traumatised to even be interviewed. This is serious territory. Eventually I wrote a first draft based upon correspondence with a whistleblower who kindly kept sending me information. We didn't even meet until after the first draft.”

Whistleblowers Australia is an organisation for whistleblowers and their supporters.

You can access the the September 1998 edition of their newsletter, The Whistle on The Whistleblowers web site.

Katherine Thomson

A biography of Katherine Thomson appears in the Currency Press edition of Navigating. Since writing Navigating, Katherine has mostly been working in film and television. An earlier play, Diving for Pearls has recently been translated into Japanese and became the first foreign play to be read at the Japanese National Playwrights' Conference. She has also been writer-in-residence for the Playbox company in Kuala Lumpur and spent time in London working with various producers for television. In Australia her recent projects include writing with Geoffrey Atherden for a television series called Grassroots shown on ABC TV. Grassroots focuses on the people involved in running a fictitious local council.

Private Prisons

Paul Thompson's introduction in the Currency Press edition of the play says that what sets Katherine Thomson's plays apart from other Australian playwrights is her “ability to see the big picture” and “engage with the… social forces that are shaping our world” (page viii).

This play deals with one particular “big issue”: private prisons. Prisons in Australia have traditionally been run by State Governments. However, in several overseas countries, the running of prisons has been contracted out to private companies.

The main reason for doing this is that building new prisons is extremely expensive. Another advantage is that Governments can distance themselves from problems in a prison if it is owned by someone else. A third reason that Governments support the idea is that many people in politics, particularly those in conservative parties, believe in privatisation as an idea.

In Australia, a number of organisations and utilities formerly run by governments have been privatised. Banks, power stations, employment services, telephone companies, airlines and roads are some examples of former government businesses that have now been privatised. At least one state government has investigated the idea of privatising prisons.

Activity:

What is your view? Investigate government activities that have been or may be privatised. What arguments do people propose to support or oppose privatisation?

This is what Katherine Thomson has to say on privatised prisons:

“You're making money out of someone else's incarceration! For me the most important thing about prison and punishment is whether or not you have reform as your aim. If you're being paid to keep prisoners at a base level, are you going to invest in their reform and rehabilitation? And what I've read suggests that there is a lot of corruption in private prisons.”

Setting

The setting of the play
A set designer's grid
Sample set design drawing
A director's view
A second design idea
Design: the play in production

The setting of the play

Katherine Thomson's note on the setting of the play says that “nothing needs to be literal” (p. xii). We know the play takes place in Dunbar, a coastal town with a river, in the Cullodin Shire, but Katherine has deliberately not identified a particular state or area where the play takes place. This helps make the point that this is a story that could happen anywhere.

This is an episodic play that takes place over a long period of time in numerous locations, indoor and outdoor, and at several times of day. There are scenes in a shed, on a riverside, in council offices and in a boat. It is very different from a traditional play that might take place in one or two locations and in a clearly defined time period. (If you have read Summer of the Seventeenth Doll you might like to compare the way this play deals with place and time.)

This play presents many challenges to a set designer. How can a designer construct a set that will allow all of these changes to take place? The play calls for many rapid transitions between the different scenes, so it is not possible (or desirable, or affordable) to construct realistic sets for each scene. The play depends on sound, light and the suggestion of locations to establish the settings for different scenes.

A set designer's grid

The first step a set, lighting or costume designer takes in preparing to design a play is to prepare a designer's grid.

The grid below is incomplete. Act Two has not been included, and you will notice that the designer has put question marks next to time in some places.

Activities:

1. As you read the play, make some decisions about how much time is passing.
2. Construct a designer's grid for Act Two of the play using the one below as a model.
3. This is an initial design grid. Adopt one of these roles and draw up a more detailed design grid:
4. • A costume designer would want to put a lot more detail into this grid about what characters are wearing.
   • A lighting designer would want more detail about what the lights are doing.
   • The sound designer would want to add more details of which sounds are used, whereabouts in the play and for how long.
   • The stage manager would want to add detail about props.

Designer’s grid
Act One
Page no.	Scene	Comments: Location, time, action, set requirements
1	1	Choir sings “va pen siero”. Ian's prayer. Indoors, meeting. Time?.
2	2	Outdoors, afternoon, near boatshed. Figurehead in wheelbarrow. Same day.
11	3	Early evening. Indoors. Ian's office. Monday. Time since scene 2?
14	4	Indoors. Dick and Pam's drapery shop. Preparing the 'winter window'. Howling wind outside. A different day. Time since scene 3? Morning.
17	5	Sound of the choir and lighting change - Bea's home. Indoors. Some time later - how long?
21	6	Bea at typewriter indoors/ Brent and Isole outdoors. Days or weeks later?
23	7	Bea's new office. Daytime. Several days later.
26	8	Part of the riverbank. Night. Effects of wind and water.
30	9	Bea indoors - the new office. Daytime. Days or weeks later?
30	10	Sound: “Blow the wind southerly”. Indoors, day, newspaper office (The Chronicle). Some time later. Weeks?
34	11	Bea's office. Indoors. Some time later. How long?
35	12	Dick and Pam Shaw's shop. Rain outside. Some time later. Weeks?
37	13	Thunder and lightning in transition to Bea's house ­ indoors, evening.
42	14	Choir sings “O Waly Waly”. Indoors, evening. Time?
43	15	Wheely bin crash transition. Outside Bea's house. Evening. Problem: garbage has to include eggplant. Crash needs to be predictable/ repeatable.
44	16	Office corridor. Day. Bea's psychiatric report has been pinned on the noticeboard. She has been off work for some time. How long?
47	17	Another part of the office. Hours later. Bea locked in the toilets - Isole has come to coax her out. Letter needs to be “slid under the door” (possibly Bea could already have this letter and place it on the floor during the transition).
End Act One

Scene note:

Katherine Thomson has chosen not to number her scenes in this play. This encourages directors and actors to move smoothly and quickly between scenes. The designer is using numbers here to make referring to scenes easier.

Back to Designer’s grid

Time note:

Katherine Thomson gives the audience an idea of how much time has passed through information embedded in the dialogue. For example, Pam and Dick mention they are setting up the winter display in the shop window.

Back to Designer’s grid

Sample set design drawing

The following is a student's initial set design drawing for Katherine Thomson's Navigating. Please note that this is a concept drawing only and is not drawn to scale. This student was asked to design a set for a traditional theatre space with a large stage, such as the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House.

Notes on the design

Below are the designer's comments about his initial set design sketch:

“When I read the play what really struck me was how so much of Bea's problem comes from the desperate desire of others in the town to get the private prison. There are other sorts of prisons in this play as well, ones that are constructed by people. When Bea is placed in an office by herself, it is like a prison. Later in the play Bea is trapped by Brent. She is cornered and unable to escape. In a way, the whole town is imprisoned by what happened in the past. The sinking of the Harmony and the cover-up of what really happened has deeply affected everybody in the town.

I wanted this to be reflected in the set design. My design puts a wooden framework “cage” in the middle of the stage. This becomes at different times Bea's office, the inside of the shed and Dick and Pam's shop. The rest of the set is also constructed out of wooden frameworks. Because the audience can see through the frames this suggests prison bars.

Along the back of the acting space I have placed a series of cut-off wooden posts. These are regularly spaced and in a straight line. As well as suggesting prison bars I have used these to suggest the main street of the town. The signs hanging on the posts help do this. They can also be individually lit to show the audience which location the play is in at particular times.

The posts are cut off at different heights so that we can see through to the stage area behind them. At the very back of the stage is a cyclorama, a large white screen that can have colours and shapes projected onto it. The lighting designer can use this to suggest different times of day. The ribs of the Harmony might also be projected onto this. At the end of the play, the posts might be made to resemble the piers on a wharf while Bea and Darcy are in the boat.”

A director's view

“This is a workable design with a number of well thought out elements. I like the 'prison' theme to the design and it could certainly be used to suggest a number of locations.

I have some reservations. The central cage is a nice idea, but I don't know if it's practical. Where, for example, does the choir stand in the opening scene? This structure limits the use of the most important location on the stage. One of the things I do when I am getting ready to direct a play is to look at a designer's grid and plan where the action of the play will happen on the space. When I do this, it might be that the cage is not a problem, but I would need to check on this.

I'm also concerned about the absence of the ribs of the Harmony. Could these be constructed in front of the cyclorama? I do not think projected ribs would be as effective as a structure.

My main reservation is that this set design, while it doesn't copy the one used by the Sydney Theatre Company, includes some of the same ideas. The STC production focused on the idea of a prison and used a central 'guardhouse' structure. When you look at the photos in the Currency Press edition, you can see that this production used open wooden frameworks, too. For a new production, I would prefer a recognisably different concept.”

Activity:

Do you agree with this director's views on the set? Could you change this design to meet his concerns?

A second design idea

Here is another student's design concept:

“What really struck me when I read this play was how uncertain everything is. Bea starts out believing she can trust her sister, her boss, and others in the town but they all let her down. There's a lot of talk in the play about the Harmony becoming more and more visible. It's reminding the town about how wrong they've been in the past.

I'd like to do a set with a lot of sand in it. I know it is possible to construct a set that looks like a sand dune, and I'd like this to dominate the stage. Maybe the Harmony could even become more and more visible as the play went on. It would be a powerful symbol of how things change.”

Activities:

1. Draw or construct this design.
2. If you were directing this play, how effective do you think this set would be? Discuss this with another student. Write your evaluation of it. You may even wish to talk to a theatre director and get his o her views on this set.
3. Draw or construct a set design of your own and describe what you want the design to say to an audience

Design: The play in production

You can see in the photographs in the Currency Press edition of this play some of the details of the set designs used in professional productions of this play.

The Queensland Theatre Company's design, by Michael Scott-Wilson, looked like a giant beached boat. The action of the play took place in front of, and on the ribs of, the giant boat. This boat reminded the audience of the importance of the Harmony in the play. It also serves as a powerful symbol of the corruption and dishonesty of most of the characters in the play.

The Sydney Theatre Company design was very unusual. It was on a large stage in the Sydney Opera House and it used the depth of the stage to create the impression of a line of navigation lights on a river. It used a central 'guardhouse' structure to give the impression that everyone was being watched, as well as to remind the audience about the private prison.

Character

Bea: how her actions affect her physical and mental health
Other characters - key moments, betrayals

Bea: how her actions affect her physical and mental health

When an actor plays a role they have an advantage over the audience. They know what is going to happen. Actors can, as a result, plan out their 'journey' through the play.

Below is some planning designed to help the actor playing Bea. This planning concentrates on what happens to Bea's physical and emotional health during Act One of the play.

Activities:

1. Continue this character planning for Act Two of the play.
2. Bea is so central in the play that other actors' planning might focus on their attitudes to her. Draw up the character plan showing how Isole, Ian or Brent change their attitudes and behaviour towards Bea in the course of the play.

Character map: Bea
Page no.	Bea's emotional/physical responses
1	Unaware of others - voice comes over those of others in the choir. Already “standing out from the crowd”. Ability to fit in, empathise with others? Singing suggests Bea doesn't fit in easily.
2	Ian is not interested in a memorial for the Harmony. Bea has attempted to push him into accepting it. Bea unaware of the demands she places on others. Believes Ian is on her side.
11	Bea “catches Ian out” while he is dyeing his hair. Embarrassed/tries to sneak out. Ian sees her -  Bea unintentionally draws attention to herself.  The sort of character who can't be sneaky. Believes Ian is on her side ­ takes his advice on how to proceed with the allegations.
17	Pleased about 'promotion'. Bea and Isole ­ history ­ mother's death. Bea bitter about mother's depression and death. Fails to recognise Isole's feelings/reason for the nightdress/ behaviour.  Distrustful of Darcy at this time.
21	Disappointment/ confusion. Cannot understand why the General Manager has not responded.
23	Half-running/breathless. Uses asthma inhaler. Increasingly confused and anxious. Cannot understand why she has been given no work to do. Has noticed others are starting to shun her. (Note: references to others in the office indicate good working relationship in the past.) First hint from Ian that she has lost his support comes as a shock - she took his advice! Tearful.
30	Increasingly aware of others displeasure. Takes exception to the monitoring sticker on her phone - offended that others don't see her as being trustworthy.
30	Brent notices Bea looks 'crook' - physical health breaking down. Trouble sleeping. Upset by rumours that others have started, e.g. that she has Hepatitis C. Brent is not enthusiastic about the story, but Bea fails to notice this - she believes he will print the story. Bea has taken time off work ­ tells Ian it is a 'stomach bug' when he arrives.
34	Bea shaky/short of sleep. Trying to cope with an impossible task. Panicky, agitated. Is now on blood pressure medication. Stress of the situation is severely affecting her health. Now fearful of being sacked.
37	Bea is off work ­ has been for some time (perhaps a week). Isole shows she does not support Bea - Isole has been spat upon, abused. Bea tries to support her. Bea begins to suspect Brent won't publish the story - critical of Brent to his face.
42	Bea attempts to sing with the choir, becomes wheezy, sick, unable to continue.
43	Bea now being openly threatened. Very fearful ­ afraid, isolated from others. Knows the information isn't safe and makes plans to hide it.
44	Angry psychiatric report is public knowledge in the office. Now suffering severe stomach pains. Knows she is being openly victimised. Angry she is being labelled as neurotic, paranoid. Angry report says she is responding to an imagined injustice. Becomes very confrontational, insists on her right to speak to people in power.
47	Is locked in the toilets and pulling out her hair. Physical and emotional distress are obvious. Feels completely isolated from others until the end of the Act when she gets the note about the Shaws. This gives her hope. Someone else is suffering as she is ­ sees the Shaws as allies in the struggle to expose the truth.

Other characters: key moments, betrayals

The tragedy in this play is that each of the characters has an opportunity to support Bea's fight, but only Darcy ever takes action to help her. Each of the other characters betrays Bea's trust in them.

Ian

Ian initially encourages Bea to tell others what she has found out about corruption, but he is one of the first to desert her. On page 24, he tells her that “some of us have had to learn to be very cautious about what we put in writing.” He goes on to be the driving force behind Bea's victimisation in the play. There are strong hints that he is personally benefiting from the prison contract. He is on the board of the nursing home with Peter Greig, and is the person who tells the Shaws about the uniform contract. Also, as President of Rotary he has a position on the Development Group and therefore a say in what happens with the prison.

These are Katherine Thomson's views on Ian Donnelly:

“Ian's journey interests me.  In the first scene Ian thinks, “I've never really liked Peter Greig, I've always wondered about him.” He is genuinely going to follow it up, in the hope that he'll be able to shaft this smug, smirking Peter Greig. But Ian's resolve is short-lived; he succumbs to the forces on high, as Brent does.”

Isole

Isole's affair with Ian means that her loyalties are divided. She has to choose between her sister and her lover. Isole is the only other person who knows the location of the copies of the material Bea has been given. As Bea correctly concludes, Isole is responsible for the replacement of the documents with blank paper.

Brent

Brent's betrayal of Bea is the most shocking in the play. He is a friend of Bea's, and he runs the local newspaper, so he has two good reasons to support her. He is also the person who comes close to taking her life. What he gets in return is membership of the local Rotary club, the promise of a better newspaper and a feeling of being accepted by the “big boys”. Bea sums up his character on page 42:

“When you were a kid… you hated the big boys for every meanness and hurt, but you busted yourself desperate to play with them.”

Bea is saying that Brent is still the same today. What really matters to him is the opinion of important people, not truth, or friendship, or duty.

Dick and Pam Shaw

At the end of Act One, it looks like Dick and Pam Shaw might join with Bea to fight against the corruption of Peter Greig and others in power. Greig has cheated the Shaws out of $100,000 life insurance payment following the death of their son. But on page 73, Pam finally convinces Dick to give up the fight, to accept the uniform contract and the job for their daughter at the nursing home instead of the payment that is rightfully theirs.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1.	What is the music that is used in the play? Va pen siero is the prisoners' chorus from Verdi's opera Nabucco. In the opera the people who sing it are prisoners, Jewish people who want to escape from Babylon. The song is a lament, soft and tuneful. There is a lot of irony in the use of this song. In the opera, the people who sing it are in prison. In the play, the people who sing it want a prison in the town. The audience are aware that the prisoners in the opera chorus are being badly treated, so this song suggests for us (but not those on stage) that the private prison will also mistreat prisoners. There is further irony for those who know the opera well. This opera was written when Italy was seeking to become one country and was objecting strongly to the control of foreign powers. In the play, an American company will eventually build the prison. The play is suggesting that Australia is coming under the control of powerful foreign businesses.
2.	What happened to the Harmony?
	Thirty-five years before the commencement of the play, the Harmony, skippered by Bea and Isole's father, has run aground and sunk while on a pleasure cruise. The exact details of what happened are revealed towards the end of the play, particularly on pages 73-75 of the Currency Press edition.
3.	Who is corrupt? How do they hope to gain out of the private prison?
	There are different levels of corruption in the play. Peter Greig is openly corrupt, taking bribes from American Detention Industries. Ian Donnelly seems to benefit personally in terms of position and power, and we assume he is also benefiting financially, but this is not certain. We can also assume that the mayor and the general manager's lack of interest in Bea's accusations is corrupt. The back cover of the Currency Press edition quotes Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” With this in mind we can see that corruption seeps through the whole community when they tolerate abuses of power.
4.	Why do we never see Peter Greig?
	Because it would be a very different play if we did! The focus of the play would be on this very powerful man instead of on Bea, who is almost destroyed by his actions. It also mirrors the way most of us live our lives. We may be aware what the powerful people in our community; politicians, business people and others, are doing, and we may also be aware of how their action affect us. But how much access do we have to these people? Would we be any more successful than Bea if we wanted to directly approach the mayor over an important matter?
5.	How is the choir important?
	The choir is an important symbol in the play. Choir singing requires people to blend their voices and fit in with one another. Bea shows right from the start that she is unable to do this. Later in the play she also finds herself unable to sing with the choir. The choir reminds us that we like to belong to groups within our community. Unfortunately for Bea, for some people the need to belong, and fit in with others, is more important than the need to reveal the truth.
6.	Why is the play called Navigating?
	Darcy is studying navigation, and she tells the story of the ships running aground when they ignore the sailor who knows the truth on page 83, while Bea and her are in the boat. The story is important, because it is a final reminder to the audience of the importance of the truth. Like Bea's own story it is a tragedy, because the sailor loses his life in an attempt to reveal the truth and even then nobody takes any notice. When we hear this story, however, it reminds us of how courageous Bea has been. She may have flaws as a person, but we can still admire her commitment to the truth. It is Bea who is the navigator in this play. She is trying to find a way to reveal the truth, but this is like trying to navigate through the uncertain waters and shifting sandbanks of the river. To make matters worse, those who should help her in this task abandon her, leaving her to attempt it with only Darcy's support.

The importance of the Harmony: Katherine Thomson

The importance of the wreck of the Harmony:

“The history of the place is what is dragging them all down. It's no accident that we can see the boat out on the sand, being worn away on the bar. As the truth begins to emerge about what happened that night, so does the boat, and people start to fall apart. Dick and Pam who have managed to suppress everything now have to face up to it. It's as if Bea shines a light into a terrible old wreck.”

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