Review: Acclaimed Journalist Sally Sara's STOP GIRL Highlights The Toll Reporting Tragedies Has On Those Tasked with Bringing The Stories To The Rest Of the World

Wednesday 31st March 2021, 6:30pm Belvoir St Theatre

Multi-award-winning journalist Sally Sara uses her experience as an ABC Foreign Correspondent returning from years reporting from war zones as an inspiration for her first foray into writing for theatre with the powerful new work STOP GIRL. Directed by Anne-Louise Sarks, the psychological damage caused by witnessing the truth behind the highly filtered stories shown on television screens on the other side of the world is put into the theatrical spotlight with bold simplicity.

Port Pirie (South Australia) born Sally Sara has spent years reporting from treacherous hot spots like Iraq, Lebanon, the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks and the 2005 London bombings. She holds the distinction of being the first female to hold the ABC Africa Correspondent position for 5 years from 2000 to 2005, South Asia Correspondent from 2008 to 2010 and Afghanistan Correspondent in 2011. It is her time reporting from the frontline in Afghanistan, entrenched with coalition forces, that she uses as set-up for Suzie's (Sheridan Harbridge) story, a character stated to be 'loosely' based on Sara's own experiences. Suzie's best friend from childhood, Bec (Amber McMahon), an ABC employee like Suzie but in the less dangerous field of Marketing, is sent out to join Suzie in Kabul for an article about the female reporter but unlike Suzie, Bec hasn't had time to condition herself to distance herself from the horrors Suzie has to report on, providing a good benchmark for the audience to see Suzie's state of mind. Bec, Suzie's mother Marg (Toni Scanlan) and company engaged Psychologist (Deborah Galanos) represent the differing support responses that Suzie receives when she returns home and struggles to adjust back to 'normality' and not having to jump at shadows and fear attacks in the supermarket. Through Suzie's local producer Atal (Mansoor Noor), an engineer by training, the danger that locals put themselves in for helping foreign journalists is highlighted along with the obligations safe nations asking people like Atal to risk their lives should have in keeping them safe.

Anne-Louise Sarks allows this work to be character driven with the use of Robert Cousins' simple white set that has a solitary sink and a bench step that spans the width the white wall that makes up one side of the corner stage. The white wall also serves as a large screen on which Suzie's live to camera broadcasts are projected along with the visions that later haunt her when she no longer needs to file reports that need to be prefaced with the words "some images may disturb some viewers". This white space is Suzie's world while events that occur on the black strips on the periphery are taking place elsewhere, such as the video call from Marg or the ritual blessing of Atal's departure from his family home. Costume designer Mel Page keeps the costuming equally simple to reinforce that Suzie is holding on to her time overseas with slow gradual change out of the clothes she wore while on assignment and into more socially acceptable business attire expected of a reporter back at head office.

This is a bold and powerful production led by Sheridan Harbridge, a performer who knows how to express the weight of a character's stoicism along with their vulnerability. She ensures there is honesty, truth and understanding infused in her performance so that the weight of Sara's message on mental health issues particularly Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the media profession is made clear. Amber McMahon's expression of Bec's support and compassion is beautifully presented to ensure that, through her own brief experience in the war zone, she has gained some idea of what Suzie is going through, even if she cannot do more than comfort and listen while Suzie starts her own journey to processing the trauma.

As mother Marg, Toni Scanlan presents the care and concern of a mother while also representing the society that has less understanding of what Suzie has witnessed and what she mentally had to do to survive. She expresses a mother's understanding of the strength of her child's character she knows that there is a deeper problem beneath Suzie's reluctance to face her own family's mortality when she has reported on countless deaths and funerals of strangers. Mansoor Noor's performance as Afghani national Atal expresses the fortitude of the locals that put their lives at risk to help foreign reporters while also showing the enthusiasm new refugees can have at the thought of a new, safe life far from home. Debora Galanos' role as the company engaged Psychologist is a minor one, inserted to highlight the struggles that some face when trying to access help and she ensures that it is clear that the experience is not always easy, reinforcing the need for better understanding and compassion to be incorporated into the process of accessing help and the delivery of it. When comparing STOP GIRL with Sara's 2014 article for Dart Centre for Journalism & Trauma it is clear that the psychologist of the fiction is not the experience that Sara had but rather a tool used to expose experiences that others may have had trying to seek help from an industry potentially more used to the trauma of blood and bullets rather than moral injury.

STOP GIRL is an important story that helps raise awareness of the mental health cost that those tasked with bringing us the news may experience. While PTSD in the military is becoming more widely understood and the stigmatism of mental illness is being slowly removed, the effect on journalists covering traumatic events is less frequently addressed. It highlights the company obligations that media outlets, and all companies in general, should have towards their employee's mental health, regardless of where they are or what they do along with the responsibility they should take when they ask people to put their lives and safety at risk, understanding that they can't leave local advisors exposed when the international organization is finished and ready to leave.

https://belvoir.com.au/productions/stop-girl/#performance-team

Photos: Brett Boardman