Review: WHEREVER SHE WANDERS Considers The Ongoing Challenge Of Dealing With Consent In College Environments

Thursday 11th November 2021, 7pm, SBW Stables

Kendall Feaver's WHEREVER SHE WANDERS is a new thought-provoking work that contemplates the progress, or lack thereof, of society's attitude to sexual assault in higher education environments. Presented at a time when Australian governments are developing affirmative consent laws this work reflects on present and past attitudes and adds the modern challenge of trail by media, and more dangerously, social media where facts are overlooked in favor of flourish and fast 'news' cycles.

Set in a fictional Australian university residential college, life within the heavy stone walls that have borne witness to decades of history and changing trends that only admitted women to its hallowed halls in the 1970's is considered. Third year undergraduate student Nikki Faletau (Emily Havea) is a bit of an outsider as the scholarship student is a bit of a loner, a rarity as an online gamer, and most significantly, a person of dual heritage who doesn't conform to the 'traditional' expectation of a university student as being middle class and of white origin. Her position as a leader at the college has also branded her as somewhat of a headache for new College Master, Jo (Fiona Press) who feels that Nikki finds too many things to complain about, feeling that the younger woman just needs to learn to relax and accept the things that her fellow students do as just part of the university experience. This dismissive attitude ultimately leads to a situation that could have been prevented if the culture of 'don't make waves', allowing 'boys to be boys' and 'these things have been happening for years and no one has complained' were challenged before it was taken to trial by social media, the only outlet that the victims felt would pay attention.

While WHERVER SHE WANDERS is primarily based on the rape of an intoxicated first-year student by one of the school's sports stars whose indiscretions seem to be overlooked because of his success in the pool, further issues of racism, power imbalances and sexism are also addressed through the lens of different generations of feminist women. The new generation is fresh and fired up against the inequalities and injustices, demanding that someone sit up and listen when they believe the college's policies fail to protect the victim. In contrast, the older generation has a world-weariness for the fight that has been waged since Jo was Nikki's age and far earlier, along with a skepticism about the veracity of claims, the ability to trust valid cases tarnished by the false claims when people have woken up remorseful or the nuisance claims that seek to cry harassment if an otherwise innocent look has gazed for what someone deigns to consider a moment too long.

Ella Butler's design recalls the Victorian halls of the older residential colleges with mahogany dado rails and heavy doors merged with utilitarian short pile carpet and institutional fluorescent lighting. Blank walls allow for the video projections of archive footage of protest marches and university life that greet the audience preshow and during intermission while also allowing space for a representation of the score boards of the Role-playing video games that Nikki and Paige (Julia Robertson) partake in. Govin Ruben's lighting design transforms the settings from Jo's formal office and the stark dorm rooms to a start of year party to the cyberspace interactions and videoblog posts that help anchor the work in the modern day.

Emily Havea is powerful as Nikki, the determined young woman looking for justice but cognisant of society's biases towards dismissing the claims and concerns of people of color, therefore using the pretty blonde and most importantly, white, Paige's experience as the center of the campaign to raise awareness rather than her own. She exudes an endearing nerdiness while conveying that the young woman wants a better and safer world for her fellow female students and is not prepared to sit back and accept Jo's dismissive attitude towards both her concern at the male students' 'game' and claims that her hands are 'tied' until the victim is prepared to make a formal report. Nikki's youth and fire is contrasted by Fiona Press' presentation of Jo, a mature woman who still shows the signs of a strong feminist power that is now tempered with a pragmatic caution that wants proof before she acts, seeking to protect all parties while the facts are assessed. As the final female of the core trio that convey the varying expressions of the female response to the situation, particularly that of the current victim, Julia Robertson's portrayal of the more naïve Paige is beautiful in expressing a timid girl discovering the world outside her country town is more complex than she expected. She infuses an honest awkwardness to her expression that makes it plausible that Nikki would wear her down from her reluctance to speak out to giving in to being the poster girl for Nikki's campaign.

The men of the story are portrayed by Tony Cogin as Michael, a member of the university board, a senior figure amongst the university staff and Jo's former lecturer and former lover, and Mark Paguio as Gerald, a Malaysian third year student who has chosen to accept the racist and misogynistic behaviors of his fellow students in order fit in. Cogin ensures that it is clear that Michael is driven by reputation, protecting his own, and the university's while being stuck in the past as he leans on the 'this is how it has always been, why should we need to change' mentality. Through Paguio's expression of Gerald/Gerry the audience sees some degree of hope that male attitudes can change. Jane Phegan doubles as the mothers of both the victim and the perpetrator allowing the audience to see contrasting reactions to the situation that ultimately seek to protect their children.

Director Tessa Leong has delivered a well-paced piece of theatre that artfully expresses the characters with an honesty and relatability, making it sadly believable that events like those unfolding on stage could be occurring in the hallowed halls of education around the country. WHEREVER SHE WANDERS is a powerful work in that it reminds audiences that while there has been progress in gaining more rights for women, there is still a way to go in being able to change mindsets about how women are treated, both in educational institutions and the wider community. The work also reinforces that we as society need to go about effecting change the right way, through facts and correct legal channels, not resorting to unsubstantiated social media campaigns that pick sides before the full facts are known. While the case covered in Feaver's play has a genuine victim, the concern Jo raises of specious claims being made is also valid as people know that society's awareness of things like the #metoo movement can be used as a cover for spiteful and vindictive claims that can damage innocent lives. WHEREVER SHE WANDERS acknowledges that changes still need to be made while being a cautionary tale as to how we go about raising that awareness to ensure the innocent aren't hurt along the way, victims aren't subjected to further damage and the accused get a fair hearing.

Wherever She Wanders - Griffin Theatre Company