Packer & Sons Belvoir St Theatre

Packer & Sons Belvoir St Theatre

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Posted 2019-11-22 by Gypsy Rosefollow

Sat 16 Nov 2019 - Sun 22 Dec 2019

Packer & Sons – Belvoir St Theatre

[belvoir-st-theatre-theatre-performance.jpeg" align="CENTER" border="1" wrap="0" title="" width="662" caption="Image Courtesy from Brett Boardman" link="http://www.weekendnotes.com/im/003/01/packer-sons-belvoir-st-theatre-theatre-performance1.jpeg" thumb="http://www.weekendnotes.com/im/003/01/packer-sons-belvoir-st-theatre-theatre-performance2.jpeg" margin="5"] "The Packer Dynasty has been at the centre of Sydney life, and in many ways, Australian life for a century. In that time they helped to forge the country's cultural idea of itself and sat at the centre of that for a very long time" quoted producer Eamon Flack.

Written by Tommy Murphy, Packer & Sons is a raw, robust, brilliant, and dramatic pitch-perfect Play.



Packer & Sons takes the audience on a journey into how boys become Australian moguls: by being rammed into their father's mould as well as what power does to the men who wield it.

The play was also about the power in one city (Sydney), fathers and sons across generations, childhood traumas that drive people forward. How from humble beginnings, the Packer dynasty grew, and how each generation tried to keep the empire, free of the shadow of his father and build a lasting legacy.



The fathers may die, but their sins live on - Tycoon. Dynasty. Newspaperman. Mogul. The words might be dated words in Australian discourse, however, this story of the Packer family men, by Murphy powerfully breathes life back into them in this play.



We were taken on the Packer Dynasty Timeline, with scenes including 1956 when Kerry Packer was driving and had a collision late at night. Three youths were killed in the other vehicle. When Kerry negotiates with Rupert Murdoch for the sale of the Telegraph, when Clyde sells his quarter-share of the family business for $4 million to Kerry, to Kerry suffering a heart attack, leaving him clinically dead for a few minutes, while playing polo at Warwick Farm, and more scenes.



Each scene was executed with perfection from the cast. The scenes were intense, dramatic, and almost every scene featured laugh-out-moments too.

The play raised a question were those young men, destined from birth to control large corporations, who start life as ordinary, vulnerable children? It becomes clear that the Packer children had to be 'toughened up', hide vulnerability and emotions as well as always be aggressive.



The play is not concerned how the females (mothers, wives, sisters, etc.) shaped these men, rather how the family boys, were rammed into the patriarchal Packer mould.

It also showcased how James becomes James and Kerry becomes Kerry. John Howard did a stellar job at playing the cruel and crotchety Packer patriarch, Frank Packer, and this was shown in one scene shows you him barking at this son who is in a hospital bed with a broken hip: "Stand up to greet your father."



The sounds effects, costumes and lighting were all fantastic, even though the production stays relatively minimal.

The cast Young Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch, and Others (Nick Bartlett), Rupert Murdoch, Nick Fallon, and Others (John Gaden), Jodee Rich and Others (Anthony Harkin), Older Kerry Packer and Frank Packer ( John Howard), Clyde Packer and Others (Brandon McClelland), James Packer and Young Kerry Packer (Josh McConville), Boy James and Boy Kerry (Nate Sammut), and Boy James and Boy Kerry (Byron Wolffe) did a sensational performance.



Packer & Sons is all you could want in a drama: amusing and dramatic moments, humour, and intense. It explored the power shifts within the patriarchy that have loomed large over Australia's media landscape.

Tickets can be purchased online or at the Box Office.



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!date 16/11/2019 -- 22/12/2019
%wnsydney
153230 - 2023-06-14 07:38:17

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