When you’ve spent a lifetime fighting everyone over everything, what do you have left at the end? Two radicals closer to Zimmer frames and dentures than they are to barrier-breaking protests come together to figure out their next steps. Their story is captured in The Waltz, coming to The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre on 9-10 June.

The work is inspired by The Push, a subculture that was active around pubs and dives in Sydney between the 1940s and the early 1970s. The group of intellectuals comprises members from diverse backgrounds – students, authors, lawyers, criminals and journalists were often seen debating, bonding over their rejection of the conservative culture of the time.

“They were all into individual freedom and they were probably ahead of their time in terms of the sexual freedom of their members; nobody really had a claim on anyone else. They’re also anti-careerist; they didn’t want to settle down and settle down in the suburbs,” says playwright David Cole.

The Goulburn-based playwright became fascinated by the group and started reading everything he could about what he dubs “a gang of bohemians”. He says they were the kind of group that looked after one another; if someone needed something, another member knew how to help.

In The Waltz, the ageing radicals, Irene and Alf, have lived full lives – Irene a bit wild with a long list of lovers; Alf a quirky artist who occasionally breaks out into song. Now in their 70s, they met on a park bench in Bondi, initially thinking it is for the first time, but perhaps they knew each other previously.

Although the characters aren’t based on documented members of The Push, they are inspired by people Cole has met. Irene is inspired by his mother-in-law Helen, who may have been a member of the group, an arts journalist with many an interesting tale. Cole says he wasn’t intending to write a play during their walks in Bondi, rather, it kind of came together afterwards.

“We would have conversations about facing the inevitability of death, and what do people who’ve protested everything all their lives do in the face of that,” he says.

The character of Alf has been inspired by the many ageing artists Cole met during his time as a journalist. Not wanting to generalise, Cole says he often found the artists to be funny, a touch quirky and you never quite knew what they might say. The actor who plays Alf, Martin Sanders, is an artist himself, you can see some of his works in the pay.

“He’s basically a sketcher, he’s an old artist. When Irene first meets him, he’s sketching and that’s how it all starts,” Cole says.

Written prior to the pandemic, the play has done the rounds in some regional theatres around NSW. Cole says it has been continuously a crowd-pleaser. After the show, people told him how he perfectly captured their mother and applauded the great soundtrack. He says it also resonates with people in their 40s and 50s who may be facing the choice of placing their parents in aged care.

“They’re getting a bit harder to look after or bloody hell, they’re becoming impossible. I found a lot of people sort of my age resonate with it, too, because they are a bit cantankerous, these old characters,” he says.

Having a play focused on older characters means it also gives older actors a chance. Cole says that contemporary society is so focused on youth that we overlook the experience and significant contributions older actors can offer. He is grateful for The Q implementing its ‘Q the Locals’ season this year, something he wished more theatres would offer.

“It’s great because it is pretty hard for playwrights to get their plays on at places, so Jordan [Best] has taken a bit of a punt on this and I think she deserves a lot of credit for giving relatively unknown playwrights a go.”

With just the two characters on stage throughout the play, there is a raw intimacy to the piece. While it navigates some tough topics, such as our impending mortality, Cole says it is a warm, funny, thoughtful and tender celebration of life. 

“When we think about our parents and getting older, life becomes a bit constricted, it’s good to see a couple of characters just going ‘stuff this, we’re going out with a bang’,” Coles smiles.

Grab a partner and enjoy The Waltz at The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, 9-10 June; theq.net.au

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