Family ties: Creator, producer and actor Tania de Jong with her mother and author of Driftwood, Eva de Jong-Duldig.
Photo by
James Terry
Featuring strong ties to the town of Tatura, acclaimed new Australian production Driftwood – the musical returns to the Chapel Off Chapel stage reworked, revamped and ready to leave audiences astounded once again.
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Following on from its sell-out world premiere last year, May 3 to 20 will see a new Driftwood in Melbourne, before the show heads to Sydney.
The musical follows the inspirational story of renowned Austrian and Australian sculptor Karl Duldig and his artist-inventor wife Slawa Horowitz-Duldig.
Audiences are transported to pre-war Vienna to observe the chain of incredible events unravel from the family’s escape from the Holocaust to rebuilding their lives in Melbourne.
Creator and producer of Driftwood – the musical Tania de Jong, who also plays the role of her grandmother Slawa, said the show had a regional facet to it.
Cast: Tania de Jong on stage as Slawa Horowitz.
Photo by
Cameron Grant
“For nearly two years, my mum was at the Tatura Internment Camp with her parents,” she said.
“They held them behind barbed wire as enemy aliens because they spoke German, despite not being the enemy, but people couldn’t distinguish that.”
Ms de Jong said the show touched on many themes: settlement, trauma, mental health, family, belonging, good over evil, and even feminism.
“In the role of my grandmother, a stunning artist and inventor, she invents the foldable umbrella, or what she calls, ‘the flirt’,” Ms de Jong said.
“It was an incredible invention for a woman in the 1920s and a very significant moment in history.
“An important part of the show is for women and girls to be inspired seeing Slawa reach her dreams and unlock her creativity.”
In the all-encompassing thematics of the musical, there holds one constant message of incredible importance — to learn from history and never repeat the mistakes of the past.
Ms de Jong said the world was going through a period of enormous segregation and uncertainty at the moment, in regards to global challenges in human civilisation.
“Division is very unhealthy, it means we can’t solve problems collectively,” she said.
“All humans deserve the chance to have a healthy, happy life and contribute to society. That’s very difficult when groups of people are ostracised ... It’s a shocking indictment on humanity.
“Driftwood is hopeful — it shows the power of art to survive all odds and of family sticking together at the hardest of times.”
Centre stage: The cast of Driftwood – the musical.
Photo by
Cameron Grant
With plans to take the show on the road to the Big Apple, Ms de Jong encouraged people to see the powerful production before it was too late.
“With new Australian musicals, there’s so few of this calibre around and it has so much relevance and history to the region,” she said.
Count on Ms de Jong to be in the foyer post-show to say hello, bright-eyed and bushy wig on.
