Boom Shed, Fort Hill Wharf, Darwin City

June 5 - 9, 2001

This performance took a strongly Indian flavour with Sidharth Vemuri as the young man and Rukshana Ramachandran as the cohort. Rivers of the Underground was reworked and remounted in 2002.

Director’s Notes - David McMicken

After the death of my father, I was left with a sense of not knowing. The question of what happens after we die is probably one of the oldest questions in the world, and many belief systems and attached mythologies have arisen over millennia. By exploring these myths and beliefs, we can look for meaning. Mythology helps us engage with our world and has thousands of years of wisdom encapsulated in single stories. In the case of the mythology surrounding the afterlife, it also helps us disengage with our world. It gives us an understanding of the invisible plane that supports the visible, assisting us by giving suggestions and guiding our passage through life - and beyond. The body is viewed as a vehicle through life, encapsulating consciousness. We find out that death is life and life is death, and the two are in accord. There must be a balance between death and life - they are two aspects of the same thing. Darwin, as a crossroad of culture, is also a crossroad of mythology and Rivers of the Underground explores these crossroads, these beliefs that guide us in our everyday life.

In following my own theatre background and lineage, I went back to ancient Greek Mythology that predates our Western Christian beliefs, although many of these ideas were taken on by later faiths. This mythology gives us a way of dealing with death while we are still living. To the ancient Greeks, the afterlife was a real place where the dead travelled to. There are five rivers in the underworld:
The River Styx, a river of hate and unbreakable oaths. It expresses a loathing of death. After death, the body is prepared and crosses the River Styx to get to Hades' Kingdom, having paid the ferryman Charon, thus the image of coins on the eyes. 
The River Lethe is a river of oblivion and forgetfulness. It is a beautiful, sparkling stream that is the first river the newly dead encounter. Once they have drunk from this river, all memory of their past life falls away. They forget those they had loved and left behind on earth. 
The River Cocytus (the River of wailing and lamentation) is full of wailing and gnashing of teeth. 
The River Acheron is a river of sadness and woe. 
The river Phlegethon is a river of fire, and often sinners were thrown into it to burn away the badness.

There are two other places we explore: Elysium Fields is the place of immortals, a region of the underworld like paradise, to which those especially favoured by the gods might be sent.

Tartarus is the place of punishment and torture. The most wicked & the worst criminals are cast into Tartarus
 

For this performance, we chose a Hindu faith youth who dies young, before they have really formed many of their own spiritual beliefs, so unable to finish the business of life. And they are escorted through the underworld, experiencing a variety of cultural practices around the afterlife, until he finally gets to a place of peace and tranquillity.

Scenario

• The Living
• Burn or Bury
• Hermes and his Cohorts (the messenger)
• River Styx: (fear of death, oaths, lost souls and crossings)
• River Cocytus: (wailing and lamentation)
• River Acheron (sadness and woe)
• Elysium Fields (heroes and the godlike)
• Tartarus (place of torments)
• Cerberus (guardian of the gates)
• River Phlegethon (fire)
• River Lethe (oblivion)
• Tree of Dreams (letting go)

Creative Personnel

Conceived: David McMicken
Directors: David McMicken and Tim Newth
Choreography: David McMicken, Gerard Veltre, Rukshana Ramachandran
Design: Tim Newth
Original Compositions and Live DJ: Space Ace - David Pratt
Lighting Designer: Matthew James
Lighting Assistant: Walter Marquardt
Multimedia: Peter Coulter
Cultural Adviser: Betchay Mondragon
Poster Image and Design: Mark Marcelis

Performers

Boy: Sidharth Vemuri

Hermes: Gerard Veltre

Demi-Goddess: Rukshana Ramachandran

Demi-God: Yoris Wilson

Cerberus (Hades guard dog): Nicole Cridland, Karen Hurley

Denizens of the Underworld: Peter Coulter, Beryl Brugmans, Daniel Alderman, David Turner, Bart Robertson, Judd McElroy, Marko Taopo, Paolo Flores, Daniel Da Silva, Veronica Lutu, Ruth Bagiri, Relma Luta, Gloria Luta, Annie Luta, Amy Nona, Pethrie Bagiri, Lency Luta, Jennifer Devlin, Prue Pearse, Danarose Dizon, Estelle Quindara, Amy Hardwick, Jessica Rosewarne

Torres Strait Islanders: Pethrie Bagiri, Ruth Bagiri, Annie Luta, Gloria Luta, Lency Luta, Relma Luta, Veronica Luta

Rivers of the Underground Poster

Thank You

Port of Darwin and staff, Festival of Darwin, Brown's Mart Community Arts, Darwin Theatre Company, Corrugated Iron Youth Arts, Kakadu Studios, Throb Nightclub, Shauna Ricardo, Julia Quinn, Bruce Wilson, Nakara Primary School, Allan and Djon of Unique Antiques, Leah Wasaga, Jennie Zuccarrato, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Waco Kwikform Scaffolding, Ausdance NT, Friends and Families, Sue Camilleri, Yvonne Corby, Naomi Edwards, David Taylor, Sue Ross, ABC FM 105.7, ABC TV, Channel 8, Info TV, NT News, Darwin Sun & Arts Mart

Tracks 2001

Artistic Directors: David McMicken and Tim Newth
Office Administration: Heather Richards
Bookkeeper: Lynn Bramham
Production Manager: Eunice De Ramos
Multicultural Artist in Residence: Betchay Mondragon
Grey Panthers Coordinator: Merrilee Mills

Committee Members:  David Taylor (Chair), Jackie Wurm (Vice-Chair), Glenn Bernardin (Treasurer), Kyleigh Hindson/Rukshana Ramachandran (Secretary/Public Officer), Ken Conway, Nicole Cridland, Kay Brown, Tania Lieman (Ordinary Committee Members), David McMicken and Tim Newth (Ex-Officio Members)