This scene brings the past and the present together, and with it the different narrative strands of the story.
Scene
After the story of William Cooper’s activism, and Alice and Hans’s escape from Austria, have been told, Elise stages a celebration for Andrea (based on a Jewish coming of age ceremony called a Bat Mitzvah) as a gesture of reconciliation. Then Guy appears as William Cooper. He questions Andrea and Elise about his legacy, and what remains to be done to realise his vision for Aboriginal rights.
As you watch the scene and the interviews, think about the following questions:
Andrea calls this figure ‘the spirit’ of William Cooper; Elise his ‘ghost’. What is the status of this entity on the stage?
In the interviews, the writers and the actors talk about the responsibilities of invoking such an iconic Indigenous figure. Why is it so important that they get William Cooper ‘right’ in this scene?