Darkan’s sold-out original play had locals take to the stage and bring the Ford family to life in a comedic depiction of a down-on-their-luck farming family.
Crop That, written and directed by local Joanne King, welcomed 380 audience members to the Darkan Town Hall on Friday and Saturday night.
Crop That follows a sheep and crop farmer, John Ford, navigating a tough financial farming year that is turned on its head when he catches his son Murray secretly growing marijuana in his paddock.
Ms King said she “really felt the love in the room” and her sister told her on the night it showed “the best of a small-town community”.
Rehearsals begun on May 2 with a local cast hand-picked by Ms King who had based characters off community members she knew.
“I wrote the play with local Duncan South in mind, I call him my muse, he is the quintessential Australian farmer,” she said.
“What was good about the cast was that they’re all so diverse; it brought people who normally don’t hang out together.
“It was unbelievable to walk out during intermission and have everyone so happy.”
Ms King said the play was about bringing humour to difficult subjects because farmers did “face the threat of losing their farms” and, quoting the play, “a lot of people are doing desperate things just to get by”.
“Amongst all the humour there definitely was those hard-hitting lines that made you think,” she said.
Ms King thanked Karen Prowse who helped her produce the production — run entirely by community members, including volunteers as the backstage crew — as well as Dean King for building the set design, and artist Jane Neil-Smith.
Darkan’s CWA, alongside volunteers, served chicken and beef for dinner and a choice of apple crumble or sticky date pudding for dessert for Saturday night’s audience.
The production was in conjunction with local artist Neil-Smith, whom Ms King asked to paint a collection of artwork based on farming landscapes available for purchase by the audience.
