Send For Nellie (Wharf 1 Theatre) ★★1/2

Created by Alana Valentine with Kween G. Writer and co-curator Alana Valentine. Sydney Theatre Company Wharf 1 Theatre. Sydney Festival 10-14 Jan 2024. Touring to Merrigong Theatre Company in Wollongong 14–17 Feb 2024

The legacy of performer Nellie Small is given a whistle-stop tour in Send For Nellie, a cabaret/vaudeville performance at Sydney Festival that showcases the vocals of Elenoa Rokobaro as the legendary Sydney entertainer.

Nellie Small was considered to be one of Sydney’s best and most reliable performers over the course of her career from the 1930s to 50s, with audiences reportedly known to cry “send for Nellie” to come and save a dying show. A Black woman, wearing men’s clothing on and off-stage, she faced the inconstancy of a performer’s touring life, and the sexism and racism of the age. This is all told in broad, biographical detail between hit songs of the age like “Stormy Weather”, “At Last”, “Dinah”, and “Sunny Side of the Street”.

Send For Nellie suffers greatly from the fact we’ve recently had Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill grace the city, demonstrating how a musical performance can double as a powerful, emotive play. In comparison, this show just can’t produce a narrative thread to hold the evening together, leaving us with a disjointed and meandering performance that feels longer than its 60 minute running time.

Rokobaro can bust out a tune, and hold a room, without a doubt and her personal charm does a lot of heavy lifting in this otherwise didactic evening. Small’s life is “told” to the audience, sometimes in the form of awkward vaudevillian comedy sketches and sometimes as straight up narration but there is no link between these epistolic scenes. Eleanor Stankiewicz plays a variety of roles with impressive gusto, but the lack of a clear directorial or authorial vision sometimes makes it hard to tell who she is at any given point. 

It’s a shame, as there is clearly an interesting life to be explored (here’s a freebie for any TV series commissioners – how about making a “Come In Spinner” style-miniseries about Small?) and it’s still ripe for adaptation. Is it too harsh to say someone should shout “send For Nellie” to liven up the show Send For Nellie?