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Clip description
Our central characters are in transit and heading towards Alice Springs for the eclipse. Travelling on the Ghan, the young doctor Matt (Patrick Brammall) leaves a group of older women with whom he shares a cabin, and meets a beautiful and rather mysterious woman (Roxane Wilson) in the lounge car. Meanwhile Helen (Caitlin McDougall) is driving her car behind her husband Connor (Christopher Stollery) who jogs ahead. Connor is determined to climb one of the desert rocks during the full eclipse. In the car, Helen is coached by her dead friend Pat (Simon Burke) to turn the car around and leave her husband, both literally and matrimonially.
Curator’s notes
The magic realism of having Helen’s dead gay friend Pat as her guardian angel works well. Simon Burke brings something extra to the role of Pat and we come to accept his presence, visible only to her.
Simon Burke is one of Australia’s most accomplished and respected performers. He won a Best Actor AFI Award at the age of 13 for his part in The Devil’s Playground (1976). He’s been Marius in Les Miserables and has worked in the UK in A Little Night Music with Dame Judi Dench at the Royal Court Theatre. He’s also been in Brides of Christ (1991), Scales of Justice (1983), Water Rats (2001) and has been one of the most popular and enduring presenters of Play School (2008).
The young and idealistic Dr Matt Marione is played by Patrick Brammall. After graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2001, he performed on stage with the Bell Shakespeare Company in three national tours with The Comedy of Errors in 2004, As You Like It in 2003 and Actors at Work (schools tour 2002). The Alice was his first substantial television role.
