Stolen is an Australian play written by Jane Harrison in the year 1998. It focuses on the lives of five Aboriginals who were taken away as children under government policies now known as the Stolen Generations. Such policies, which persisted well into the 20th century, were intended to forcibly separate Aboriginal children from their families and place them in institutions or with white foster families, in order to assimilate them to white society.
Stolen by Jane Harrison
Stolen is an emotional story of five Aboriginal children – Sandy, Ruby, Jimmy, Anne, and Shirley. Each affected by the forced removal policies that formed the “Stolen Generations” in Australia.
Sandy has spent most his life into fleeing here and there. Although no one is pursuing him any more, he is still frightened and he never feels safe. The story of his search is that of looking to find peace, to find security, to find a home.
Ruby is separated with her family and forced to be a domestic servant. The mistreatment she endures shatters her mind and spirit. She finally ends up talking to herself as she is lost in confusion and her family helplessly attempts to reach her.
Jimmy is brought up in institutions, separated with his mother who never gives up trying to find him. The authorities has never delivered his letters to her, also withheld letters from her and informed him that she was dead. Jimmy is finally released and then he comes to know the truth that his mother has always been searching for him. However, just as he is about to reunite with her, she dies. In grief, Jimmy kills himself.
Anne is adopted by the Caucasian white family and brought up in physical comfort, yet she is growing up without being aware of her Aboriginal origins. She is materially well off but she is confused in her identity where she belongs to.
Shirley is taken from her parents as a child and later separated with her own children. She starts to feel calm and safe only when her granddaughter is delivered and not taken away.
Stolen by Jane Harrison Summary
Stolen is an episodic, non-linear play. It lacks a traditional beginning-middle-end storyline. Rather, it contains fragmented scenes, recollections, monologues, and conversations of five Aboriginal characters, all of whom were separated as children from their families, a part of the Stolen Generations in Australia.
Opening Moments
The play opens with a chain of unrelated sharp images and sounds. The characters are introduced one after the other: Shirely, Ruby, Sandy, Jimmy and Anne, each in a separate space. We sense their isolation and trauma at once. Confusion, isolation and the feeling of not belonging are brought out in the opening.
The opening lines are fragmented. Ruby is not only lonely but also afraid. Shirley talks of being a good mother, despite the fact that her children were taken away. Jimmy recalls the letters that he never recovered. Anne is different, more confident, yet does not know her place in the world. Sandy appears to be lost and always on the run.
Childhood Memories and Foster Homes
The play quickly changes to the childhood experiences of these characters. They recall being picked up by the officials. The scenes depict how Aboriginal children were forcefully taken out of their families. They are told that they are taken away for their own good.
Each of the characters ends up in various locations. Ruby ends up in a girls’ home where she is maltreated. Shirley goes to several foster families. Jimmy lives in institutions and never knows his mother. Sandy keeps running from one place to another. Anne is brought up in a white family that provides her with physical comfort but distances her from her Aboriginal identity.
One key moment involves Anne’s white mother giving her a doll with blonde hair, signifying the pressure to become “white.” Anne is socialized to conceal her Aboriginal heritage, and this makes her confused about identity.
Life Institutions and Abuse
The trauma experienced by characters in state care is clear in the play. Sexual abuse in girls’ home impacts Ruby greatly. Ruby is deeply affected by sexual abuse in the girls’ home. Her later descent into mental illness and institutionalisation is shown through repetition and broken speech. She rocks back and forth, repeating lines about washing and being clean, symbolising trauma and loss of control.
Shirley, as a child, who is reprimanded in foster homes and brought up under constant supervision. She is taught to behave “properly,” and punished for speaking her language or asking about her parents. Her later life becomes a cycle – when she matures and has children of her own, her children are taken away.
Another tragic character is Jimmy. He writes letters to his mother, but they are never sent. He spends most of his life in and out of jail. He is shattered when he gets to know the truth that his mother had been trying to find him. He commits suicide just after finding this out. His death is a powerful moment of pain, loss, and hopelessness.
Disconnection, Searching and Identity
Sandy is the one who keeps running. He has no family and does not believe in the system. He keeps on moving from place to place in the fear of being locked up. His storyline is that of deep alienation. He is the symbol of the people who disappear, the ones who live but never settle.
Anne’s story is complex. She lives a good life externally. She is well educated and safe, yet something is always lacking. She is confused when she discovers that she has Aboriginal roots. She feels like an outsider in both white and Aboriginal worlds. She is materially secure, but no true sense of belonging.
Ruby lives with the trauma of abuse and spends most of the play repeating lines, cleaning, and talking to herself. Her psychological breakdown is depicted in a strong image – washing to make herself clean. She is institutionalised and never lives in peace.
Generational Loss and Motherhood
The story of Shirley is particularly emotional. She grows up without her parents and when she becomes a mother, her own children are taken away. Her desperation to retrieve them back is heartbreaking. She talks of how she strives to be a good mother, how she tries to shield her children and the pain of losing them to the same system that victimized her.
The cycle of removal continues across generations. The audience sees how policies meant to “help” have actually destroyed families. Shirley’s scenes reflect the emotional impact of this—the constant longing, the embarrassment and the self-restraint that she bears.
Last Minutes and Common Suffering
Toward the end of the play, the five characters can be seen together more often, although their stories do not intersect. Their voices merge and mix. It does not have a resolution, a happy ending. Instead, there is collective memory, suffering and endurance.
One of the most powerful turning point is the suicide of Jimmy. The truth about his mother’s searching for him arrives too late. The mental breakdown of Ruby, the endless wandering of Sandy, the melancholy of Shirley and the confusion of Anne -all present the lasting effects of enforced separation.
However, in spite of the trauma, there are some instances of connection and hope. The characters are talking to each other in memories and dreams. The final scenes echo with pain but also with quiet strength. They have managed to exist, even though they remain broken.
The last scenes are touching and haunting. The characters address the audience directly. They recollect what was lost by them – love, culture, identity – and what still remains with them. The final lines are usually spoken in a low tone, wistfully. The characters are still lost yet not silent anymore.
Jane Harrison ends Stolen with a feeling of endurance. The play offers no comfort or neat endings. Rather, it requests the audience to observe and remember the stolen lives.
Critical appreciation of Stolen
Stolen by Jane Harrison is a strong and heart touching play which brings out the grief and silence of the Stolen Generations-Aboriginal children who were removed from their family by the government policies in 20th century Australia. The play employs a non-linear, episodic form with fragmented scenes, recollections, monologues and songs. This technique reflects the chaotic and fragmented lives of its characters.
The five principal characters, Shirley, Ruby, Jimmy, Anne, and Sandy are symbolic of different experiences of children who have been separated with their families. They do not share a story but they share trauma. This gives the play a collective emotional weight. The scenes moves back and forth in time to depict how the trauma extends into their adulthood.
Some moments are realistic, and others are symbolic or dreamlike. The repetition of lines and certain actions (such as Ruby’s obsessive washing) makes a powerful emotional impact and demonstrates serious psychological traumas. One of the greatest strengths of Stolen is how it balances pain with resilience. Although the stories are full of loss and suffering, the characters still survive. Their strength lies in their ability to keep going, to remember, and to speak.
Important Themes in Stolen
The Loss of Identity
All the characters in the play are taken out of their households, race and family. The result is the feeling of confusion and pain. They end up being lost, alienated to the Aboriginal as well as the white society. The play indicates the impact of this loss on their identity and their capability to build permanent relationship.
The characters are in a continuous quest of who they are and where they belong. Anne is brought up by a white family, and she is safe physically yet she lacks a cultural attachment. Jimmy lives his life wishing he could locate his mother. Ruby goes insane. Sandy keeps on running from place to place. Shirley attempts to play a motherly role and loses her children. Their journeys reveal that identity cannot be purely individual, but it also belongs to the family, language, and culture.
Trauma of Survival
Stolen is about trauma. It manifests itself in nightmares, hallucinations, silence and breakdowns. Nevertheless, the characters survive. They continue to narrate their stories even when nobody is listening. Their struggle to survive is not heroic in the usual sense, but it is quiet, stubborn, and deeply human.
Prayer and Truth
Much of the pain in Stolen comes from things left unsaid. Jimmy is never aware that his mother was looking him. Ruby’s trauma is not spoken but expresses it through her behavior. Anne is told not to talk about her background. Harrison employs such silences to drive a point home that most of the actual stories of the Stolen Generations had been suppressed or denied for years. The play exposes them into the open.
Generational Cycles
The story of Shirley is particularly effective in demonstrating how trauma continues across generations. She was taken when she was a child and then her own children were taken. It is clear in the play that the harm caused cannot stop when the child matures. It goes on to the next generation, unless the truth is confronted and healing starts.
Symbols of Stolen
1. The Blanket
In a certain scene, one of the characters is holding a blanket tightly, which becomes a symbol of comfort, memory, and connection to home. The blanket symbolizes the warmth of family as well as the emptiness left when that is taken away.
2. The Doll
Anne’s foster mother gives her a white doll. The blonde-haired doll is a symbol of the pressure to forget about her Aboriginal nature and become a part of white society. It represents artificial notion of perfection and imposed identity.
3. Letters and Paper
Jimmy composes many letters to his mother during his life but they are never sent. This is a representation of the deliberate blocking of family connection by the system. The unopened letters are also an indication of the inability of institutions to allow healing or reunion.
4. The Constant Washing
Ruby repeats lines and movements, particularly on being clean and washing. This obsessive action turns into a representation of internal harm, guilt, and attempts to scrub away trauma. It demonstrates that abuse and control have found their way into her sense of self.
5. Escape and Running
Sandy is a restless person. He does not remain at the same place long. He is always running physically and emotionally. It represents fear, distrust and the desire to find a place to belong.
Stolen by Jane Harrison Characters
Shirley
Shirley is a strong Aboriginal woman who attempts to lead a decent life. She is a hard worker and she believes she will bring up her children well, but they are taken away from her just as she was taken away from her family. Shirley demonstrates that the trauma of removal not only influence one individual, but entire generations. She is the symbol of the emotional burden that attempts to keep a broken family together.
Ruby
Ruby is a tragic character. She was sexually abused in the institution where she was taken to as a child. The trauma confuses her and makes her mentally unstable. She is continually cleaning and repeating lines, which indicates that her mind remains trapped in pain. Ruby’s story reflects the silent suffering of many young girls who were exploited and never helped.
Jimmy
Jimmy is taken from his mother as an infant and is brought up in boys’ homes. He thinks that his mother had abandoned him, not knowing she searched for him all her life. Jimmy writes letters to her which are never delivered to her. By the time he gets to know the truth, it is too late. His sorrow causes him to commit suicide. Jimmy’s story highlights the lies told to children and the damage caused by forced separation.
Anne
A white family raised Anne. She was materially comfortable without knowing her Aboriginal background. She represents the loss of cultural identity. The life of Anne appears to be stable on the surface, but she feels misplaced. Her fight is that of seeking where she really belongs to.
Sandy
Sandy is a lonely man, who never had a proper home. He constantly runs from place to place, always searching for safety and belonging. The drifting life of Sandy illustrates how separation from family and culture can make an individual feel out of place and fearful of close relationships.