John Schumann Lawson to debut in Adelaide
"Former Redgum frontman John Schumann will take his musical tribute to poet Henry Lawson to the stage.
"The production of Lawson will be staged at Adelaide’s Her Majesty’s Theatre on September 15, 16 and 17 and in Tanunda on October 7 ...
"Schumann has brought the show to the stage with the help of famed Aussie actor Max Cullen. The band The Vagabonds performing the music will include Broderick Smith and Mike Rudd."
Undercover
John Schumann's Henry Lawson music site
Tagged: henry+lawson, music, australia, poetry, australian+literature
"The production of Lawson will be staged at Adelaide’s Her Majesty’s Theatre on September 15, 16 and 17 and in Tanunda on October 7 ...
"Schumann has brought the show to the stage with the help of famed Aussie actor Max Cullen. The band The Vagabonds performing the music will include Broderick Smith and Mike Rudd."
Undercover
John Schumann's Henry Lawson music site
Tagged: henry+lawson, music, australia, poetry, australian+literature
Pip Wilson posted item above at 12:17 PM | Permalink
1 Comments:
I was lucky enough to see "Lawson" at Her Majesty's on its second night.
What a great show!
I wasn't really sure how the mixture of a one-man-show/monologue and a live band would work, but Jeez, was I impressed!
Writer Brian Matthews' script tells the story of one of this country's literary greats, punctuated and illustrated by some of the man's poetry, set to contemporary music. It is as though Henry Lawson's work has been brought into the 21st century. Rich with laughter and pathos, the story winds its way from outback New South Wales to Sydney, to England, New Zealand and back home to Australia, following the highs and lows of an extraordinary life.
Max Cullen was bloody great as Henry Lawson, although he might have overplayed the drunkenness a bit; I think he's still working through the role, and trying to find the character (truly spoken like someone who knows a bit about acting, which I don't). Even though Cullen, at 65, is ten years older than Lawson when he died, he is an excellent choice to retrospectively relate Lawson's curriculum vitae.
The ensemble of musicians, The Vagabond Crew, were absolutely fan-bloody-tastic! I've been a fan of John Schumann since his Redgum days and was ecstatic to see (and hear) that he's lost none of his passion, nor his distinctive voice. On the strength of the performance thus far, I bought the Lawson CD at intermission and I have to say it's the best thing I've listened to in a long while.
While it's hard to stay upbeat about the life story of a gloomy drunk who grew up tough and lost his hearing at the age of 14, who came from a broken home with an overbearing mother and whose own marriage broke down as he sank further into depression and alcoholism, by the final curtain I found myself feeling uplifted and wanting to know more about this "intermittently brilliant" writer and poet, whose name is almost synonymous with Australia.
I suppose you could say I'm an instant Lawson fan, and it's all down to this show.
Then show is doing a tour of regional SA, after which I hope it will go to the rest of our little island nation. I would particularly like to see "Lawson" do a season in Sydney, where Henry Lawson did a good amount of his work (and his drinking).
As an added bonus, while I loitered in the foyer of the theatre after the show, I had the chance to meet both Schumann and Cullen, two legends of Australian entertainment and two decent, down-to-earth blokes.
If you get the chance to see this show, do so. Buy the CD. Go to the book shop or the library and get hold of a book of Lawson's poetry and prose ("The Receding Wave" and "Louisa" were both written by Brian Matthews and are a bloody good read).
You won't regret it, and you might just help to keep Australian literature and culture alive.
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