When I called Jack Charles Saturday morning to interview him as we had planned he had just called to order a cab. “I’m one that needs reminding you see” he said with a cheeky laugh and I imagined his smile lighting up his rough old face. We subsequently had to stop the interview while I listened to him directing the driver through Collingwood and later paying him at his destination. I was happy to wait. I was thrilled to speak to the figure introduced to me in Amiel Courtin-Wilson ARIA nominated Bastardy and whose significance in the Melbourne arts scene I’d since learned from everyone I spoke to who’d lived in Melbourne during the 70s.
There’s a kind of old school charm about the actor, harking back to a classier era in theatre and film. A man small in stature with a gritty depth in his musical voice who takes surprising command of the stage despite his stature and obvious humility. Perhaps it’s the grace of this humility that makes him so charming.
Walking quietly out onto the stage at the beginning of his show, briefly acknowledging the rapturous applause of his peers Jack sits quietly down at his pottery wheel masterfully working the clay as images from Bastardy are displayed in skewed projection across the raw wooden set. In the audience I am unsuspecting of the impact that the next 90 minutes will have on me.
Through monologues written by Jack throughout his life in response to opportunities lost, masterfully collaborated by his long time friend John Romeril, the piece reveals a story as much about this city as it is about the actor, revealing as much to us about ourselves and our misconceptions as it does about a troubled soul and a hard life.
As if from wonky clay bricks he masterfully works his story and I’m drawn in by the music in the voice of this quirky and cheeky old man. A storyteller as ready to recite a lark and sing a folk routed melody as he is to recite a recent psycho-analysis documenting his difficulty to form human connections and his histories of sexual and physical abuse.
The man I speak to on the phone is passionate, articulate, delightful and humble. There is no pretence just as there is none Jack Charles Vs the Crown, just as there is none whatsoever in Bastardy. A man who has discovered himself and what he has give, being given the opportunity by Ilbijerri Theatre Company, and director Rachel Maza Long, to tell his story. As Long put it in her introduction, a story as much a part of Melbourne and as significant to us as it is about Jack himself.
Jack Charles Vs The Crown opens tonight at the Fairfax Theatre, the Arts Centre Melbourne. Part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival.
More at http://www.ilbijerri.org.au/
There’s a kind of old school charm about the actor, harking back to a classier era in theatre and film. A man small in stature with a gritty depth in his musical voice who takes surprising command of the stage despite his stature and obvious humility. Perhaps it’s the grace of this humility that makes him so charming.
Walking quietly out onto the stage at the beginning of his show, briefly acknowledging the rapturous applause of his peers Jack sits quietly down at his pottery wheel masterfully working the clay as images from Bastardy are displayed in skewed projection across the raw wooden set. In the audience I am unsuspecting of the impact that the next 90 minutes will have on me.
Through monologues written by Jack throughout his life in response to opportunities lost, masterfully collaborated by his long time friend John Romeril, the piece reveals a story as much about this city as it is about the actor, revealing as much to us about ourselves and our misconceptions as it does about a troubled soul and a hard life.
As if from wonky clay bricks he masterfully works his story and I’m drawn in by the music in the voice of this quirky and cheeky old man. A storyteller as ready to recite a lark and sing a folk routed melody as he is to recite a recent psycho-analysis documenting his difficulty to form human connections and his histories of sexual and physical abuse.
The man I speak to on the phone is passionate, articulate, delightful and humble. There is no pretence just as there is none Jack Charles Vs the Crown, just as there is none whatsoever in Bastardy. A man who has discovered himself and what he has give, being given the opportunity by Ilbijerri Theatre Company, and director Rachel Maza Long, to tell his story. As Long put it in her introduction, a story as much a part of Melbourne and as significant to us as it is about Jack himself.
Jack Charles Vs The Crown opens tonight at the Fairfax Theatre, the Arts Centre Melbourne. Part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival.
More at http://www.ilbijerri.org.au/
Above photo: Bindi Cole
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