Cabaret Festival

Jack Charles V The Crown – 2012 Adelaide Cabaret Festival

Presented by the Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Reviewed Saturday 23rd June 2012

The performance began, appropriately, with a welcome to country by the always warm, smiling Auntie Josie Agius. The performance that followed was a considerably abbreviated version of a full length theatre piece in which Jack Charles tells the story of his very colourful life, from being one of the ‘stolen generation’, through good times and bad, to the position that he occupies today as a respected elder and social reformer.

He is aided by a three piece band consisting of Mal Beveridge, bass, Phil Collins, drums, and a multiply talented musical director, Nigel MacLean, on keyboards, backing tracks on a laptop computer, guitar, violin and electric violin. As he begins his tale, with a recorded voice-over recounting many of the charges of breaking and entering, and theft, repeated offences for which he spent a considerable part of his life in prison, the musicians provide an atmospheric background, with the violin suggesting the sounds of birds, a link to the land from which he had been torn. Twenty of his years spent in jail, forty years hooked on drugs, but now, at 67, he has put all of that behind him, yet his criminal record is still there, closing many doors to him.

The music fades and Charles tells us of the documentary about his life that was broadcast by the ABC, and its ongoing effects upon him. He is not only a storyteller but also a marvellous orator, the clarity and modulation of his voice putting any of our politicians, or our radio and television presenters to shame. His bass-baritone singing voice is rich and powerful, and his joy of singing carries the audience along with him as he adds some jazz and blues interludes to his narrative, marking points in his life.

He got involved in theatre, set up the first Aboriginal theatre company, starred in the film The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, often appeared on television, but then fell foul of drugs. In prison he learned pottery, becoming highly skilled and gaining qualifications, eventually teaching other prisoners. After his release, however, he could not get work teaching in a school, or even go back into prison as a free man in order to teach inmates. His record was against him. The next section of the play is an appeal to the justice system to allow those records to be sealed after a person is deemed rehabilitated and no longer in any danger of re-offending, not just for himself, but for everybody who has successfully turned their backs on the things that took them to jail.

Following his mock appeal to the High Court (the audience) he sang a setting of Son of Mine, the poignant poem written by Oodgeroo Noonuccal (previously known as Kath Walker) and dedicated to her son, Denis.

My son, your troubled eyes search mine,
Puzzled and hurt by colour line.
Your black skin as soft as velvet shine;
What can I tell you, son of mine?

I could tell you of heartbreak, hatred blind,
I could tell you of crimes that shame mankind,
Of brutal wrong and deeds malign,
Of rape and murder, son of mine;

But I'll tell you instead of brave and fine
When lives of black and white entwine,
And men in brotherhood combine–
This would I tell you, son of mine.

With the theatrical part of the performance concluded, Charles continued with a concert of songs from the times when he was a busker, opening with a blues version of Love Letters in the Sand, and including Vagabond Lover, Deep River Blues, and more, to a very receptive audience. This is yet another performance this year that was not exactly a cabaret performance, but it is a very important piece of theatre and, hopefully, we will see the full production at some future time.

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor, Glam Adelaide.

Cabaret Festival web site – Jack Charles

Venue: Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre, King William Road, Adelaide
Season: ended
Duration: 1hr 10mins

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