Theatre Company: BIG hART INC
Writer: Scott Rankin
Directors: Scott Rankin and Wayne Blair
Cast: Trevor Jamieson and Derik Lynch
Location: Riverside Theatre (Parramatta, Sydney, Australia)

Synopsis (from the flyer):

Elea was born in the desert in Arrente country, Central Australia, in 1902. Two years later he was baptised Albert. Thirty one years after that, at his first solo exhibition of watercolour landscapes, he signed his work with his father’s surname for the first time: Albert Namatjira.
Half a century after his death, some of his descendants - third generation water colour artists - to fill the stage with a hug drawing of Namatjira’s country. Each night as they draw, the charismatic Trevor Jamieson will retell Namatjira’s extraordinary life.
At the height of his fame, Albert Namatjira’s shows sold out within minutes. If you didn’t own one of his pairings you probably had a print in your lounge room. He also supported over six hundred members of his community, lost two of his ten children to malnutrition, was forbidden to own land, imprisoned for having a drink with his friends, and died a broken man.
This is a whole-hearted tribute to a great Australian artist and a great Aranda man.

My Thoughts:

I’m so pleased that we got an opportunity to see this play a second time. The first time we tried to see it, at the Belvoir back in September 2010, Trevor Jamieson was too ill to complete the performance. We got to see the first fifteen minutes or so and then it was cancelled.
It was clear from that brief glimpse that this was going to be my kind of theatre - a solid story, imaginatively told, with minimal cast and set.
Trevor Jamieson is extraordinarily talented - managing to simultaneously, and seamlessly, narrate the story, play multiple characters and work the audience (breaking the fourth wall regularly and to great effect). His fellow cast member, Derik Lynch, played the supporting roles - often with great comedic effect.
The result was an engaging, thoroughly enjoyable night out. It was almost worth shifting to Sydney just to get another chance to see this!