Henry Lawson show to be performed around the district

By Contributed

Aug 5, 2022

Players: Wallace Williams, Irene Labbett, Mick Coventry, Ken McMullan and Gwen Potter will be performing in this celebration of Henry Lawson. Photo by Contributed

District history and bush poetry lovers are in for a treat in late August when a feast of Henry Lawson verse and songs is performed.

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The People’s Poet: Henry Lawson in Verse and Song will be staged in Echuca and Tongala to commemorate 100 years since the legendary writer died.

It will relate his dramatic, often tragic life story, highlighted by many of his most-loved poems, both recited and sung.

Born in a tent on the NSW goldfields in 1867, Lawson was deaf from childhood, ill-educated, the radical son of a leading suffragette mother, unlucky in love, a poverty-stricken alcoholic and even a jail inmate.

But he railed against the political and social greed and hypocrisy of the late 1800s, and he celebrated mateship, fighting spirit and the kindness of ordinary folk.

The writer and producer of the show, Echuca’s Gwen Potter, said Henry Lawson was called by critics the “the first authentic voice of the real Australia”.

“What we’ve all loved down through the generations is Lawson’s imagery of the bush and the city and all those unforgettable characters — not romanticised but shown in an honest and humorous way,” she said.

“We guarantee there will be surprises for the audience about what really went on in Henry’s life.

“So many disadvantages, setbacks and unhappiness — yet he kept writing till the day he died. He called for independence from England, an end to oppression and a better go for the workers. He helped shape our Australian identity.

“We invite everyone to come and have a laugh, maybe a cry, have a waltz as Andy goes a-drovin’, even wave a Southern Cross flag in solidarity with Henry’s anti-monarchy mates.”

The show is performed by the Campaspe Players, with experienced actor and director Ken McMullan of Echuca as Henry Lawson, and multiple award-winning bush poet Mick Coventry from Kyabram as Henry’s mate and principal reciter.

Well-known folk musicians Irene Labbett and Wallace Williams of Kyvalley, together with Gwen, provide music and vocals.

All proceeds from the Echuca show will aid the Echuca Historical Society, and proceeds from the Tongala show will go to the Tongala community.

“We did similar for local communities five years ago when we first presented this show to mark 150 years since Lawson was born,” Gwen said.

Gwen said it was interesting how many Lawson poems had been set to music over the years.

“It is a measure of how much he is respected and remembered, and it really is a privilege to perform some of these poems as songs,” she said.

After the local shows, The People’s Poet: Henry Lawson in Verse and Song will be performed in Ballarat at the special request of the Henry Lawson Memorial and Literary Society of Victoria.

Medallions marking the 2022 centenary of Lawson’s death are expected to be on sale at all shows.