La Mama: The Jerilderie Letter by Ned Kelly
The Jerilderie Letter by Ned Kelly. Devised and performed by Peter Finlay with Malcolm Hill. Directed by Lloyd Jones. La Mama, 205 Faraday Street Carlton, until Sunday September 30.
UPDATE: Also BRIGHTSPACE (Level 1, 8 Martin Street, St Kilda) for the St Kilda Festival, from February 6-16, 2008.
According to the State Library of Victoria, just two original documents by Ned Kelly are known to have survived. The Jerilderie Letter -- which was dictated by Kelly to Joe Byrne -- is our best glimpse into the mind of the bushranger.
The letter -- now in the library's possession -- is a bit under 7400 words. You could print it off in a dozen pages. It's not an easy read though. It's sometimes hard to get a grip on its literal meaning. But it thunders with the voice of the persecuted.
Like Paradise Lost, which was dictated by a blind poet, The Jerilderie Letter comes to life when recited.
In Lloyd Jones production, Kelly's shaved, white, severed head -- a death mask on a plinth -- does the talking. Peter Finlay (pictured, left) is the actor. And what a mighty, controlled, hypnotic recitation he gives!
Finlay's delivery clarifies many of the ambiguities of the letter. That said, the intense and slightly deranged rant that closes the letter are not pinned down. And that, I think, is a good call on the part of director and actor.
It's up to the audience to decide if this is an apologia -- the final perjury if you like -- of a guilty man or if, instead, it is the breakdown of a man whose family has been hounded for more than a generation.
Though barely literate, the letter is, in every sense, a manifesto. It's a call to arms to the poor and the powerless -- the Irish Catholic trash of the colony -- against thieving, lying, corrupt, British rule. It's a call to revolt.
One could imagine, for example, it coming from a black author in South Africa under apartheid. It's a warning to potential collaborators.
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UPDATE: Also BRIGHTSPACE (Level 1, 8 Martin Street, St Kilda) for the St Kilda Festival, from February 6-16, 2008.
According to the State Library of Victoria, just two original documents by Ned Kelly are known to have survived. The Jerilderie Letter -- which was dictated by Kelly to Joe Byrne -- is our best glimpse into the mind of the bushranger.
"the ground was that rotten it would bog a duck in places..."It was written after the Stringybark Creek shoot-out in October 1878, where three policemen were killed, and left at the Riverena town of Jerilderie which the gang raided and occupied in February 1879. Kelly wanted his testimony published and circulated. An employee of the bank the gang robbed offered to pass the letter on to the editor of the Jerilderie Gazette. He didn't.
The letter -- now in the library's possession -- is a bit under 7400 words. You could print it off in a dozen pages. It's not an easy read though. It's sometimes hard to get a grip on its literal meaning. But it thunders with the voice of the persecuted.
Like Paradise Lost, which was dictated by a blind poet, The Jerilderie Letter comes to life when recited.
"I threw big cowardly Hall on his belly I straddled him and rooted both spurs onto his thighs he roared like a big calf attacked by dogs..."
In Lloyd Jones production, Kelly's shaved, white, severed head -- a death mask on a plinth -- does the talking. Peter Finlay (pictured, left) is the actor. And what a mighty, controlled, hypnotic recitation he gives!Finlay's delivery clarifies many of the ambiguities of the letter. That said, the intense and slightly deranged rant that closes the letter are not pinned down. And that, I think, is a good call on the part of director and actor.
It's up to the audience to decide if this is an apologia -- the final perjury if you like -- of a guilty man or if, instead, it is the breakdown of a man whose family has been hounded for more than a generation.
Though barely literate, the letter is, in every sense, a manifesto. It's a call to arms to the poor and the powerless -- the Irish Catholic trash of the colony -- against thieving, lying, corrupt, British rule. It's a call to revolt.
One could imagine, for example, it coming from a black author in South Africa under apartheid. It's a warning to potential collaborators.
"If I had robbed and plundered ravished and murdered everything I met young and old rich and poor. the public could not do any more than take firearms and Assisting the police as they have done, but by the light that shines pegged on an ant-bed with their bellies opened their fat taken out rendered and poured down their throat boiling hot will be fool to what pleasure I will give some of them and any person aiding or harbouring or assisting the Police in any way whatever or employing any person whom they know to be a detective or cad or those who would be so deprived as to take blood money will be outlawed and declared unfit to be allowed human buriel (sic) their property either consumed or confiscated and them theirs and all belonging to them exterminated off the face of the earth, the enemy I cannot catch myself I shall give a payable reward for..."Apart from a clumsy and poorly executed song about Kelly's bravery sash, Malcolm Hill's musical contribution -- voice and acoustic guitar -- is electrifying. He's like a rampaging, howling dervish.
Labels: BRIGHTSPACE, La Mama, Lloyd Jones, Peter Finlay
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posted by Chris Boyd at 4:59 AM
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