Poets resurrected on stage

LIFE will be breathed back into classic Australian writers, Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson at Trades Hall next month.

Max Cullen and Warren Fahey OAM are bringing their one-act play, Dead Men Talking to Ballarat on Friday 1 and Saturday 2 November, with songs, yarns and plenty of laughs about their lives’ transitions to death.

Set in the Leviticus Bar and Grill at Heaven’s Gate, the pair embody the two iconic poets as they have a casual and sometimes argumentative drink, chat about their legacies, their ‘War of Words’ in The Bulletin, and broadly reminisce on old times.

As veteran actors in their seventies, Cullen and Fahey have a mutual passion for bush stories. Inspired by the work of Lawson and Paterson, their theatrical experience was first staged in 2014 and has now been performed over 250 times.

Fahey is also a historian and author, and said Lawson and Paterson should never be forgotten for their cultural contributions.

“As the world increasingly succumbs to the never-ending and somewhat inevitable pressure of ‘one world culture,’ it is vital that small nations like Australia fight back to show their uniqueness,” he said.

“Our national identity was born in the bush and is one of feistiness and determination where pioneers battled with bushfires, floods, droughts, insect plagues, and quite often authority and the banks.

“They also fought loneliness and despair, but somehow or other, came out the other side to build this great nation.”

Dead Men Talking will be performed at 7.30pm, Friday 1 November, and 2pm, Saturday 2 November at Ballarat Trades Hall on Camp Street.

Tickets are at trybooking.com/BEUMQ.

WIN TICKETS TO DEAD MEN TALKING

We have two tickets to see Dead Men Talking to give away for the Friday, 1 November performance at 7.30pm at Trades Hall. To enter, email your name and contact number, with the subject line “Dead Men Talking” to [email protected]. Winners will be selected at random on Monday, 28 October at 12pm, notified shortly afterwards and asked to collect their tickets from the box office.