Namatjira @ Riverside Theatres

Namatjira @ Riverside Theatres

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Posted 2012-02-22 by glenopfollow

Thu 23 Feb 2012 - Sat 25 Feb 2012


Namatjira opens with a lesson in 'werte'. As actor Trevor Jamieson explains, werte means 'hello' in the Aranda language and he gets the audience to practice how to pronounce it. It's indicative of the rest of play. It's welcoming, friendly and a learning experience.

As the story teller and lead actor of Namatjira, Jamieson is magnificent. His easy going style is disarming. From the opening greeting of werte, I was instantly relaxed and tuned in to watching him in his many roles. While there are other people on stage, this is essentially a one man show. In telling the story of Australia's legendary indigenous landscape painter Albert Namatjira, Jamieson is the story teller, Namatjira's father, Namatjira as child and adult, his artistic mentor Rex Batterbee, assorted German missionaries and Lutheran pastors.

I grew up in a house that had a print of a Namatjira landscape painting hanging in the lounge room. As a kiddie, I didn't know it was a Namatirja or understand its importance but it did leave a significant footprint on my thinking of Australian landscapes and what they should look like. The Albert Namatjira story is a big one. Born in the bush at the beginning of last century, he and his family lived with German missionaries at Hermannsburg near Alice Springs. He meets up with Rex Batterbee, a veteran of World War One who teaches him the craft of landscape painting. Slowly, Namatjira's unique take on the desert landscapes of his upbringing finds some buyers. A trickle of accolades soon turns into a flood and before too long, Namatjira is a celebrity making a lot of money, much to the liking of the 600 or so members of his community.

The stage set is simple but striking. The backdrop is a massive black and white Namatjira landscape canvas that is continually added to during the show by two of Namatjira's granddaughters. An artist sketches Namatjira on stage while a violinist adds some twists to the audio tapestry. Jamieson tells the story by adopting the many roles like he has multi personalities. He sings, he dances, he speaks broken German, tells jokes. Jamieson and actor Derik Lynch, who assumes miscellaneous acting roles including Namatjira's wife and Queen Elizabeth, have a spark that is summed up by their duet singing 'Can't Get Enough Of Your Love Baby'. The two amusingly revert to being themselves occasionally on stage which had me and the audience smiling ear to ear.

Writer Scott Rankin and his Big hART production crew have created a marvellous homage to one of Australia's most important artistic figures, but it the performance of Jamieson that impresses, he's close to perfect for the role. I left Namatjira liking and admiring both the actor and the man he's portraying and I'll wonder no more about that Australian landscape painting that once hung on the family lounge room wall.

Namatjira begins its current 15 week tour this week at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre where its showing until Saturday 25th February.

Prices: Adult $56, Australian Pensioner & Senior $49, 30&U $42, F/T Student & Child U16 $35, Groups of 8 $45.

#theatre
#shows
#west
#parramatta
!date 23/02/2012 -- 25/02/2012
%wnsydney
216747 - 2023-06-16 07:29:01

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