La Boheme. Directed by Dean Bryant. Revival director Warwick Doddrell.Conducted by Simon Bruckard. Opera Australia. Canberra Theatre. July 17-19. Reviewed by Alanna Maclean.

Rodolpho and Mimi  in  La Bohème, National Tour, 2024.  Photo Jeff Busby

This is a lavish-looking La Boheme considering it is an economical touring production.

It is possible to get lost in the snow and the magnificence of Paris in some stagings but this version makes sure it has a focus on the domestic poverty of its starving students and artists, even if the time seems to have been shifted from the nineteenth century to the 1970s.

This means Rodolpho (John Longmuir)  is using a typewriter to grind out his play, the pages of which unfortunately have to be sacrificed to the stove in order to keep the freezing students warm. Then in comes Mimi, (Danita Weatherstone) the seamstress and lover of beautiful flowers, looking for a light for her candle and the love story takes off. 

There’s a parallel love going between gruff artist Marcello (Andrew Williams) and the flamboyant Musetta (Cathy-Di Zhang) who is fond of flaunting her other relationships in his face. 

(There’s dual casting with the other Mimi being Maia Andrews, Nick Kirkup Rodolpho, Sarah Prestwidge Musetta and Benjamin Del Borrello Marcello.)

Of course it all comes apart and poverty and tuberculosis take Mimi in a tightly observed and moving conclusion. 

The whole thing is very well sung and acted right down to the cheerful children’s chorus at Cafe Momus and a small pit orchestra under conductor Simon Bruckard keeps the score warm, lively and, when needed, properly full of feeling.

Set and costumes by Isobel Hudson are atmospheric with particular use being made of two huge and dramatic drapes, augmented by Damien Cooper’s rich lighting. 

And in case we don’t know the plot, surtitles keep those of us not fluent in Italian well and truly on track.

There might be grander and bigger Bohemes around, but this miniature  one has soul. 

 

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Salut! Baroque

Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest July 18

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Celebrating 30 years of the best of baroque music, Canberra group Salut! baroque’s latest program celebrated one of the baroque period’s star composers, Georg Philipp Telemann.

The most famous composer in Germany in his day, Telemann composed over 3,000 compositions that demonstrated an uncanny sense of popular musical trends. Skilled on eleven instruments, he also absorbed and incorporated music from throughout Europe and boasted that he could compose in the Italian, French, English, Scottish and Polish styles. He was a brilliant promoter of his own publications, amassing hundreds of subscribers – quite the entrepreneur!

Ten outstanding musicians playing baroque instruments – recorder, flute, violin, cello, double bass, theorbo and harpsichord – presented a large program of works by Telemann and his contemporaries including Handel, C.P.E. Bach, Buffardin, Rameau, Corelli and Roman.

Performers' list from the program

There’s usually a refreshingly different angle to Salut! baroque’s concerts and for this one, Telemann himself resplendent in full costume and wig appeared and offered witty and wise narration for the various works played. He even sang one of his own compositions, an aria from the “cantata for an artistically skilled canary whose death brought the greatest sorrow to his owner”. He even brought the dead canary in a cage as evidence as well as the cat. Canberra actor and singer, Colin Milner, gave a delightful performance as Telemann.

Colin Milner (centre) with Salut! Baroque musicians

Four works by Telemann were played, showing his skill at composing in different styles. The French inspired work, Modéré from Paris Quartet in E Minor, with its beautiful, wistful melodies played superbly by Sally Walker on flute, was one of the highlights of the concert.

Other highlights in this memorable concert included C.P. E. Bach’s Allegretto from Symphony in B minor, Buffardin’s Allegro con molto from Concert in E minor and Corelli’s Concerto Grosso Op. 6 no. 8 Christmas Concerto.

 

Photo by Len Power

 

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 19 July 2025.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

  

You Cannot Trust an Open Sky

Visual Art Exhibition Review | Brian Rope

You Cannot Trust an Open Sky | Hilary Wardhaugh (and featuring Tarek Bakri)

ANCA Gallery | 16 July to 3 August 2025

This exhibition is a body of work responding to what the International Court of Justice has called a ‘plausible genocide’ of the people of Palestine.

Ever since hearing Hilary Wardhaugh proclaim, to laughter, when opening her 2024 exhibition, Monachopsis, it was the start of her new career as an artist, I have watched her take numerous steps along that path. She was named 2024 Canberra City News Artist of the Year, Canberra Critics Circle judges having noted her provocative, innovative and creative art endeavours. And this year alone, she has been named as a finalist in several major Prize events. 

Wardhaugh actually considers herself an artist, activist/provocateur, volunteer and creator of community, saying her creative endeavours bring people together in the pursuit of a better world, and she pursues topical and creative projects to highlight issues. This exhibition certainly highlights a current issue.

The works includes documentary photography, analogue and digitised lumen prints, and film photography made between November 2023 and the end of 2024. The artist was inspired by Maranasati meditation - reflecting on mortality to foster appreciation and mindfulness in daily life. That inspiration led to her visualising responses to, and contemplating on, the nature of death. Using meticulous stencil work, multiple lumen prints (also known as solar photograms) were made. This hands-on, slow, and organic photo-making process helped Wardhaugh with challenges she faced when scrolling reports of the conflict on her phone and via mainstream media.

Amongst the works is one collaborative piece. Two framed inkjet prints of night sky photographs – one above Canberra by Wardhaugh and one above Jerusalem by Tarek Bakri – are presented as a diptych. There is considerable similarity in the two prints. Together they invite reflection about experiencing life in a situation of occupation and fear.

Bakri is a Palestinian-born researcher based in Jerusalem. Moved by the nostalgia and emotion held by many Palestinians for their former homes, he developed the idea of documenting their personal stories and displaced Palestinian villages using visual documentation.  An ongoing project “We Were and Still Are... Here” began. He received the 2018 Jerusalem Award for Culture and Creativity and has held exhibitions and seminars in Palestine, the Arab World, and Europe. He believes that memory is identity and an undeniable human right.

Hilary Wardhaugh & Tarek Bakri, You Cannot Trust An Open Sky, 2025

Another work is a set of four metallic prints on woodblock of the colours of the Palestine flag. Wardhaugh is not the first artist to portray these “forbidden colours.” In 1988, Felix Gonzalez-Torres did so; during another period of continuous destruction of Palestine, artists were tested, even forbidden. This work, like his then, envisages a canvas of repair and emphasises colour attuned to light as possibility, urging solidarity with those affected by loss and war. 

Hilary Wardhaugh, Forbidden Colours, 2024, four metallic prints on woodblock, 50 x 180cm overall 

A number of artworks make use of dots. A suite of 5 inkjet prints portrays the ever-diminishing land for Palestinians in Gaza. As with the Forbidden Colours piece, it uses the watermelon symbol of Palestinian unity. Each watermelon slice has fewer dots than the previous one. Another piece, based on an aerial map of Gaza, illustrates the destruction. Dots mark the obliterated areas, providing a deeply felt record of loss.

Hilary Wardhaugh, Gaza Stripped, 2024, framed inkjet print, 59 x 42cm

Another most striking work comprises a suite of 16 inkjet prints of photographs of empty bowls on a digitised lumen of a keffiyeh (traditional headdress worn by men), suspended above the smashed pieces of those bowls. It symbolises the futility of seeking food to honour the Eid religious holiday, celebrated by Muslims worldwide to mark the end of Ramadan. The distinctly patterned black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh symbolises nationalism and resistance.

Hilary Wardhaugh, Empty Eid Aid, 2024, inkjet prints and ceramics, 240 x 240 x 100cm

Wardhaugh hopes the artworks create some shared understanding and influence public opinion. I have no doubt they will.

This review has also been published on the author's blog here.

LA BOHEME

 

La Boheme. 

Composed by Giacomo Puccini. Librettists Guiseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. Conductor Simon Bruckard. Director Dean Bryant. Set and costume designer Isabel Hudson. Lighting designer Damien Cooper. Revival director Warwick Doddrell. Intimacy coordinator Chloe Dallimore AM.  Opera Australia. National Tour 2025. Canberra Theatre. Canberra Theatre Centre. July 17-19 2025. Bookings: 62752700 or canberratheatrecentre,com.au.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

The cast of La Boheme at Momus Cafe

Opera Australia returns in triumph to the Canberra Theatre with a fresh and luminescent production of Giacomo Puccini’s much loved La Boheme. This national touring production accompanied by a brilliant touring orchestra breathes new life into Puccini’s opera about the lives and loves of a group of Bohemians in nineteenth century Paris. Director Dean Bryant has updated the opera to the Nineteen Seventies in a production full of flair and vitality.  Puccini’s score transports the audience from the lyrical melodies of love in bloom to the anguish of loss and grief. Director Bryant, conductor Simon Bruckard   and an outstanding cast  take the audience on a roller-coaster ride of emotions as we become engrossed in the fateful love affair of struggling writer Rodolfo (John Longmuir) and  consumption stricken Mimi (Danita Weatherstone )

Performed in Italian with English surtitles, La Boheme opens in the apartment of a group of struggling artists, trying to stay warm and keep up the rent demanded by landlord Benoit (Eugene Raggio) Musician Shaunard (Michael Lampard) has come in to some money and the comrades decide to celebrate at the Left bank café Momus. Rodolfo remains behind to finish writing when a knock at the door reveals his neighbor Mimi, who has come to get a light for her candle (Some willing suspension of disbelief is needed for an opera set in the Seventies, but it is the catalyst for a far more dynamic and potentially tragic tale) It is a tale of love at first sight, plagued at times by the trials of true love and Mimi’s persistent cough, an omen of things to come.

Danita Weatherstone is Mimi in La Boheme

Set against Isobel Hudson’s elegantly contrasting design of a vast flowing illustrated  backdrop and changing stage furniture and settings to depict location, the four acts grip the attention and capture the charm and the drama of Puccini’s score and  Guiseppi Giacosa and Luigi Illica’s libretto.  Bryant’s masterful direction breathes fresh life into the 130 year old opera. The performance is full of magic moments of love, merriment and powerful drama.  Bryant masterly draws out strong performances from his cast, ensuring a believability in the character’s predicament and the riveted engagement of the audience. He is wonderfully supported by conductor Bruckard and the members of the touring orchestra who, under Bruckard’s baton perfectly capture the nuances and heightening passions of Puccini’s score. What Opera Australia has achieved with this touring production is a La Boheme that reaches out to the people with a production that could do Opera Australia’s La Boheme proud on any world stage.

Opera Australia is touring a double cast. On one night each role is taken by a singer who on the following night then doubles as a member of the chorus, while the singer playing a chorus member then plays one of the principal characters.  This review is of the opening night when the roles were played by the singers mentioned, for example Longmuir as Rodolfo and Weatherstone as Mimi. 

The singers on opening night attest to the world class talent of Opera Australia’s cast of La Boheme. Longmuir with his powerfully soaring tenor voice is mesmerizing as Mimi’s lover Rodolfo. He expertly charts the demands of artistic bravura, emotional conflict, passionate love and desperate anguish with a voice that transports the audience through his character’s lovestruck and tortured journey. As his soulmate in song, Weatherstone’s Mimi captures our hearts with her fragility, innocence and purity of her soprano rendition of Mimi’s tragic romance. She is the tragic heroine, destined to be denied the happiness that her friend Musetta (Cathy Di-Zhang) says that she deserves. Weatherstone and Longmuir are Puccini’s star-crossed lovers and they deliver performances that would move the Gods to tears.

 

Danita Weatherstone (Mimi), John Longmuir (Rodolfo)

Each performance is worthy of mention in this production. Andrew Williams’s rich baritone rendition of the painter Marcello and lover of Musetta and companion of Rodolfo charts the tempestuous waters of his love for Musetta. Di-Zhang is utterly bewitching as the flighty singer and actress Musetta. Her trickery, playfulness  and deception in Momus is sensitively contrasted with her deep concern for Mimi in the final scene. There are fine performances in the lesser roles of Shaunard (baritone Michael Lampard), philosopher Colline (bass Kiran Rajasingam) and bass Eugene Raggio as the landlord Benoit and Alcindoro the State councilor, duped by Musetta,. There is a charming  rendition of the Christmas chorus by the toymaker (Nick Kirkup) and the delightfully sung children’s chorus.

A touring production may inevitably face the challenges of performing in different venues but this was hardly evident on opening night at the Canberra Theatre. Danien Cooper’s lighting design evoked the emotional shifts of the opera and combined with Hudson’s imaginative design to create a visually stimulating response to this aesthetically designed and directed production of Puccini’s popular and much loved opera. All in all it made for a thoroughly entertaining and moving evening at the opera. Opera Australia’s opening night at the Canberra Theatre presented a La Boheme to love and remember. There are only two performances remaining and this is a Puccini favourite not to be missed. 

 

Photos by Jeff Busby 

 

 

EEugene Raggio as Alcindro with
Cathy-Di Zhang as Musetta in La Boheme

La Bohème

 

La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini.  Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa & Luigi Illica.

Opera Australia at Canberra Theatre Centre. July 17-19 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
July 17

Creatives
    Director: Dean Bryant
    Revival Director: Warwick Doderell
    Set & Costume Designer: Isabel Hudson
    Lighting Designer: Damien Cooper
    Children’s Chorus Master: Stephanie Arnold
    Conductor: Simon Bruckard
    Language: Italian with English surtitles
    Setting: modern

Cast
Rodolfo – John Longmuir; Mimi – Danita Weatherstone
Marcello – Andrew Williams; Musetta – Cathy-Di Zhang
Schaunard – Kiran Rajasingam / Michael Lampard
Benoit & Alcindoro – Eugene Raggio; Colline – Eddie Muliaumaseali’i
Parpignol & Chorus – Nick Kirkup; Chorus – Maia Andrews; Sarah Prestwidge Alexander Selton; Benjamin Del Borrell 

La Bohème is a morality play designed to teach a lesson to young men about how to treat young women properly.  Such  a story is inevitably at risk of confronting the listener with injunctions they would prefer to ignore.

Presenting this play as an opera risks creating an overblown sense of its own importance.  This is one reason I have never been a dedicated opera buff.

This production of La Bohème by Opera Australia knows the risks and how to win the moral and theatrical day. Puccini and his librettists are hard task-masters musically and dramatically.  Dean Bryant and the whole team get everything right.

The measure of their success is how they made the change over interval.  The first half is often light-hearted, even comical as the four young men play out their natural fascination with the beauty of Mimi and Musetta – though also revealing their sexist attitudes.  It even seems, for example, that Mimi is not as sick as she pretends to be when she first approaches her next door neighbour, Rodolfo, and can’t find her key to return to her rooms.

The risk is that the shift to being, literally, deadly serious in the second half may not be believable.  But Danita Weatherstone, our Mimi last night, captured our feelings immediately, as she asked a policeman about Rodolfo’s whereabouts to begin Act Two.  Of course, the music – instrumental and voice – help, but it is the acting by all the cast which made her death real to us– from consumption, or tuberculosis, which was increasingly common when the opera was first performed in the 1890s.

Our sense of that reality, 135 years later, lifts our understanding of Puccini’s team’s purpose.  Just as we see happening in our ‘social media’ times, those male ‘conventions’ about women as, to quote, ‘witches’, have to change in the face of reality.

Even if they are, as these young men claim to be, bohemian artists – so self-important.  

This production, by successfully creating true empathy in us, as these characters realise the error of their youthful ways, shifts from being almost a caricature of artists in Act One to making us understand the quality and sincerity of the performances, on stage and in the pit, of these theatrical artists – men, women and even children.

A production not to be missed.

La Bohème Act One
Opera Australia, Canberra Theatre 2025

 

La Bohème Act Two
Opera Australia, Canberra 2025

 

 

 

LA BOHEME

 

Directed by Dean Bryant

Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

Music by Giacomo Puccini

Opera Australia

Conducted by Simon Bruckard

Canberra Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre to 19 July

 

Reviewed by Len Power 17 July 2025

 

‘La Boheme’, has achieved a much-deserved iconic status these days. This tale of the soaring spirit of young love, told with the stirring music of Giacomo Puccini, never fails to affect the emotions of audiences.

First produced in 1896 in Turin, Italy, it has become part of the standard repertoire of opera companies world-wide. Set in Paris, but with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, it tells of a group of bohemians living in Paris. Rodolfo and Mimí meet and fall in love, but their time together will be brief, due to Mimí’s increasing illness.

Directed by Dean Bryant, this Opera Australia touring production had an economical, but effective touring set and colourful contemporary costumes designed by Isabel Hudson. The onstage action and scene changes were deftly handled by the director, Dean Bryant, who also achieved a nice depth in the characterisations of the main characters.

The camaraderie of the four young men sharing the garret in Paris was particularly well-performed. At the opening night performance, they were played by Michael Lampard as Schaunard, Kiran Rajasingam as Colline, Andrew Williams as Marcello and John Longmuir as Rodolfo.

Act 2 of 'La Boheme'

Mimí was given an appealing performance by Danita Weatherstone. The growing love between Mimí and Rodolfo was realistic as well as touching. Both performers sang Puccini’s music with precision and a fine level of emotion. Their arias and duet in the first act were particularly well sung.

Cathy-Di Zhang (Musetta)

As Musetta, Marcello’s former love, Cathy-Di Zhang gave the role an initial sexy playfulness and showed the real depth of her character in later scenes with Marcello and the final scene in the garret. She sang this colourful role very well.

Michael Lampard as Schaunard and Andrew Williams as Marcello sang and played their roles very well and Kiran Rajasingham as Colline gave a nice performance of the ‘Old Coat’ aria.

The orchestra, conducted by Simon Bruckard, gave the beautiful score a sensitive performance.

This much-loved opera was beautifully sung and performed very well by the entire cast. There would not have been a dry eye in the theatre by the end.

 

Photos by Jeff Busby

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

 

L'ESPRIT DE PARIS - Luna Bar. Canberra.

Kate James - Laura Rose - Laura Clee - Sarah Tarleton (obscured) perform "Je Suis Belle"

L’ESPRIT DE PARIS - Luna Bar, Canberra.

Produced and presented by Kix Arts Productions

Choreography, costume and lighting design by Amy Orman and Kym Degenhart.

Luna Bar – Canberra - July 13^th 2025. Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

Luna Bar celebrated Bastille Day in style with an extravagant French style cabaret, “L’esprit de Paris”, created especially for the occasion by Canberra-based creative company Kix Arts Productions.

On arrival at Luna, guests found themselves immediately transported into the atmosphere of a glamorous Parisian nightclub when greeted by the sounds of accordionist, Andrew Purdam, and welcomed by spectacularly be-jewelled and be-feathered showgirls strutting and posing among the banquettes and tables of Luna’s elegant décor.

But this was only the start of the evening. After selecting from a range of creative cocktails and sampling dishes from the appealing menu, the event commenced and the significance of the title,” L’esprit de Paris”, became clear.   

As The Marseillaise played, the lights dimmed and three showgirls—one costumed in red, one in white, and one in blue—appeared on stage. Amy Orman, who also served as the compère, performed Cole Porter’s I Love Paris, followed by nine dancers in red who presented a version of Porter’s C’est Magnifique, marking the start of the show.

“L’esprit de Paris” was created by Kix Art’s Artistic Manager, Kym Degenhart, and Creative Director, Amy Orman, who together choreographed most of the show. The production featured a series of lavishly costumed items performed by twelve dancers and showgirls, along with guest appearances by comedy juggler Graeme Fennamore and male vocalist Charlie Reed.

High Kix dancers performing the Can-Can during "L'esprit de Paris"

The show featured numerous highlights. Notable performances included the Zou Bisou Bisou routine, choreographed by Amy Orman and performed by Zoe Tuckfield, Emily Bell, Alisha Mohapp, Milly Norris, Lilly Monterosse, and Sarah Tarleton, and the energetic Can-Can, choreographed by Kym Degenhart and performed with panache by Emily Bell, Shakiralea Healy, Alisha Mohapp, Milly Norris, Rosanna Curtotti, and Kate James.

Kym Degenhart is a distinguished former dancer and Can-Can soloist at the renowned Bal du Moulin Rouge in Paris. She has also served as Principal Dancer and Dance Captain for Dance Encore Productions in Tokyo and is the award-winning proprietor of Bom Funk Dance Studio in Queanbeyan.

An honours graduate of the Chicago College of Performing Arts, Amy Orman spent three seasons as a singer with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in New York. She’s performed in a slew of award-winning productions including “Smokey Joes Café”, “Merrily We Roll Along”, multiple productions of “42^nd Street”, and recently dazzled local audiences with her performance as Charity Hope Valentine in Free Rain Theatre’s production of “Sweet Charity”.

Orman and Degenhart have joined forces to broaden the creative vision of Kix Arts Productions, which already has a creative partnership with Luna Bar for which it provides weekly Saturday performances.

High Kix dancers during "L'esprit de Paris"

The recent acquisition of a collection of iconic costumes from Bruce and Lesley Scott’s DanceEncore Productions, some of which are original pieces from Paris and others worn by Degenhart herself during her professional showgirl career working for DanceEncore in Japan, has opened up unique and exciting possibilities for Kix Arts and Degenhart’s burning ambition to advance the art of the showgirl as well as provide opportunities for paid employment for professional and emerging artists in Canberra.

On the strength of this production, Canberra can look forward to more exciting high-quality presentations from Kix Arts.

                                                   Photos by Luke Broadhurst. 

This is a slightly updated version of the review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS 

                                                          on 14th July 2025.

 

BIG NAME, NO BLANKETS

 

 

Big Name No Blankets by Andrea James. 

Co-directed by Dr. Rachel Maza AM and Anyupa Butcher. Music Director Gary Watling Cinematographer & Sound Designer James Henry Sound Arrangements and Composition Crystal Butcher Sound Arrangements and Composition Mentor David Bridie Set Designer Emily Barrie Lighting Designer Jenny Hector Costume Designer Heidi Brooks Video Content Designer Sean Bacon Animation Patricia McKean and Guck Core Band Gary Watling, Jason Butcher, Jeremiah Butcher, Malcom Beveridge Performers Baykali Ganambarr (Sammy) Googoorewon Knox (George) Teangi Knox (Gordon & drum)s) Aaron McGrath (Brian & Ensemble) Jackson Peele (Neil) Cassandra Williams (Suzin)  Ilbijerri Theatre Company. Canberra Theatre. Canberra Theatre Centre. July 10-12. Bookings: 62752700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Sheer joyfulness is the only way to describe Ilbijerra Theatre Company’s rollicking and uplifting production of Big Names No Blankets. And what a fantastic celebration of Naidoc Week. Big Name, No Blankets is a tribute rock musical to the late Warumpi Band founder Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher. As a salute to the name of the band’s first album Big Names No Blankets is big, blak, proud and strong. Ninety minutes of exhilaration track the origins of Warumpi Band from the Dreaming of the Honey Ant of the Red Desert to the towns of the bush, the city and eventually the world. From the very opening welcome to country it is obvious that this show is a statement from the heart, sincere, truthful and spoken with the voice of reconciliation. Rock and gospel, folk and ballad sing the praises of My Island Home, affirm the struggle in  We Gotta Be Strong and cry out for unity and tolerance in Blackfella/Whitefella.. Warumpi sounds the clarion call of hope and of a better future for generations to come. 

Baykali Ganambarr as Sammy Butxcher

The show tells the story of Warumpi Band’s journey from when Sammy (played with appealing engagement by Baykali Ganambarr) accidentally tripped over a guitar on the ground to the band’s emergence as Australia’s foremost iconic indigenous band, singing proudly in the Lurritja Yolgnu Matha languages of the Central Desert. It is a story told in the spirit of childlike joy and laughter by a company of favbulous performers and musicians. Central to the explosive impact of the production is the charismatic performance of  as the lead singer, George (Googoorewon Knox). He has the audience standing and stomping to the rock rhythm of his song including a celebration of identity and power in Stand Up And Be Counted. The auditorium pulsed with the power of total liberation. Brothers and sisters were united in the spirit of compatriotism..

From the forceful rhythm of rock ‘n roll to the soulful melody of the ballad sung by the band’s whitefella Neil (Jackson Peele) Warumpi’s legacy remains as potent as when Sammy Butcher gathered his self taught musicians together to sing the celebration of country. And it is country that brings them home, to the spirit of a land that nurtures and teaches them the culture of their identity.

Googoorewon Knox as George

Big Name, No Blankets is not merely a Blackfella’s Rock ‘n Roll Musical. It is a moving and inspiring example of simple and engaging storytelling. Writer Andrea James has written a story that combines the electricity of rock and roll with the gentle truths of folk and has imbued Big Name No Blankets with humour, protest, loss and hope. Directors , Sammy Butcher’s daughter Anyupa Butcher and the legendary Bob Maza’s daughter Dr. Rachael Maza AM fuse their theatrical inventiveness with the deep understanding of their people, culture and identity. The charm, talent and message lift an audience to their feet in adulation and respect. A couple of rows in front of me a young woman’s body rocks and rolls with excited vigour as Knox romps across the stage in a possessed display of Jagger, Hutchence and Garret exultation.

Big Name No Blanket is a triumphant celebration of what it is to be from the land of the honey ant within sight of the hill they name Warumpi. If theatre has the power to open eyes, touch the heart and change the world, then Big Name No Blanket’s tribute to Sammy Butcher and the original members of the trailblazing Warumpi Band will lift your spirits in a night of full forced music, storytelling and entertainment.