Avoiding Hard Banjo Tunes

We saw Tim Maddren perform The Man From Snowy River at the Wagga Civic Theatre’s season launch late last year. The vigour and conviction of his interpretation, his magnetism and rich tenor voice totally engaged us. He could not have been a better advertisement for Banjo. His performance at the launch and a strong recommendation from a thespian friend clinched it and we booked. We saw the show this week. Their flyer describes Banjo as ‘a sweeping theatrical journey through ambition, legacy, mateship and identity (that) explores the tension between the bush and city, romance and reality…’

Our thespian friend did warn us that the dance segments could have been trimmed and a goodly proportion of the world’s popular music audience deems Coldplay whose music was interwoven with Paterson’s writings in this Got Ya Back production ‘inoffensive or overly earnest’. Prior to this I only knew Viva la Vida which is catchy nonsense. Whether that describes their entire repertoire I couldn’t say, but blending it with Paterson’s 19thC romanticisation of the bush is what Humphries from Yes Minister would consider ‘brave’.

Dear reader, you are probably sensing by now that I was not enthralled with Banjo. While purporting to both celebrate and critique Paterson, this production settles for sit com renderings of Henry Lawson’s (and others’) accusations of hypocrisy and inauthenticity and completely sidesteps any examination of the context in which he wrote i.e. rampant colonialism, indifference to Indigenous culture and history, the comforts of a middle class profession and  Gladesville home . The most cursory look at AB Paterson’s biog proves his stint as a pastoralist was brief. For the bulk of his career he worked as a lawyer and writer. So to dwell for as long as this production does on his father’s ill fortune farming in Illalong and its impact on Paterson’s psyche is something of an indulgence. His father’s words:

I toiled and toiled while lived the light

And dreamed of overdrafts at night 

are quoted in the program and used twice in the 90 minute performance. And

Banjo is a highly selective presentation of this revered poet’s life. Lead, Maddren and guitarist Mat Brooker never falter in their energy and enthusiasm. Musical styles are eclectic and pacey with Aboriginal rhythms invoked as well as Oklahoma-style barn dance tunes, folk music and of course Coldplay tunes all in the mix. Foot stomping is employed to a degree that made me fret for the potential impact on Tim and Mat’s podiatry and lumbar health. Bush balladeering is a male dominated genre but two works that gave dancer/choreographer Steph Maddren a chance to shine The Road to Gundagai and As Long As Your Eyes Are Blue were included.  Slight but droll describes the first, its geographical references went over very well with the Wagga audience; nauseatingly sentimental describes the second. Ensemble equity is the only explanation for these interludes. In fact the percentage of stage time given to uninspired dance sequences especially pas de deux between Steph and lean Bejae Ingate who seemed to be representing both the youthful Banjo and any fill in character required was excessive. The choreography was clichéd, channeling the Graham/Graemes, Martha and Murphy, with the addition of cringeworthy hip hop ‘moves’ a la Raygun. It didn’t help that there was little chemistry/synergy between Steph and Bejae.

Tim Maddren and Mat Brooker - Got Ya Back promotional poster for Banjo 

If the rendition of The Man From Snowy River was the standout, and Clancy of the Overflow was delivered with genuine warmth and affection, the performance of Waltzing Matilda was disappointingly muddled and filled with mugging and ‘business’ that robbed it of its melancholy power.  

Enough, I fear I have already offended an audience that seemed to be lapping Banjo up with a misbegotten nostalgia for a pastoral Australia based on confiscation of First Nations’ lands and an idealisation of the squatter’s tenacity and not altogether uncomplaining  stoicism in the face of the hardships of making a living on the land. I don’t mean to trivialize the courage and endurance it took and still takes to run a property or to downplay Riverina residents’ love for this part of the world. However exploring the ironies and complexities that informed the work of Australia’s bush poets and those inherent in AB Paterson’s writing would have produced a far richer theatrical experience.