Looking For Lawson

The theatre has been beautifully lit and elegantly presented. Three performers are here to inhabit this 'Space' for an hour or so, paying tribute to a man who has left behind him a legacy of human observation, of emotional expression, of poems that have now become songs, due to the initiative of singer/composer/keyboardist John Thorn.

How fortunate for Cabaret Festival audiences that the creators of Looking for Lawson are so innately talented, and so emotionally attuned to the work of one of this nation's greatest poets. Emily Taheny, Lindsay Field, and John Thorn all deserve to take their bows with pride for what they have achieved here, interspersing succinct, compassionate narration with a mostly marvellous selection of Lawson's work, newly set to music, all beautifully presented in a cabaret idiom (but a distinctly Aussie one).

The achievement includes making gratifyingly clear how far the storytelling traditions of country music run back into history, thanks at least in part to such poets as Lawson. The musical accompaniment is certainly influenced at times by the sound of country ballads, but you should also be able to spot echoes from Kurt Weill to Les Mis, none of which feel clashing or incongruous in each other's company.

In the process of summarising the story of a life, the storyteller is duty bound to maintain good faith with their audience by adhering to the known facts and conveying them clearly. The twists of fortune and turns of fate cannot be invented; Henry Lawson could create from imagination or adapt from experience as he so desired, but a tribute show such as this can only present - and thoughtfully reflect on - a life's history and a life's work.

The potential difficulty here is that the life of Lawson would appear to have contained more than a fair share of unhappiness and injustice. This could have threatened to make Looking for Lawson an unhappy experience for its audience, but the cumulative power of his poetry combines with the generally first-class musicalisation to make a show that one ends up feeling very close to; a show that may even make you feel closer to knowing just what it can mean to be Australian, for better or worse.

While total perfection may not have quite been achieved here - the personal songs tend to resonate more strongly and powerfully than the overtly political ones, and a couple of tunes toward the end are undistinguished and underwhelming - anybody looking for high-quality cabaret need look no further than Looking for Lawson.

Anthony Vawser