Chasing The Lolly Man Interview
Written by Cate Gilpin
Theatre In Preview
The journey of someone's life is often filled with hilarity, sadness, twists and turns. Mark Sheppard's experience as an Indigenous bloke growing up in Queensland is no exception.
His new one man show, ‘Chasing the Lolly Man’, shares these stories and experiences, many of which the audience will identify with but some that are unique to his own life.
“The title 'Chasing the Lolly Man' refers to a game that Mark used to play with his wider community up in Mareeba when he was growing up. They would all gather ‘round the night before the local picnic and sew lollies onto a hessian sack. The following day, the ‘Lolly Man’ would arrive wearing the sack, all the kids would chase after him and at the end they would all get a lolly bag. “Thematically this is symbolic of community and sharing and these are the themes that run through the show,” outlines co-deviser and director Liz Skitch.
“But we are really exploring urban Indigenous identity. You don't really see Indigenous people on TV, they're not represented in the media, which particularly affects you if you're like Mark and you're an actor. We're looking at general Indigenous representation in the wider community too, in politics and even travel shows.
“We're actually doing a piece called 'Queensland's best kept secrets' - Queensland missions! So it's quite subversive, quite cheeky but whilst we explore these weighty issues we are doing it in a very comic fashion so it's highly entertaining and a real joyride.”
Although funny and engaging, Liz and Mark have also worked hard to create a piece of theatre that is very honest.
“We had a creative development last year for five weeks which was held at the Kuril Dhagun centre - the Indigenous Knowledge Centre. We had Nadine McDonald come on board on as our dramaturge, she's been integral to the devising process.
“Being a work by an Indigenous performer, you need to ensure you are following cultural protocols. So Nadine was there to give us the nod or the two thumbs up whenever we were kind of toeing the line and also bringing certain research components to the piece. Ensuring that we acknowledge any Indigenous language that we use, any of that is really important when you're doing a new show like this.”
Despite being a solo show, the creation of Chasing the Lolly man has certainly been a team effort.
“It is a true collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous theatre makers and this is reflected in the collaboration between Mark and I, but also throughout the whole production team. So throughout the creative team we're ensuring that we've got a true collaboration taking place.”
Chasing the Lolly Man is playing at Metro Arts Thursday January 28 - Saturday February 13. Check out www.metroarts.com.au for more details.
