Theatre & Dance

The true story of the ‘Greatest Showman’ is revealed in this First Nations-led cabaret.

THE STORY OF circus pioneer PT Barnum has been told recently on screen in The Greatest

Showman and on stage in the local production of Barnum. But while both had plenty of razzle-dazzle, neither touched on Barnum’s connection with Australia, nor the Aboriginal performers that paid with their lives for his promise of ‘entertainment’ to a curious audience during the 1800s. Rhoda Roberts, head of First Nations programming at the Sydney Opera House, hopes to reveal the reality that gets conveniently left out of Barnum stories in the world premiere of Natives Gone Wild, a cabaret fuelled by the fun and frivolity of burlesque and vaudeville but delivered with a sharp turn of political and social commentary.

“It’s a different night at the circus that has a little dark edge to it,” Roberts says. “But it’s celebratory; it certainly will have some debauchery in it.” Bringing together a cast of First Nations artists from Australia and across the Pacific, Natives Go Wild will bring to life a part of circus

history largely unknown. Barnum kidnapped Aboriginal people from Australia, across the Pacific and the world, taking them on the road to be the star attractions of his show The Ethnological Congress of

Strange Tribes. The show was a moneymaker for Barnum, with audiences of the time intrigued by attractions such as Tambo, a senior leader from Palm Island who was part of an act billed as ‘Aboriginal Cannibal Boomerang Throwers’. Tambo succumbed to pneumonia less than a year after leaving Australia; Barnum had his body embalmed and continued towheel him out.

The Natives Gone Wild cast features Niuean acrobat and aerial contortionist Josephine Mailisi, Maori star Mika Haka, Tongan-Australian performer and song-woman Seini F Taumoepeau, Mer Island dancer Waangenga Blanco, Rotuman musician and performer Samuela Taukave aka Skillz, and Mununjali circus artist Beau James. The performers are all representing their culture and reminding younger generations of those that came before. Beau James, for example, was involved in circus throughout the 1980s, and recently came out as transgender. Before coming out, James was possibly the only Aboriginal “strong woman”.

The show will also touch on the story of Lismore-born Aboriginal tightrope artist Con Colleano, known as the “Wizard of the Wire” or “Toreador of the Wire”. Colleano was one of the most celebrated and highest paid tightrope walkers, and the first to successfully perfect the forward somersault.

“Under the Protection Act at that time, and also the Aboriginal Protection Board, you couldn’t work independently. You had to work for the mission manager or be a domestic or whatever,” Roberts explains. “Colleano, who was the highest paid performer of his time in the circus, had the opportunity to get work and he travelled the world and became really famous, under the guise of being Spanish...

“There was lots of involvement from Aboriginal people in circus over the years, really since the commencement. And often people don’t know the stories, so we thought this is a great opportunity to have fun and enjoy a night at the theatre.” àSydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney 2000. 02 9250 7111. www.sydneyoperahouse.com. $39-$59. Oct 19-27.

Barnum kidnapped Aboriginal people and took them on the road