Exploration of troubled life of Henry Lawson

The Patonga Progress Hall will be one of the first venues to host On The Track, a musical and theatrical exploration of the troubled life behind the genius of Henry Lawson.

Lawson's work was instrumental in shaping the Australian character but most Australians do not know much at all about his life.

Musician Mark Tainsh spent three years writing the music and narration that go together with Lawson's words to form On The Track, a treatment of Lawson's life from age 14 until his death.

Patonga resident Mark Austin will be narrator and will play snippets from about 10 different Lawson characters throughout the performance.

"It is kind of a musical and a play reading,' Mr Austin said.

"I will start to tell a story and that will give the audience an idea of the part of Lawson's life it is set in and that will move into a song," he said.

The performance consists of 15 songs all using Lawson's lyrics except for one Tainsh wrote and another he arranged based on the short story of the Drover's Wife.

Mark Tainsh said Lawson's poetry was perfect to be set to music and every folk musician would "have a go" at doing just that.

Lawson's disciplined meter provided a challenge for folk musicians who tended to like a bit of lyrical irregularity "to give you the freedom to change things" Mr Tainsh said.

"The music is mostly folk but my son, Myles, who wrote the music with me is a classical guitarist and has done a jazz CD too so there are different genres but it is mostly folk," he said.

The play has been performed once only, in the Blue Mountains earlier this year, and Mr Tainsh has been invited to Grenfell next year to perform the work as part of the Henry Lawson Festival, which will mark the 15oth anniversary of Lawson's birth.

"Lawson's was an important life because it took place around the Federation and all the politics were swilling around at that time," Mr Tainsh said.

The rivalry between Lawson and Banjo Patterson about their views of life in the bush is also captured.

"There's not a lot of fuss, no lighting changes or set changes. It is pretty well done in a space," Mr Austin said.

The play captures Lawson in conversation with his mother, trekking through the desert, in the company of his old drunkard mates.

Other scenes portray Henry Lawson's attempted suicide and his incarceration for failing to pay child support.

"I was probably like about nine out of 10 Australians before I started reading Mark Tainsh's script; I knew Lawson was one of our great poets but I didn't know anything about his life and it was a tragic life," Mr Austin said.

"He was deaf at 14, dyslexic, a total alcoholic and yet he wrote some of the greatest words in Australian history.

"Not many people know that Henry Lawson died a pauper even though he was granted a Commonwealth Funeral.

"It will make for a nice night's entertainment and the best part of the whole thing is the music."

Mark Tainsh, his son Myles and daughter Lucia will perform the songs at Patonga as part of The Mountain Push band.

"We have two guitars, a whistle, a flute and a cellist that plays banjo," Mr Tainsh said.

Tickets are $25 for the performance at Patonga Progress Hall on Saturday, December 10, and are available through lawsonpatonga.eventbrite.com.au

Interviews, 24 Nov 2016

Mark Austin, Patonga

Mark Tainsh, Sydney