Jack Charles Reigns Supreme In His Personal Story Of Redemption

Jack Charles is not someone you'd describe as a conventional role model and yet his life experience and personal story of survival, tenacity and recovery could hardly speak more powerfully about the struggle and marginalisation of Indigenous people in contemporary Australia.

Credited with founding the first Aboriginal theatre company in the country, in the early '70s, Charles had a relatively fruitful creative early career, collaborating with directors and filmmakers up until the 1990s. However, from this heyday - a relative term, given that this probably equated to scratching out a hard-won wage as an actor, picking up work when and where he could - poverty, homelessness and drug addiction eventually decimated Charles' life. Amiel Courtin-Wilson's 2009 documentary Bastardy captured in harrowing detail a story mirrored by countless other dispossessed Aboriginal people around Australia. The film, which chronicled his life over seven years, begins with footage of Charles, already in his 60s, sleeping rough; the next scene cuts to him shooting up heroin. He slides the needle into his arm with an eerie, unflinching nonchalance. At this time in his life, drugs are "what a fella lives for" — it's almost impossible to imagine any resolution more hopeful than a morgue.

"I'd lived a life of fuckery and bastardry, plus I was a bastard and was told so as a child."

And yet, this film captured something irrepressible about Charles. In this dark, despairing place, his charismatic eloquence, rich, musical voice, and maverick spirit continued to shine through, revealing the showman spark that had always been there. "I'd lived a life of fuckery and bastardry, plus I was a bastard and was told so as a child. So that word - 'bastard' - had a big impact on my life. That's why it was the right name for the film," Charles explains with trademark candidness in his dusky, resonant tones. "It's still relevant now. It's a very important documentation of how powerless we were against the white powers at the time, but the truth is that Bastardy allowed me to be honest and upfront, even though I was heavily addicted, and to share my story."

Co-written with Australian playwright John Romeril in 2009 and premiered by Ilbijerri Theatre at the 2010 Melbourne Festival, Jack Charles V The Crown is both a staged response to Bastardy and the next step in the actor's rehabilitation. Charles is now clean of the "junk" but still has a criminal record for petty crimes committed during his years wrestling with addiction. The show connects his troubled past to his revived present, while also challenging a judicial system that prevents people moving on from past criminal offenses, told via Charles' own campaign to have his criminal record sealed.

"It's just one person's journey, but it's a person who Melbourne full well knows and they've seen the ups and downs of this story on stage and screen, in the theatre and in front of the camera. I am a known arbiter," Jack proudly exclaims. "It's a story that hits a sweet honey spot in the minds of many — gets 'em thinking." The tagline of Bastardy is simple and yet deeply profound: "Addict. Homosexual. Cat burglar. Actor. Aboriginal." It speaks to a complex, vibrant, damaged, imperfect yet unrelenting character who is so much more than an easily dismissed stereotype. Since those documentary days, Charles has toured the world performing on stage, and most recently appeared in the Wolf Creek TV spin-off and the hit drama series Cleverman. He is living proof that redemption is never impossible.

Ilbijerri Theatre Company presents Jack Charles v The Crown, 15 — 20 Nov at Arts Centre Melbourne