Adrian Callinan and Kathleen Purcell met each other at a football game in Melbourne in 1946. Kathleen had several suitors lining up to woo her, but she fell for Adrian, a dashing flyboy just back from the war.

For their youngest son Damian Callinan, the discovery of his parents’ diaries after their deaths opened a new door into the story of their life together and a new opportunity to create a humorous one-man comedy theatre show that he performed at the Birchip Public Hall on Monday night.

The live theatre performance, funded by Regional Arts Victoria, began with a 1940s movie theatre experience with big band orchestras and newsreels leading the
audience into the first feature film showing on the big screen. The camera then weaved through the crowd at a packed 1940s town hall dance, in a hall that looked uncannily like Birchip’s.

However, just as the Birchip crowd met the heroine, and were wondering what they had come to see, the film came to an abrupt halt and Damian Callinan appeared dressed in a dapper ensemble, consisting of suspenders and a signature 1940s waxy combover and introduced himself as the curious son trying to piece together his parents’ past to make it into a movie.

Damian told the audience he had run out of funding to finish the film so he needed the audience to help him with his pitch to prospective funders.

Back in Time

With the help of the audience, Damien fleshed out potential scenes, exploring the social history of the time through visuals on the big screen of post-war Melbourne. He transported the crowd back to a time when tram bells chimed, milkmen delivered bottles to the doorstep, and women wore their Sunday best to double features at the Palais.

Damian invited the audience to participate in his droll digs at the Catholic Church and his revelations about facets of the “culture” including the Children of Mary, but having an ex-nun and her daughter in the audience was a humorous twist not even Damian could have predicted.  

Suitors

Contrasting with the religious theme, Damian projected a horse-racing tote board listing the names of the suitors in the “Kathleen Stakes”. Their names were substituted with horsey monikers such as Fly Boy, Fancy Jack and Beaut Jack, The Polish Count and Brown Nut Ron (a whole other story there!), Pressure Ron and Whatisname.  The odds were re-calculated as diary entries divulged various welcome or unwelcome actions by the suitors.

Now and again, the maternal voiceover of his mum warned Damian that it might be best not to include that bit in one of his shows – immediately after said entry had just been revealed.

To balance out the comical interpretations in the diary of his mum, the 19-year-old social butterfly Damian introduced a split narrative, reading wryly from his dad’s retirement diaries. The ex-school principal penned exceptional attention to detail of his daily life in retirement, including staff meetings with his mum, Probus Club excursions and daily entries like “who borrowed the mower”, “flow much improved after urethra procedure at clinic”, and “Mass only 15 minutes today as Father X had a chiropodist appointment”.

Various members of the younger Callinan generation made an appearance on screen as technical staff (make-up, art department etc) on the imagined and vastly under-funded film production: “It’s not child labour if they’re family”.

“Slide-show”

With the video footage, a photographic “slide-show” and humorous interjections from Damian’s perspective, the audience became immersed in the great love affair of his parents, which also meant they were left devasted when his dad ultimately backed over his mum and caused her death.

However, it doesn’t last long, as Damian shares his brother’s “economical” messages following both his parents’ death and then returns to the original 1946 diary. The final scene of the film plays out on the silver screen and finally, amidst very shortened odds, it is revealed that the dashing fly boy sweeps the Preston girl off her feet at a CYMS dance in East Brunswick.

The 60-minute performance had the audience laughing at myriad father-son imitations, innuendos of a promiscuous mother, quirky dancing, voiceovers and Catholicism jokes, but ultimately it showcased the undying connection we all have with our parents and siblings and at the end of the show, everyone had laughed, cried, and left the Birchip Public Hall feeling like they personally knew the Callinan clan.

The evening was hosted by the Birchip Neighbourhood House, and manager Simone Christie said, “We are very grateful to Damian for bringing his show to the regional areas, where we have limited access to live theatre; and, of course, Regional Arts Victoria, whose funding and support of the artists ensures this is possible.”

Simone also thanked everyone who attended, particularly those who travelled, as it is difficult to engage large audiences in regional areas, but equally important that people living in rural and regional communities have access to a diverse range of arts and culture and quality live performances without having to visit a capital city or larger metropolitan area.

Regional Arts Victoria and Birchip Neighbourhood House recognise the importance of enabling everyone, regardless of how far they may live from a major metropolitan centre, access to the very best Australia has to offer in the arts.

This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 20 October 2023.