Andrew McKenna
Hi there
I’m looking forward to coming to the Scotch Literature Festival. I may be doing something different from many of the authors - I’m not a book author, but a performer. I write a lot of my own material, and the show I’m performing at Scotch is called Cry in the Wilderness. It’s a true story from Australia’s past, set in Ireland and Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), and is about a convict named Alexander Pearce who was transported from Armagh in Ireland for stealing six pairs of shoes in 1819.
Pearce was sent to Macquarie Harbour, a labour camp for the hard cases, after he escaped from Port Arthur twice, and if Port Arthur was tough, then Macquarie Harbour (on Tassie’s west coast) was murder. I won’t give the story away, but he escaped again with some others, and pretty quickly they ran out of food. They tried to walk back to Hobart Town, a journey modern bushwalkers have found excruciating even with Goretex jackets and down sleeping bags. Hungry and lost in the wilderness, these city boys from the British isles made a terrible choice.
While the story is a little known one from Australia’s past, I think there are some strong themes for you guys to grapple with. Can you stand up against the crowd? Are you big enough to cop the consequences of your own actions? Do you always have to pay for a bad decision and for the wrong things you do? And what of forgiveness?
I don’t want to give you the answers, and there may be no single right answer anyway, but those are some of the questions you could think about. It’s a creepy story, but don’t forget, it’s true. I wrote it in part using some of Pearce’s confessions, and where there were blanks and inconsistencies I made a few things up - only small details, though!
I performed this show in 2007 in Armagh, Pearce’s home town in Northern Ireland. I asked someone afterwards if I got the accent right and he replied: “You speak it better than we do!”
Hope you enjoy it, I do.
Cheers,
Andrew
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August 7th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Forgiveness doesn’t have much to do with the person who did us wrong. It’s a gift we give ourselves - when we forgive somebody it releases us from the pain they caused us, without condoning what they did. Hmmm, that’s all very serious - I’m sure Andrew’s peformance will be more fun!
August 7th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Hi Andrew. I’m looking forward to listening to you next week. I think you should only be forgived if you know you have done the wrong thing, and if you do do the wrong thing, you usually have to pay for it. See you nezt week, Joseph.
August 7th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I don’t think you can stand up against the crowd, but you can persuade the crowd to see your point of view. If you do that, you are not standing up to the crowd, you are making them your crowd, people who will follow you.
August 7th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
There is normally a reason the crowd goes one way. These are verry interesting questions to think about. The crowd goes with the wind. make your choises on the facts of the two sides(or more). The last person to give you forgivness is often yourself.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Is there anything you want me to mention when I introduce you on Tuesday?
August 13th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Andrew’s performance was incredible, a once in a life time experience in my opinion. It leapt pass what I was expecting. It contained fabulous acting that really made you feel a part of the show (at one stage I actually was, when Andrew pretended to kill me and then decapitate me). For anyone intrested in history, I would throughly reccomend them to see this show, as it not only entertains them during the act, yet it continues to entertain them for days to come. Andrew is able to transform a simple large stick, into numerous other objects, such as a gun and an axe. By doing this Andrew is able to captivate his audience. It’s obvious that Andrew is a great actor, his Irish accent is incredible and I honestly thought he was Irish until at the end he spoke in his real voice. A fantastic show that everyone should thourghly enjoy, a must see. Thank you Andrew.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Very cool. A bit weird but awsome
August 18th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Your performance wasn’t very good….
IT WAS GREAT!!!
I found the story very interesting and i found i was sucked in and i was inspired to make my own stories.
good joke about jack wood hahaha.
Used the music very well but sometimes it seemed that it didn’t link up with the story but still overall fantastic.