Lead by multi-award-winning director Kamarra Bell-Wykes, Lazarus is the extraordinary true story of Larry Walsh, Taungurung Elder, activist and storyteller, and is a heartfelt and vital work that speaks directly to the soul of this country.
For Bell-Wykes it was a project that she felt compelled to be involved with, holding significance for her on a deeply personal level.
“Uncle Larry Walsh and John Harding (playwright) are both living legends, renowned for their dedication to advocacy, justice, and self-determination for the Victorian First Nations community,” says Bell-Wykes.
“They are respected and revered role models, grass root heroes and reluctant leaders. They are fathers, uncles, brothers, sons, agitators, story tellers and rebel adventurers that possess larger than life presences and epic yarns. Both of these incredible men have been my own personal and professional mentors for many years, supporting my journey as a Blak woman and theatre maker. Their advice, encouragement and example have been invaluable inspirations and constant reminders to live in truth, power and purpose. Just being in the room with both of these icons at the same time is a life lesson in history, politics and comedy that will split your sides and blow your mind.”
Drawn directly from interviews with Walsh himself, the script is shaped by his own voice, memories and spirit, giving the work authenticity and emotional power. Bell-Wykes says Lazarus is a story of family, love, community, country, heartache and pain. A story of healing, forgiveness and transforming trauma into weapons of change. A story of Aboriginal people that White Australia again and again attempts to destroy, and that again and again Aboriginal people resist, survive and rise above.
“It is an emotional embodiment of the lived experience and trauma of The Stolen Generations and violent Government policies and systems that have torn apart families and lives, black and white.
Ultimately it is a coming-of-age story about a dispossessed boy and his journey to become a man and Elder.”
It is Bell-Wykes’ hope that the work assists in audience understanding of the true impact of “The Stolen Generations on a collective and personal level, and to appreciate what Uncle Larry endured and achieved in his work in environmental activism and reversing the criminal conviction legislation that was used to remove children from the parents.”
This is not a remount of the earlier presentation at Yirramboi Festival, but a completely new staging and interpretation created specifically for this season, and Bell-Wykes, one of Australia’s most respected First Nations theatre-makers, says staging Lazarus was an opportunity to bring this incredible biographical yarn to life, evolving the original Yirramboi staging to its most elevated form.
“Working with elements of the original design we reimagined the soundtrack and the form, utilising physical comedy and stylised naturalism to weave the eclectic tapestry of memoires, worlds and characters of Lazarus to life.
Through the audition process I was struck with the vision of casting three actors to play Lazarus across the generations; boy, man and Elder – to embody his full life span – exploring how the past and the present merge to become the full version. This also provided an opportunity to cast an all First Nations ensemble with the cast playing across multiple roles, both Blak and Non-Indigenous, to deliver a compelling performance both hilarious and heart wrenching.”
Brought into theatrical existence by acclaimed playwright John Harding Bell- Wykes says to witness the formal collaboration of Lazarus, with John Harding skilfully curating Uncle Larry’s life journey on the page, is nothing short of phenomenal. “John has captured the essence of Uncle Larry’s extraordinary and miraculous life journey across the generations from a child to a man, to a revered Elder.
The slapstick writing and form honours Blak humour. At the heart of our community’s survival and resistance is a trademark that myself, Johnny and Uncle Larry all share; the overriding compulsion to have a wicked laugh in the face of injustice, heart break, and trauma.”
Bell-Wykes says to be invited to direct such a significant work is a massive honour and responsibility and she will “endeavour to bring the magic, beauty and triumph that is Uncle Larry’s life and John’s craft onto the stage. The ensemble has a natural chemistry, and we have a lot of laughs, but also some really tough moments processing what Uncle Larry went through at such a young age.”
Leading dramaturge, director, award-winning performer and playwright, Bell-Wykes received the Patrick White Playwrights Award (Sydney Theatre Company) for her work Whose Gonna Love ‘Em? I am that i AM (Footscray Community Arts and ILBIJERRI) in 2021 and as a director she loves making new Blak work that explores experiences of marginalisation and the absurdity of the Colony.
Rich with evocative imagery and more than 20 characters performed by an exceptional cast, Lazarus is a powerful celebration of culture, resilience, and the unbreakable ties between mother and child, community and Country.
Says Bell-Wykes, “This is a vital piece of Australian history, a case study in survival and transformation, and just a cracking good yarn realised on the stage with humour and heart.”
May 21 – June 6
www.theatreworks.org.au/2026/lazarus
