Recently, Queensland Theatre brought MY NAME IS JIMI as far north as you can go (without falling into the ocean), touring the show to the Far North QLD communities of Umagico and Bamaga.
Jimi's second son, Peja Ahwang, joined the company in Dmitri's place for the two shows. He was well prepared by the family, knowing his lines and the blocking before they started rehearsal. A cheekier character on stage, with his own personality shining through. Peja couldn’t quite peg the sullen teen that Dmitri does so well, so he made the character his own. Focused and attentive, he was a fantastic addition to the show.
Umagico was the first performance - but a quick stop over on Thursday Island was needed to collect the cast (after all, you can't have MY NAME IS JIMI without Jimi).
The Umagico performance opened with a Welcome to Country and wonderful performances from the local NPA Dancers, and a performance from The Kayn Tithuy Seisia Dancers.
This was not your average theatre crowd! Due to the nature of the venue, a large part of the 300 strong crowd were constantly moving, chatting, playing tiggy, buying snacks and generally a little chaotic. The audience got so raucous that the crew was forced to push the performer's microphones to the limit.
Despite the noise the cast remained cool and focused - and the audience loved the show, interacting without hesitation and applauding thunderously at the end.
In Bamaga the show had a much larger audience, a crowd of over 600 people! And this time around the crew were prepared for the noise such an active crowd brings. The cast gave an excellent, high-energy performance at both venues. And once again an amazing response from the audience - laughing, crying, shouting and applauding!
In the words of the crew: "What an incredible experience. The community were so excited to have us there. We were visited by many kids over the nights leading up to the performances, asking questions about what we were doing and getting up close and personal with the set, props and tech to find out how it all worked. The response from everyone was overwhelmingly positive with many people saying it was the highlight of the festival. Big Eso to all who helped get us there."
