Was ned kelly gay
If, like me, you knew nothing much about Aussie folk hero Ned Kelly before watching this film – apart from the truth that Mick Jagger portrayed him in a 1970s biopic with a dodgy Irish accent – True History of the Kelly Gang will quit you confused and unenlightened.
What was it about this criminal outlaw that captured the Australian public’s imagination? Was he a kind of Robin Hood figure, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor? If so, Justin Kurtzel’s adaptation of Peter Carey’s eponymous Booker Prize-winning novel doesn’t show us any heroic wealth distribution. Instead we see a brutalised boy grow up to be a crazy criminal who is fond of wearing homemade armour and women’s dresses.
‘Nothing you’re about to see is true,’ warns the film’s narrator from the outset. If Carey’s version was ‘loosely based’ on Ned Kelly’s life, then Kurtzel’s film, which takes its control imaginative detours from the book (most colourfully, the proposal that Kelly was, perhaps, a male lover transvestite) means we are at least two removes from historical accuracy.
Does this matter? Only if the result is a confusing mess. True History of the Kelly Gang strives for artistic coherence but is on
Ellen Marning, Erin McIntosh, Monique Kerr and Sunny Youngsmith play the men who "put the bush in ranger" as they re-enact the gay retelling of the Kelly Gang. The four share delightful chemistry and are able to make these people their hold creation. Sian Dowler just about steals all the scenes they are in with a variety of supporting character roles, including a number of police officers and a diary, that allows them to display their remarkable comedic timing and skills.
At times, the story takes some radical creative liberties that results in nonsensical plot developments - a little gay man at the end of a rainbow requiring a magical golden dildo as a sacrifice for a want to be granted - and it doesn't always work in its favour. There's no denying that this is a entertaining show, and the scenes with the little gay man are laughter i
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There’s always been rumours about queer bushrangers. They say Captain Moonlite’s dying wish was to be buried beside fellow gang member, his beloved James Nesbitt. So despite the sensibilities of those who would deny it, queer has always been here, and Ned Kelly: the Big Gay Musical is testament to that view.
Written by Kaine, Ned Kelly: the Big Lgbtq+ Musical is a performative king extravaganza about Australia’s most loved bushrangers. With an original score, survive band The Glen Rowans (aka Apex Bloom – comprising Griffin McGookin, BJ Humphrey, Timothy O’Keefe) will acquire you jumping in your seats with its rocky tunes that start before you’ve even entered the theatre. This show is a fast paced, operation packed, all singing, all dancing, gender bending re-imagining of the story of the Kelly gang, and it’s a hoot.
Part of Melbourne’s International Comedy Festival, this original show is written by Kaine, a music comedian from Ballarat. The venue is tiny, and the set straightforward, but the cast position the stage on blaze. Monique Kerr (Dan), Sunny Youngsmith (Steve), Erin McIntosh (Joe) and Ellen Morning (Ned) deliver flawless performances as the Kelly gang
True History of the Kelly Gang
This retelling of one of Australia's most infamous figures is unfeeling, shocking, anarchic, strangely beautiful, but above all, excellent. Despite its name, the movie is actually based on a fictionalized account of Ned Kelly's animation -- a reality conceded in the opening credits -- as told in Peter Carey's 2001 Booker Prize winning novel. Fiction it may well be, but there's a realness to the movie that rings far truer than some of the other accounts of Kelly's life. Broken into three acts, the movie begins with a youthful Kelly -- a superb understated production by newcomer Schwerdt -- being forcibly introduced into a world of crime. It's a backstory that provides the necessary humanity to, if not sympathize, understand the older more ruthless Kelly, now played by 1917's MacKay.
MacKay's act is extraordinary -- at times resembling a muscle-ripped contortionist, while in others a confused onlooker trying to create sense of his place in the world. But this is no one person show. Essie Davies as Ellen, the Kelly matriarch, deserves a unique mention. But there are also standout performances from Nicholas Hoult as Constable Fitzpatrick and a grizzled C