CHRISTINE ANU - My AUSTRALIA
Multi-ARIA award-winning artist Christine Anu is of Australia’s most beloved performers. Now, she’s taking on a new challenge as Hermes, the messenger of the gods, in the Australian premiere of Hadestown, which opens this month in Sydney.
WHAT DOES BEING AUSTRALIAN MEAN TO YOU?
With my mother passing recently, my thoughts are of the Australia she was born in, in 1936, whereby Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were under one of the more infamous legislations introduced by the Queensland government, the ABORIGINALS PROTECTION AND RESTRICTION OF THE SALE OF OPIUM ACT 1897.
I can’t deny the stories of hardship our people endured. Even when, three years before I was born, the nation voted “Yes” to change the Constitution to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the census.
My children and I have had a blessed life if not for the great people throughout our communities, around the length and breadth of this land, working overtime to build a great Australia.
I love that nowadays; I’m at an event that acknowledges its First Nation people whose country we are gathered on. I know my ancestors are smiling, but we still have a lot of healing to go.
WHERE IN AUSTRALIA ARE YOU AT YOUR HAPPIEST?
My son works and lives with his little family in Wollongong and my daughter is based in Sydney. When I’m not away working in the best musical on the planet, I call Central Queensland, home. I’m happiest when I’m with my kids.
But there is another place that hijacked my heart, and that’s Great Keppel Island. I always took my parents there on an outing when I would go visit them. It’s always calling me back. You can stay in the villas or just stay for the day… there’s a lot to do, or just do nothing but bathe or lie in the shade until the ferry leaves. You can bring your own food and beverage or hang at the bar with live music.
We just commemorated Mum’s ‘first Christmas’ since her passing, at Great Keppel Island.
WHY DOES AUSTRALIA BAT ABOVE ITS WEIGHT ON THE GLOBAL STAGE IN THE ARTS AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES?
Is that a trick question? It’s the good looks, of course! But being real now, our institutions have spent a long time developing and finessing programmes that churn out triple threat, after triple threat. Some of the greats were, or are, just born on a star, and that’s that.
Australia’s a big remote country town, and the gigs are short and sweet. You’ve got to have another trick up your sleeve cause there’s bills to pay. We’re multi-faceted. We’re shape shifters because we have to be. Each job informs the next, and the variety of experiences grows strong performers.
HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL WHEN YOU LOOK BACK ON PERFORMING AT THE SYDNEY 2000 OLYMPICS?
The short answer is, old!
I found out quite early in the piece, that I was opening the closing ceremony. I had to carry that baby for nine months, and couldn’t tell a soul! The rehearsals were so secret, I never saw anyone other than the Bangarra dancers. One of the dancers was responsible for clipping my safety harness onto a ring rail, but it wouldn’t go as we rehearsed. We never got to do a tech run cause the stage had many parts including a hydraulic pole that lifted several smaller stages up into the air with me “on top of the world” with a visual projection of the globe as it spun and lifted the pole. Well, that stage wasn’t assembled correctly, so it was pulled apart and by the time the stage was put back properly, the first marathon runner was entering the stadium to do his final lap… we had to wing it.
YOU ARE STARRING IN THE AUSTRALIAN VERSION OF HADESTOWN, WHICH HAS BEEN A SMASH ON BROADWAY, WHAT IS THE STORY ABOUT?
The story of Hadestown is the retelling of two Ancient Greek myths- that of Orpheus and Eurydice, and King Hades and wife Persephone. It’s set in Hermes Bar during Spring time, which then transforms into the underworld or Hadestown where Persephone returns, for six months of the year.
Hadestown is about love, hope, doubt, resilience… the message is that it’s worth the efort of trying even if we know we’re going to fail.
I’m honoured to be playing Hermes in the Australian production of Hadestown. Hermes, is the messenger between gods and mortals, and is portrayed as the narrator who runs a bar and guides Orpheus throughout the story.
WHAT HAS DRAWN YOU TO BEING ON STAGE IN THIS MUSICAL AND WHAT CAN AUDIENCES EXPECT?
It didn’t sound like any musical I’d done before, and that was instantly appealing to me.
It had a cool New Orleans jazz band feel and the lyrics and melodies were spicy and moorish!
It seemed like musical theatre was summoning me back to the wings and there’s this symbiotic relationship you have with musicals and it becomes the third person in your relationship, lol.
I love the art form of telling stories through music. It’s in my DNA. The stage is another home.
Audiences can expect to see a show like no other and if you’ve seen it elsewhere, the Australianisms is what sets this Hadestown apart from the rest… it’s all heart and soul!
Images – Australian Production 2025 © Lisa Tomasetti
