Hawksley Workman On Finding The Balance Between Musician And Playwright

Renowned for his signature fusion of cabaret and rock, Workman will be bringing his play The God That Comes to Tasmania’s Ten Days on the Island, as well as playing a handful of shows on the east coast.
 
“The play is a retelling of the Greek myth of The Bacchae, the god of wine, sex and revelry,” says Workman. “It ponders a rock’n’roll lifestyle and how it fits into a life well lived. Essentially the play asks, ‘What happens in a repressive culture when people are allowed to be expressive – artfully, sexually and in a way that might be prickly to a society at large?’ I was also trying to funnel some angry energy into a piece of art that had the latitude to be more nuanced. You can write a protest song or record but people are sort of resistant to those things. It’s nice to go exploring within the confines of theatre.”
 
Having spent decades performing as a musician, Workman is appreciative of the opportunity to experience another artistic community. “Doing theatre was a window into a community of people that were very exciting to be around. It’s a very interesting cross section of people,” says Workman. “There’s still a delusion in the music business that you might get rich. In theatre that delusion doesn’t exist which is incredible because it means that everybody does it because they love it, nobody thinks they’re going to get rich.”
 
When it comes to musical droughts Workman’s strategy is to keep creating in other ways. “When I wrote the play I was in the middle of career malaise – I started another rock band and I was lucky, the rock band had hit songs on the radio and The God That Comes turned out to be a hit. All of a sudden my artistic angst was satisfied because my ego had been stroked a little bit,” says Workman.
 
Workman is jocular as to how the audience reacts to the one man show. “People leave the show going ‘I don’t understand Hawksley Workman. Am I supposed to drink a lot or not drink at all?’ ” he laughs.
 
When asked whether he’d write another play, Workman is adamant this will be his only foray into theatre. “You can get away with it once, but when you try to write a second play that means people think ‘Oh he’s taking himself seriously. Maybe we need to judge this a bit more harshly.’ ”
 
Workman has a special relationship with Australia having visited what he estimates is close to 15 times. “Australian’s really like songwriters,” he says. “While they do seem to love pop music and hip hop they still maintain an authentic love of songwriting. I must admit it’s very encouraging because that’s not always the case.”
 
Workman is excited to be touring the rest of the country after The God That Comes,with the show set to be a selective cut of the best songs of his career. “I promise to only play the best songs I’ve ever written and there’s only a handful. I want to make sure that everybody thinks it’s good and not terrible. I aim to please.”

Hawksley Workman will perform at Northcote Social Club on Thursday March 30.