''I'm up in Canberra - the place where it all happens,'' said Jack Charles.
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The 69-year-old actor, writer and indigenous activist was here to perform his one-man autobiographical show Jack Charles v the Crown. It opened at the Playhouse on Wednesday as part of the Centenary of Canberra season. But he had other things on his mind about being here.
He had, he said, long had ''a wet dream, unfulfilled as yet'' of mounting a High Court case - ''my own Eddie Mabo, my own Derryn Hinch'' - to have his criminal record sealed for 99 years so he could enter prisons and share the ''lived experience'' of his journey - from drug addiction and crime to being clean, sober and proud - with the inmates.
So far he had been able to do that only in Western Australia.
So since 2010 he has performed Jack Charles v the Crown - co-written with John Romeril and directed by the artistic director of Ilbijerri Theatre Company, Rachael Maza - as a public way to tell his story.
''It's going really well,'' he said.
''People just love the story of a reformed and rehabilitated character.''
Backed by three musicians, Charles tells stories of his life as a member of the stolen generations who was abused in Melbourne boys' homes and when he left at 14 developed a love of acting. He would amass a long list of theatre, film and TV credits and be a prime mover in establishing Australian indigenous theatre but he also fell prey to drugs and spent a lot of time in and out of prisons. While incarcerated, he discovered ''ceramotherapy'' - the therapeutic qualities of pottery.
Maza said, ''I've known Uncle Jack all my life'', and she was very impressed by the 2009 documentary about him, Bastardy.
''I talked to Uncle Jack about maybe doing his story on stage. He was very quick - 'Absolutely!'
''Uncle Jack is one of the most natural orators: there are very few of his calibre or capacity,'' she said.
- Jack Charles v the Crown is on at the Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre on Thursday July 18 and Friday July 19 at 8pm. Tickets $30-$63. Bookings: 6275 2700.