Kirk Page – “My parents met in Ipswich which is where I was born. Mum is still in the same house I grew up in. I was a really shy kid. Lively but very shy. I am the eldest of four. I have one brother and two sisters.
I went to high school in Inala which is pretty rough and crazy.
I didn’t really like school and left in Year 11. Mum said, if you leave school you better get a job because you need to pay rent. I had this dream of becoming a Fashion Designer, Hairdresser or a Vet for a while. I did a little hairdressing apprenticeship for 18 months in a local salon. I never got paid. I volunteered on Thursdays and Saturdays as the tea and tidy guy.
I went back to school at nights and then started at Tafe doing an introduction to Animal Husbandry / Vet nursing. It was only a short course but I didn’t pursue it so nothing really happened after that. I’m not an amazing student.
I have always worked though. I worked in a wheely bin factory, a donut shop and for the longest time in a paper factory. We use to make shopper dockets and fax paper rolls. One afternoon it was so hot, I’m in this tin shed working with this big machine and I thought..I don’t think this is it! If this is it, I don’t like it!
At 20 years old I applied to the dance college in Sydney which is the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA). I was accepted and the rest is history. I was there for a couple of years and went on to do an apprenticeship with Bangarra Dance Company. It’s not really an apprenticeship now, more a scholarship. My cousin Russell Page was the Principal dancer and one of the creative forces of Bangarra. He passed away 15 years ago through suicide at the age of 34. There is now a graduate program in his name to fund new dancers in the company.
During that time with Bangarra we did our first show at Enmore theatre and a few festivals. We toured the country and performed overseas in Berlin which was amazing. I was still a baby so didn’t go crazy and party. I just followed the older dancers around to the cafes and theatres. After two knee injuries I ended up leaving the company.
I started doing a bit of acting with roles that required someone to move. I played a fairy in Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream.’ I started to gain more work, small roles in black plays with directors like Wesley Enoch, Nadine McDonald, Andrea James, whether it was fully realised works or creating new works. I then got a job with ‘Legs on the Wall’ and they are high impact and really dynamic. We were all athletes, training in tumbling, dance, aerial skills, hanging off buildings in harnesses, chucking each other around. We did some beautiful works and toured the country.
I was making a short film with two of the other members from Legs on the Wall and I got a phone call from my cousin David who is no longer with us either. He took his own life as well. He called me and said..’I’m in the show, I’m in rehearsals and I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to be in it, I want to go and I’ve given them your name.’ I said ok and the and the show was Priscilla the stage musical.
David and Russell were both amazing, stunning, outrageously talented and beautiful. Everybody loved them. I know what it feels like to be left behind but I would never do it. I have days where I go..what is this? this is f#@%ed! You feel like shit. We all do and probably more for me right now because I’m living clean and healthy. You aren’t numbing reality but it’s good. I feel good.
Working with Priscilla for 2 1/2 years was like a big gay high school education. We toured NZ, Melbourne, Sydney and it was so much fun. They were totally outrageous. Some were Sydneys top drag queens at the time. A couple of the younger drag queens were in the show and I shared a dressing room with these guys for almost 2 1/2 years which was so much fun. I made lots of beautiful friends and learnt a lot (laughs). We laughed! It’s just about to open again for the 10 year anniversary in Melbourne. That was a big chunk of my life.
I’ve done a lot of teaching over the years especially in movement for actors. I’ve taught at NIDA, the film and television school in Sydney, PAX theatre, ATYP for young people and adults studying movement.
Most of my work has come from people pulling out. ‘Oh we can’t do that, we’ll call Kirk. Lucky me! I auditioned for a show called Redfern Now and Aaron Pederson was meant to play the role. The Director couldn’t do it so Aaron pulled out because that director wasn’t directing. The writer of the episode ended up directing so I did it. It’s the story about a gay couple who have a child, one partner dies, the mother in law comes to claim the child. Anyway I got nominated for a Logie. I’m sure it was just the balancing out of young, old, black, white but OMG, the Logies, watching all of these people you see on TV bent off their heads, looking rough, sweaty and ugly at 3am. That’s reality TV.
I had a bit of a quiet time. I donated sperm and had 2 children. Two separate couples. My friend and I were an acro duet in the Legs on the Wall days and I used to throw her around. She asked me to donate sperm. Another couple of friends also wanted to have a family and they asked me as well. I’m involved in both my daughters lives but I can understand people that can’t involve the donor. It could be problematic when so many family members are involved. You need a production manager to organise Christmas and Birthdays as there are 5 families involved in my situation. I attended the births of both babies which was so beautiful, extraordinary and really frightening and I have such an incredible amount of respect for midwives. To keep people calm and keep everyone ok is such a gift. I am lucky enough to have two 5 year old girls in my life who are both wonderful, crazy and fun.
I was feeling a bit disenchanted with Sydney. Opening nights, free alcohol, parties and good fun. When you’re 27 or 33 you’re ok. It’s very different at 44. I just feel like I had a serotonin run, exploited the hell out of it and I need to regrow and reproduce some of that. I didn’t have a crazy New Year. I went to fruits but I think somethings happened to me. It comes with big things happening in your life where you go, Who do I want to be and what’s important? Do I want to run around in a pair of jock straps and glitter on my face with unicorn wings? I go well, that’s really cute but I’m 44. It’s not for me. I think it’s a beautiful thing and everybody has a great time and as my friend reminded me that it would never have happened 30 years ago.
NORPA were advertising for an Associate Director. I applied and got the job so I came here. They were already cooking up the project for Djurra. I had already come to Lismore and worked on the project as an actor. Rhoda Roberts and Julian Lois were directing at that time and David Page was a part of that team. He was going to be the Composer and he was also an actor in the work. He died in March 2016. That was a sad, awful mess. He was my cousin, my mentor and my best friend.
After conversing with others Julian decided it would be a great thing for me to direct this work and the rest is history.
For those who didn’t see Djurra it is based on a creation story. How this country was populated by people. That was the first inspiration of the work then here was a few drafts which changed. I wanted to make a beautiful depiction of contemporary Aboriginal Australia referring to and being inspired by the creation story of the boys being called home by their grandmother after they left her on the mainland. Djurra means law. Following rules, whether it’s the law as it sits in the big house or the laws of family or cultural laws. Personal reflections on coming home, what it means to be a young Aboriginal person in regional NSW as well. We only just touched on the subject.
The processes around making a theatre show, for this one especially was quite fraught with so much craziness. We had deaths, we had the big flood, just life came at us all… so to get the show up was an achievement in itself. I guess what I wanted people to take away from it was to view the region and Aboriginal people in a way that wasn’t the stereotypical idea that you see on the streets or in the news and to reveal a little bit of that magic I suppose.
I will stay in Lismore for this next year. My job finishes up at the end of the year so I’ll probably be back on the freelance treadmill or I might go and teach Pilates. I have days where I couldn’t be bothered if I ever walk into another theatre again and then days where I go…’there’s so much to do, so many great people to work with, so much more to explore.’ In saying that it’s hard work. You’re dealing with people’s precious hearts, egos and ideas of themselves and what others think. It takes a special kind of person to do it continuously. My way of relaxing is smashing myself at the gym for an hour, going to the beach for a swim, reading, sleeping and hanging out with my kids.”
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