Vandemonian Lags
Newsletter
Musical Theatre
Caravan Touring Presents
Vandemonian Lags
New Musical Theatre from the Tasmanian Convict Underbelly
24 May 2025
Sessions
Saturday
May 24, 2025
19:30
Tickets
May 24, 2025
19:30
Information
Show type
Musical Theatre
duration
120 minutes, plus interval
Location
Her Majesty's Theatre Ballarat
Prices
A Reserve: $119.00
B Reserve: $99.00
C Reserve: $89.00
Groups of 4:
A Reserve: $114.00
B Reserve: $94.00
C Reserve: $84.00
B Reserve: $99.00
C Reserve: $89.00
Groups of 4:
A Reserve: $114.00
B Reserve: $94.00
C Reserve: $84.00
Suitable for
Ages 16+
For only the fourth time in twelve years have this stellar cast been gathered together to perform the acclaimed theatrical piece that presents an extraordinary musical journey based on dramatic true stories from Tasmania’s convict past.
Starring Brian Nankervis, Mick Thomas, Tim Rogers, Jeff Lang, Ben Salter, Sal Kimber, Darren Hanlon, Shelley Short, Van Walker and introducing Claire Anne Taylor backed by an all-star band featuring Weddings Parties Anything’s Jen Anderson, Mark Wallace, and Michael Barclay with Craig Pilkington.
It was a centrepiece of the inaugural DARK MOFO festival in Hobart in 2013, last played at Port Fairy Folk Festival in 2019 and is the subject of a concert album and feature film.
On the mainland, those who hailed from the island Colony were known as 'Vandiemonians' or 'Vandemonians'. The second moniker referenced the place where they had (usually) served time but, as Bruce Moore notes, it also “blended with the word demon. – Caitlin Mahar, 2007
The discovery of gold in Victoria in 1851 gave rise to an amazing exodus from Van Diemen’s Land. Convicts and ex-convicts crossed Bass Strait in their thousands. Many of the ‘Vandemonians’ fell to crime and quickly became hated and feared on the goldfields. In 1852 the Victorian Government passed the Convicts Prevention Act with the express aim of preventing any further introduction of the prison population to the booming colony. Needless to say, the act was a complete failure.
Far from being a dry historical tutorial or a clutch of warm and earnest folk songs, this is an extraordinary musical and narrative experience. – Beat Magazine (2025)
Drawing 17 vivid, real-life musical stories from the 75,000 convicts transported to Tasmania, Vandemonian Lags deserves its own special place in the annals of Australian folklore. – Patrick McDonald, Adelaide Advertiser (2014)
Vandemonian Lags has broken the shackles of the convict stain and liberated the stories of our convict ancestors! – Ross Latham, Tasmanian State Archivist
Starring Brian Nankervis, Mick Thomas, Tim Rogers, Jeff Lang, Ben Salter, Sal Kimber, Darren Hanlon, Shelley Short, Van Walker and introducing Claire Anne Taylor backed by an all-star band featuring Weddings Parties Anything’s Jen Anderson, Mark Wallace, and Michael Barclay with Craig Pilkington.
It was a centrepiece of the inaugural DARK MOFO festival in Hobart in 2013, last played at Port Fairy Folk Festival in 2019 and is the subject of a concert album and feature film.
On the mainland, those who hailed from the island Colony were known as 'Vandiemonians' or 'Vandemonians'. The second moniker referenced the place where they had (usually) served time but, as Bruce Moore notes, it also “blended with the word demon. – Caitlin Mahar, 2007
The discovery of gold in Victoria in 1851 gave rise to an amazing exodus from Van Diemen’s Land. Convicts and ex-convicts crossed Bass Strait in their thousands. Many of the ‘Vandemonians’ fell to crime and quickly became hated and feared on the goldfields. In 1852 the Victorian Government passed the Convicts Prevention Act with the express aim of preventing any further introduction of the prison population to the booming colony. Needless to say, the act was a complete failure.
Far from being a dry historical tutorial or a clutch of warm and earnest folk songs, this is an extraordinary musical and narrative experience. – Beat Magazine (2025)
Drawing 17 vivid, real-life musical stories from the 75,000 convicts transported to Tasmania, Vandemonian Lags deserves its own special place in the annals of Australian folklore. – Patrick McDonald, Adelaide Advertiser (2014)
Vandemonian Lags has broken the shackles of the convict stain and liberated the stories of our convict ancestors! – Ross Latham, Tasmanian State Archivist
Cast & Creatives
Tim Rogers
Brian Nankervis
Mick Thomas
Ben Salter
Jeff Lang
Van Walker
Sal Kimber
Claire Anne Taylor
Shelley Short
Darren Hanlon
Jen Anderson
Mark Wallace
Craig Pilkington
Michael Barclay
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Tim Rogers
Timothy Adrian Rogers is an Australian musician and actor, best known as the frontman of the rock band You Am I. As of July 2013, Rogers has released 12 albums with You Am I and five solo albums. Tim’s literary memoir Detours has been described as charming, honest, funny, sad, and tender.
Think Patti Smith meet Dylan Thomas, by way of Banjo Paterson. 'Rogers is a beautiful writer, both literate and lyrical ... Detours makes most rock memoirs look like How to Hypnotise Chooks. A heartbreaking work of staggering honesty.' West Australian
Think Patti Smith meet Dylan Thomas, by way of Banjo Paterson. 'Rogers is a beautiful writer, both literate and lyrical ... Detours makes most rock memoirs look like How to Hypnotise Chooks. A heartbreaking work of staggering honesty.' West Australian
Brian Nankervis
Brian Nankervis is an Australian writer, actor, radio host, television producer and comedian. He is one of the co-creators of the music quiz show, RocKwiz and co-hosts The Friday Revue with Jacinta Parsons on ABC Radio Melbourne.
He was a writer/performer on the hospital soap opera 'Let The Blood Run Free' and a regular on Hey Hey It's Saturday as the tortured street poet, Raymond J Bartholomeuz.
He was a writer/performer on the hospital soap opera 'Let The Blood Run Free' and a regular on Hey Hey It's Saturday as the tortured street poet, Raymond J Bartholomeuz.
Mick Thomas
Raconteur, troubadour, balladeer and poet, Mick Thomas is best known as chief songwriter of pub-rock icons Weddings, Parties, Anything. Running alongside his current band the Roving Commission is a whole raft of projects such as the magnum opus theatre piece The Vandemonian Lags. There’s more theatre work in development, coupled with the running of a boutique inner city music venue (The Merri Creek Tavern).
Ben Salter
Ben Salter is one of Australia’s most highly regarded performers and songwriters. As well as being a founding member of Giants of Science, The Gin Club and the three-time ARIA-nominated Wilson Pickers, he is an accomplished artist in his own right. Salter has collaborated, written and performed with artists as diverse as Mick Thomas (Weddings, Parties, Anything), Tim Rogers (You Am I, The Temperance Union), Bernard Fanning (Powderfinger), Gareth Liddiard (The Drones) and Marlon Williams.
Salter continues to perform relentlessly across Australia and the world, both solo and with his band, and his captivating live performances have become quasi-legendary. He is currently employed as a living exhibition-artist-in-residence at Tasmania’s Mona Gallery.
Salter continues to perform relentlessly across Australia and the world, both solo and with his band, and his captivating live performances have become quasi-legendary. He is currently employed as a living exhibition-artist-in-residence at Tasmania’s Mona Gallery.
Jeff Lang
Australian guitarist-songwriter-vocalist-producer, Jeff Lang has built a reputation for making startling music that is accomplished, intricate, gutsy, melodic and loaded with soul. Often taking unexpected turns, he has consistently inspired his audiences by creating a stylistically diverse catalog of over 25 albums.
Jeff Lang’s unique musical vision easily finds a home in myriad settings, from large festival stages to intimate venues, from small clubs to the Sydney Opera House. Most importantly, Jeff Lang has achieved what is a rarity in the cluttered world of contemporary sounds: his own voice.
Jeff Lang’s unique musical vision easily finds a home in myriad settings, from large festival stages to intimate venues, from small clubs to the Sydney Opera House. Most importantly, Jeff Lang has achieved what is a rarity in the cluttered world of contemporary sounds: his own voice.
Van Walker
Van Walker is a Tasmanian native who’s prolific songwriting productivity has seen him become a ‘cult figure locally’ in his adopted Melbourne, having written over 500 songs across many genres, releasing 6 full length albums between 2008 & 2010, a selection of which the Fuse Music Group released in 2012 on the Underneath the Radar compilation, which met with national critical acclaim, prompting Mess & Noise to state, “Literary vigour and scathing social commentary, if there is any justice in this world, Underneath the Radar will provoke a radical awareness & appreciation of Van Walker’s songwriting talents.”
Sal Kimber
Sal Kimber is one of Australia’s most exciting emerging singer-songwriters. Returning to her birthplace in northern Victoria after years living in inner Melbourne Sal has continued quietly stealing hearts in Australia’s live music scene. With a familiar, warm and expressive voice - sometimes yearning, sometimes sensual, always believable, Sal and her band the Rolling Wheel were named by Rolling Stone Magazine as ‘Australian alt-country at its finest’.
Claire Anne Taylor
Claire Anne Taylor grew up in Tasmania's ancient Tarkine rainforest. With a distinctively emotive and powerful vocal ability that simultaneously expresses an inner strength and a vulnerability, Taylor has garnered a reputation for her powerful live shows touring extensively around Australia.
In 2024, Taylor released her third studio album Giving It Away to rave reviews, with Sounds of Oz declaring, “I haven’t heard an album like this, or a voice like Claire Anne Taylor’s, in such a long time. It’s special".
In 2024, Taylor released her third studio album Giving It Away to rave reviews, with Sounds of Oz declaring, “I haven’t heard an album like this, or a voice like Claire Anne Taylor’s, in such a long time. It’s special".
Shelley Short
Shelley Short is an American folk singer and songwriter who grew up in Portland, Oregon. After recording in the desert of New Mexico and the industrial area of Portland, Oregon, Short left art school in the Pacific Northwest and headed eastward to Chicago.
She has recorded a subsequent six albums and now resides in Gympie Qld with Darren Hanlon and their two young children.
She has recorded a subsequent six albums and now resides in Gympie Qld with Darren Hanlon and their two young children.
Darren Hanlon
Darren Hanlon is an Australian singer-songwriter from Gympie Queensland where he currently resides with Shelley Short and their two young children. Prior to becoming a solo artist in 1999, Hanlon was a member of Lismore indie rock band The Simpletons, and also contributed backing guitar and keyboards for The Lucksmiths, The Dearhunters and Mick Thomas.
Hanlon has been described by Pitchfork as having "distinctive narrative vision" in his music. Hanlon has released five solo albums, four EPs and is known for his engagement with his audiences, through his down-to-earth storytelling at live gigs.
Hanlon has been described by Pitchfork as having "distinctive narrative vision" in his music. Hanlon has released five solo albums, four EPs and is known for his engagement with his audiences, through his down-to-earth storytelling at live gigs.
Jen Anderson
Jen has earned an international reputation as a composer and improvising violinist. With a strong classical training background and many years of professional performance she has also composed music for film, television, theatre and dance.
As a live performer on violin Jen has toured and recorded with artists, including the Black Sorrows (89-93), Weddings Parties Anything (93-98), Tim Rogers (You Am I), Tiddas, Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, and the Waifs.
As a live performer on violin Jen has toured and recorded with artists, including the Black Sorrows (89-93), Weddings Parties Anything (93-98), Tim Rogers (You Am I), Tiddas, Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, and the Waifs.
Mark Wallace
Best known as accordion player for the band Weddings, Parties, Anything Mark Wallace has toured extensively with artists such as Sal Dastey, Jimmy Barnes, Annie Phelan, Tim Rogers and Mick Thomas. He has released one solo instrumental accordion album and played on countless others.
Craig Pilkington
Craig Pilkington is a composer, multi instrumentalist and founding member of ARIA award winning band The Killjoys. He holds a bachelor of music honours from the Conservatorium Melbourne University, and owns and operates Audrey Studios. He has created soundtracks for a number of television series such as The Librarians, Upper Middle Bogan, and The Inbestigators.
He has toured locally and internationally as musical director for Archie Roach, Gurrumul Yunupingu and Mick Thomas.
He has toured locally and internationally as musical director for Archie Roach, Gurrumul Yunupingu and Mick Thomas.
Michael Barclay
Michael Barclay is best known as drummer and backing vocalist for Paul Kelly and the Messengers. His subsequent stints as a drummer have included Weddings, Parties, Anything, Little Murders and the Painters and Dockers. He currently resides in eastern Vietnam where he is training to set a world record for the consumption of Bahn Mi in a single sitting.