THE GIRAFFE’S UNCLE (THE LES ROBINSON STORY)

$5.40 – $15.00

Les Robinson was an eccentric figure on Sydney’s bohemia scene between the 1920s and 1960s, whose unconventional ways gained him much local notoriety. Refusing to pay rent, he lived in derelict houses and caves around Sydney Harbour: writing, fishing and playing his old gramophone on the rocks. Robinson’s comic and absurdist short stories remain unique to Australian fiction – his one and only short story collection in 1933, The Giraffe’s Uncle, was re-published in 2002 by Angus and Robertson.

Robinson was a contributor and cartoonist to The Bulletin, The Australian Worker, Punch and the Lindsays' magazine, Vision. His work was supported by contemporary Australian literary notables such as Kenneth Slessor, Norman Lindsay, Douglas Stewart, the critic HM Green and many cartoonists.

The play looks at two phases of his life. The first act is set in 1933 when Robinson is 47-years-old and has just had his collection of short stories published by Macquarie Head Press. The second act is set in 1959, as a reclusive Robinson tries to survive in a makeshift shack.

"Carroll's portrait of this square peg of a man is humorous, compassionate and gentle..."—The Sydney Morning Herald

APT