Errol's Take-Home message

A little over a week left before the grand WA premiere of 'Errol Flynn's Great Big Adventure Book For Boys' opens at Harbour Theatre (next to Clancy's Fish Pub) in Fremantle. Everything is proceeding to plan and everyone is very excited at the prospect of a successful season. Not being one to hold back from criticising other productions for lack of substance myself, I fully expect there will be reviewers out there, sharpening their pencils (Faber-Castell - HB - no doubt) ready to rip into Errol for being shallow, racist, sexist, undergraduate humour etcetera etcetera. Well, I say bring it on. As Errol would say: "Scrapping is my special gift, my chiefest sole delight. Just ask a wild duck can it swim - a wild cat can it fight". I say further, remember that we are looking into the soul of a man of the early 20th century, idolised by millions but filled with deep insecurities and self-loathing. Added to that, there is the moral dilemma. As playwright Rob George puts it: "Errol really does find normal morality confusing. According to his way of thinking, if he desires a thing then he tries to get it - rights and wrongs don't enter into it." True, Errol was charged with, but technically acquitted of, two counts of statutory rape. The girls concerned were aged 16 and 17 and arguably consented - so no such charge would have been brought in our modern-day WA society. - But mud sticks and even today it tarnishes Errol's legacy more than any other of his peccadilloes, which he himself admitted were many. In the end though, this is a story about the human condition - an exciting blend of comedy, sex, love, adventure, intrigue - and a ripping yarn at that!