Little Black Bastard at Herald Theatre

Noel Tovey was treated as a social outcast as a child

At the age of 5, Noel Tovey stood scared and bewildered in a Melbourne courthouse, where a judge declared his parents unfit to raise their children.
Sixty-two years later, he returned to the same building to relive that moment and the subsequent harrowing experiences he endured as a ward of the state.

By then it was the Carlton Courthouse Theatre and Tovey an internationally renowned director, actor, dancer, choreographer and art dealer, performing his provocatively titled one-man show Little Black Bastard. He brings the work, based on his autobiography of the same name, to Auckland's Herald Theatre from tonight until Sunday.

The 72-year-old tells of growing up in Melbourne where "little black bastard" was a refrain he heard all too often from those who saw only his skin colour. Tovey's father was part African-American, his mother part Aborigine.

"Society decided I was Aboriginal because my father was black. It meant being stigmatised, targeted and outcast, and suffering everything that that brings with it. Unfortunately, I really don't think things have changed all that much since then."

That is partly why Tovey wrote Little Black Bastard. He does not want any child to undergo what he did, and if they have the misfortune to do so, he wants them to know there is still hope for the future.

He does not gloss over his early experiences. An uncle sexually abused him when he was 4; the court decided his alcoholic parents were not fit to raise him.

Tovey and his sister went to the Royal Park Welfare Depot with "children who were mentally ill, children who had been abandoned".

The brother and sister were then put into the care of a man whom Tovey says "systematically raped us for five years". Eventually his sister told a school friend whose father was a policeman. The man was imprisoned.

Tovey and his sister returned to their mother, who was still drinking. At 11, he decided life on the streets would be safer and ran away.

Writing his story meant recalling these events. He got sick, and at one point was advised to stop, but Tovey likens it to running a marathon. Once started, you don't stop until you cross the finish line.

He does no more than 10 performances of Little Black Bastard in a season, and of those two are for charities who work with street children.

In a 50-year career, Tovey has performed in, directed or choreographed productions around the world. He has also worked as a film consultant and managed his own art gallery in London's trendy Fulham.

His career began with work in a bookshop where a friend introduced him to Melbourne's small but bohemian arts scene.

He took ballet and ice-skating lessons, paid for with money he stole or made working as a rent boy. But just when it looked as if his luck had changed, Tovey was arrested and charged with "the abominable crime of buggery". Imprisoned for three weeks awaiting sentencing, Tovey contemplated killing himself.

Then he had an epiphany: "I heard the voices of my ancestors telling me not to do it and that there was something more in life for me."

He left prison and, surprisingly, joined the Armed Forces where he was selected to train as a radio operator.

"Finally I had a bit of belief in myself. I was very proud to wear my uniform and for the first time in my life, I felt I belonged."

Descended from four generations of performers, Tovey couldn't avoid the stage forever. He left the Air Force and began performing in professional theatre productions, on radio and television. He then followed many of his contemporaries and sailed for Britain.

Within a week of arriving in London with his wife and daughter, Tovey was working with a choreographer he knew from Australia.

A year later, he became the principal dancer with the esteemed Sadler's Wells Company but left after only a few months. He had no life outside of the company, he says.

Nevertheless, his career steadily gathered momentum and he acted alongside the likes of Vera Lynn, Judy Garland and Sammy Davis jnr.

He moved into choreography and directing, and worked as a consultant on films such as The Great Gatsby and Murder On the Orient Express. He then used his specialist knowledge of the 1920s to open a decorative art gallery in London.

When he wasn't working, Tovey socialised with the likes of George Harrison, Mick Jagger and "all the people who made London swing". Now divorced, he revelled in life in a place where he could be whoever he wanted. "No one cared about the colour of your skin or whether you were gay or straight."

In 1986 Tovey's longtime partner died and the voices of his ancestors filled his head again. This time, they told him to go home to Australia and acknowledge his roots.

Five years later he returned and became involved in developing indigenous theatre, dance and art. He also works with young Aboriginal offenders, urging them to embrace their heritage.

"I tell them to be proud of their identity - after all, we are the first people of Australia and everybody else came to us."

When: May 2-7

* Noel Tovey will also give a talk at the Auckland Art Gallery entitled "The Lad in London" on May 6 as part of the gallery's Art & the 60s from Tate Britain exhibition.