![A former student of Hunter School of Performing Arts, Callan Purcell, will play Aaron Burr when 'Hamilton' returns to Sydney at the end of the month. Picture by Peter Wallis A former student of Hunter School of Performing Arts, Callan Purcell, will play Aaron Burr when 'Hamilton' returns to Sydney at the end of the month. Picture by Peter Wallis](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/n8uGJwMg95DiH9D4L9ShGa/e4185490-cbda-47cf-9e20-a0500dbab64b.JPG/r810_534_7204_4946_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
CALLAN Purcell's memories of his grandmother come in fragments and glimpses. She died before he had turned 10, so most of his memories have come from the family videotapes, but he knows that music was important: music and stories.
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There is a particular tape, he recalls, of his grandmother singing You Can't Get a Man with a Gun from Irving Berlin's 1946 musical Annie Get Your Gun. A clip of actress Betty Hutton performing the number with Golden Age cinema choreography and singing perhaps says all that needs to be told about Purcell's destiny in the arts.
He was raised on it.
"I tried soccer when I was younger," he joked. "I was the goalie, but I would tell the other kids not to kick the ball at my face because I needed it."
Callan Purcell grew up at Valentine, catching the bus to his classes at the Hunter School of Performing Arts. He was drawn to performance because of the way stories can connect people.
"I saw dance as the first outlet of creative expression," he told the Newcastle Herald as he prepared to take on one of the biggest roles in modern theatre, that of Aaron Burr in the Australian production of the juggernaut hip-hop musical Hamilton when it returns to Sydney from July 30.
"My Nan would sing at parties, and my mum and dad would sing sometimes, but I honestly don't know (what drew me to performing). I think it kept me out of trouble."
Beneath the performance, though, Purcell said he was drawn to the way the arts can tell deep and complicated stories that connect an audience.
"When I played Thomas Klopper in the Book of Everything, I was 20 or 21," he said. "I was about to leave for London to study for three years, and Klopper says, 'When I grow up, I want to be happy'.
"I was in a dark place at that time; I still hadn't found my niche after leaving school, and I felt like I was stepping in his shoes. He was a character who just radiated joy ... that was a really healing process for me. I thrive on characters with a sense of joy or hope because that is just as radical and courageous to express on stage as it is to show anger or despair.
"It's a radical act to show compassion and kindness."
As Purcell prepares to return to Aaron Burr, the antagonist to the titular Alexander Hamilton and narrator of the historical tale of the revolutionary American founding fathers, after runs in the role at Brisbane and Auckland, he is finding a compelling connection in the wrestle to do the character justice.
![Former student of Hunter School of Performing Arts Callan Purcell will play Aaron Burr when 'Hamilton' returns to Sydney at the end of the month. Picture by Kate Williams Former student of Hunter School of Performing Arts Callan Purcell will play Aaron Burr when 'Hamilton' returns to Sydney at the end of the month. Picture by Kate Williams](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/n8uGJwMg95DiH9D4L9ShGa/ed682900-386f-4270-a661-cb85e6c766ce.jpg/r0_0_3000_2000_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Burr exists somewhere in the grey spaces between Hamilton's nemesis and friend, but for Purcell, he is defined by the weight of his legacy. If Hamilton's legacy of 'writing his way out' - to borrow a phrase from the script - is fuel to his fiery performance, Burr's past is an anchor that weighs on him solemnly and keeps him close to the ground.
"Burr keeps his secrets," he said. "The way that this show is written, we get to see these characters working stuff out. Burr, in the play, never knew his parents; he had this legacy from day one that he had to uphold. Even as an infant, he had everything to lose. He had his ancestors behind him, gunning for him to carry that legacy and prestige, and he wants to be 'in the room where it happens'. It feels like playing a bull in a cage."
![Former student of Hunter School of Performing Arts Callan Purcell will play Aaron Burr when 'Hamilton' returns to Sydney at the end of the month. Picture by Kate Williams Former student of Hunter School of Performing Arts Callan Purcell will play Aaron Burr when 'Hamilton' returns to Sydney at the end of the month. Picture by Kate Williams](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/n8uGJwMg95DiH9D4L9ShGa/c312b74d-ccb3-4828-b2b5-f208dfaa2589.jpg/r0_0_3000_2000_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Purcell isn't far into his 30s, and as he becomes steeped in the themes of Lin-Manuel Miranda's opus, blending the American mythos with marginalised voices set to the score of rap and historically Black music, he is thinking about his legacy, its weight, responsibilities, and the way that it drives him.
"This show stands on a legacy of Black artists," he said. "That has become the fabric of this show. I want to remember where it started and keep those roots, that appreciation, and my own roots as a Wiradjuri man.
"All art is political. This Wiradjuri legacy is deeply personal and a sensitive part of me - something I'm still grappling with. I told my agent not to put me up because of the way that I looked because I felt that I wasn't Black enough or Aboriginal enough to be in the show. That is a conversation I am constantly having with myself about what culture looks like and what connection to culture and country looks like.
"It's looking back on what my mob has done for their country and how I can contribute to that through art, which will sow the seeds for future endeavours, as well.
"It's a fine line between artist and activist, and it blends. I want to make sure that my legacy is not just a long-term plan but what I believe in - that everyone is welcome at the table, and there needs to be a space where everyone can be heard."
The Australian production of Hamilton returns to Sydney at the Lyric Theatre on July 30.