Come one, come all, to the Trial of Ben Hall,
The Forbes Shire Council Heritage Advisory Committee will be presenting the play The Trial of Ben Hall written by Forbes solicitor Dominic Williams.
DATES: Saturday 2 August at 5pm and Sunday 3 August at 11am
TICKETS: The Trial of Ben Hall Tickets - 123 Tix
A mere 188 years after the notorious Hall was born and 160 years since his death on 5 May. The play will be presented in the former St Andrews Church in Harold Street.
Please be advised that the play involves audience participation, and jurors will be selected from the audience on the evening of the performance so please dress appropriately - period costume is ideal!
Dominic’s play was originally written for the inaugural Ben Hall Festival and rewritten for Law Week in 1986. Ben Hall was of course shot dead without a trial and is buried at Forbes Cemetery.
Forbes Shire Council Heritage Advisory Committee were the inspiration for bringing Ben Hall back to commemorate 160 since his death. Several other committee members and community volunteers will be in the play.
We will also be encouraging our audience to fully participate in the evening. We need you to react to the good and bad, to the police bias and inequity in the court process. It will be a great night out for the whole family to enjoy.
Tea and refreshments will be served while the jury deliberates – no one knows the outcome of the judgment until the night. The cast has prepared for both guilty and not guilty findings.
Everyone is encouraged to come along and find out the imagined past if Ben Hall had been given a trial and discover more about our notorious Mr Hall, who was in fact the first person in Australia to be declared a bushranger.
In Dominic’s words, “...Ben Hall whose name continues to grow in Australian legend as a folklore hero, more wronged against than wrong himself. I trust the Trial of Ben Hall will not only entertain and educate but lead to a better understanding of the enigma that was Ben Hall – it being the trial that Ben Hall never received. (April 1986)
Audience members are encouraged to dress in period costume.