On Sunday the 19th of October I was asked to introduce Terence Clarke A.M. at reading of the
Donald Friend Diaries at The Alila Hotel in Payangan.The Donald Friend Week was sponsored by The National Library of Australia and The Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
Below my introduction:
When Terry Clarke was my maths teacher at high school we were mesmerized by his fashion sense, his depth of understanding of advanced algebra, and his comic timing. We were often rolling in the aisles.
As the coach of Cranbrook's 16A football squad he would dazzle us with his locomotion. Those golden, well-oiled thighs thundering down the wings.
Somehow Mr. Clarke's whistle was always louder.
Years later I discovered him in a rehearsal room at the University of Sydney, banging away at the piano—a true Vaudevillean virtuoso. (He was musical director and composed the music for and acted in "Flash Jim Vaux" a play he had written for Sydney's legendary Nimrod Theatre Company).
Shortly after this episode, Terry, consumed by his passion for the theatre, started teaching at N.I.D.A., Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art. And I went to Bali.My early years in Bali were spent at the feet of the great Tuan Donald—in fact, I never knew during those years that Donald was visiting Terry and his first wife on his not infrequent trips to Sydney. (Donald Friend was a great friend of Lya's father, the famous Australian painter Sir Russel Drysdale, another genius artist caricaturist).
It is fitting therefore that Terry Clarke should read from Donald's diaries tonight—and fitting also that the reading should be here at the Alila—designed by Kerry Hill one of Donald's dearest friends.
Now...Before I relinquish the podium I want to use this opportunity to say, for the record, that Donald Friend was indeed a big bugger, and a great man, but he was also a total bastard (very little he says about me in his diaries bears the faintest resemblance to the truth).
Read also Wijaya's article on The Jakarta Post: Sydney diary: 'Nyonya' Wear and Tear
