Change is coming for Hamilton, and performer Callan Purcell, in Brisbane

Callan Purcell says he lives in two worlds: the white man’s world, and the blackfella world.

There’s an inextinguishable fire of curiosity in his eyes. But it is the Wiradjuri man’s confident smile that reassures you his desire to create change in the arts sector is real.

And, he laughs, he does like to rock the boat.

Purcell sits down in a small, red carpeted room at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, having already pulled out a chair for his interviewer. He’s always conscious of those around him — something slightly at odds with the character he will play on stage.

That role is the biggest one yet for Purcell. From late January, he will become Aaron Burr in the Broadway sensation Hamilton.

A global phenomenon created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and told through vibrant and captivating lyrics, the show follows Alexander Hamilton’s life, as one of the founding fathers of the United States, to the tune of hip-hop, jazz, and R&B.

Hamilton has an intense rivalry with Burr, who became the country’s third vice president, something Purcell would not do in real life.

“Burr becomes a politician and that’s far from what I would ever, ever do,” the 28-year-old laughs.

Newcastle-raised Purcell is back in Brisbane for the first time since he was eight. As he sits wearing black jeans, boots, and an unbuttoned green shirt with a white shirt peeking from underneath, he is struck by the heat, and questions how it would feel to perform in a Queensland summer.

There’s much to learn from his character, Purcell says, as he takes on the role of Burr opposite Jason Arrow as Hamilton (Purcell had been Arrow’s understudy in Sydney and took his place as required).

While Burr is considered the bad guy — ultimately killing Hamilton in a duel in New Jersey in 1804 — Purcell insists he’s no villain.

“No,” he laughs. “But I like to rock the boat.”

Purcell nods, leaning in and moving his hands to emulate a bobbing ship at sea.

“I’m more cheeky than the villain, I think. More on the precipice of like, do I do this, or shouldn’t I?

“I think that’s where it’s at, which is most exciting for me — the possibility of something that could go wrong or not.”

Purcell says every rendition of Hamilton is different and fresh — an “investigation every single night,” revealing different elements of the production and cast members.

“I’m 28, and, obviously, I’m old enough to have a kid now, so when Burr has the child there with Theodosia, you know, I reflect on what that is and what it would be like to be a father,” he says.

“I’m excited to play the villain...because we get to find that conflict and get the audience to question that too.”

Purcell is assertive as he details his reasons for all the shows he’s participated in. He has been driven by his upbringing and history as a Wiradjuri man, as he works towards a future of inclusion, social change and empowerment.

In Sydney, while working as Arrow’s understudy, Purcell felt a responsibility to make theatre more accessible to First Nations people. Theatre, he says, is for everyone, and should be available to anyone. When he emailed the producers, they came back with a few hundred tickets, slashing the prices to $10. They then expanded that to include people from the LGBTQI community.

“When I was younger, I had... cousins who would be experiencing racism. Myself, being white-passing, I don’t have those moments. But I live in both the white man’s world and the blackfella’s world,” he says.

“It wasn’t until I was older I could actually understand the arts. You can actually make change with that, or you can bring awareness to stories and voices that aren’t in mainstream media or in society in that respect.

“I think theatre is an incredible place that can hold a number of opinions, and it’s a safe place to be able to have those discussions about what is it to be an artist, you know, you have a lot of Indigenous artists who are already there, and they’re known as Indigenous artists, instead of artists who are Indigenous.”

He is open and contemplative as he reflects on where his 28 years have taken him.

Currently, he is obsessed with bucket lists – “doing things that make me feel alive” — and pushing boundaries. For Purcell, that includes anything from hot-air ballooning to speaking to people he hasn’t had the courage to speak to before. It’s both an experience and lesson for Purcell on how his curiosity overrides, what he describes, the doubt within him.

But the arts have been in Purcell’s blood since he was young. There were some moments where he “tried to get away from it”, but kept being drawn back. Purcell went to performing arts schools for both primary and high school, and after graduating, travelled to America to work as a summer camp counsellor with young performers.

“It was only two hours of the New York so in my break we’d go to the city to watch shows,” he says.

“I saved up as much money as I could to travel to America and I did a student exchange in Illinois for a couple of months there and that was a huge one to go, oh maybe the world is bigger than just Australia or just Newcastle.

“And also the reality is that you see with mob, that there’s always change, there’s still resistance, there’s still work that needs to be done for recognition and empowerment of community.

“It’s understanding my place in the world and how using the arts, I can make that change...through a process of healing, awareness, empowerment, to make space, so hopefully young people can come in and watch Hamilton and they’ll be able to write the next production of it as well.”

The show, Purcell says, is an “opportunity to wake people up and make change”.

“I’m seeing it as an opportunity here to have a conversation with people and to go, what are you doing with your life, are you waiting for it, are you waiting for other people to make change for you, what are you going to do with your legacy? How are you writing your story right now?

“Also, just to feel something again. It’s an incredible show to make people feel things.

“The theatre is the place. We can feel things other than positivity. We can feel anguish, we can feel grief, we can feel betrayal for these characters on stage, but in a safe space. We can be held and feel those things fully and remember what it is to be human again.”

Hamilton begins in Brisbane on January 27, 2023, at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC.