Memories are made of this as Bryan Brown nails it in his poetry slam debut at Bankstown

Laconic Bryan Brown showed he is very much the people’s favourite as he charmed his way through his poetry slam debut at the theatre named in his honour.

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It may have been Bryan Brown’s poetry slam debut but it went down a storm with the mostly academic and business crowd attending the Out There Summit to discuss development in western Sydney.

Panania’s most famous actor still loves being a westie and is something the boy next door is always proud of, as he said several times during the successful event at Bryan Brown Theatre in Bankstown on Tuesday. The forum was organised by the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue.

Brown’s poetry duet with Bankstown Slam co-founder and director, the wonderfully talented Sara Mansour, had the audience rocking with laughter as they enjoyed the humorous interlude during the heavy topics.

Bankstown Poetry Slam co-founder Sara Mansour performing with Bryan Brown at the Bryan Brown Theatre. Picture: Simon Bullard

Brown, who won a Logie on Sunday for the TV series Bloom, was certainly blooming as he matched wits in the poetry slam with Mansour on the differences in their generations.

Usually poetry slams are sole efforts but their joint effort was something special and proved why both are so successful in their respective fields.

From the Logies, Elvis, the Beatles to Hanson, Jimmy Barnes, mobile phones to Botox to dunny carts, Brown and Mansour sparred on stage before coming back to the magic glue which keeps them and the community together: Bankstown.

A section of the crowd which attended the forum.

“Really things haven’t really changed,” the famous actor said. “I’m still a Bankstown boy and she is still a Bankstown girl.

“Our credibility is being a westie.”

Mansour, a lawyer by profession, said she started the Bankstown Poetry Slam six years ago so people don’t have to go far to perform or enjoy it.

“It is now the biggest poetry slam in the country and we have it every month at the Bankstown Arts Centre,” she said.

Brown later told The Express that he was still very much a part of the local scene and served as the patron for the Bankstown Arts Centre.

Lucy Turnbull spoke at Bryan Brown Theatre. Picture: Simon Bullard

Former NSW Premier, Bob Carr at the Bryan Brown Theatre. Picture: Simon Bullard

“Being a fellow who grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney, I have been asked at different times to talk about what it was like growing up here and with Sara Mansour, who is Lebanese Australian, she would talk about what it is about growing up now,” Brown said.

“So this time they asked us to do a poetry slam about generation differences and so that’s why I came here to make a fool of myself.

“I suppose you could say I was performing but the others would say it wasn’t much of a performance.

“But it was delight to be up here. I am very honoured there is a place called the Bryan Brown Theatre and don’t ask me how these things happen.”

Brown said he follows Bankstown Poetry Slam a lot and is proud of what Mansour and the others have achieved.

“I am a big follower of the poetry slam and have been here a number of times,” he said.

“It is a wonderful thing where young men and women talk about their struggles, their joys, pain, family life, through poetry.

“It is a wonderful thing.”

Former NSW premier Bob Carr, Education Minister Sarah Mitchell, Greater Sydney Commission chief commissioner Lucy Turnbull, Urban Taskforce’s Chris Johnson, Catholic Diocese of Parramatta executive director of schools’ Greg Whitby, Western Sydney University’s Prof Barney Glover, Dr Andy Marks, Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour, Dr Michael Spence of the University of Sydney and Graeme Beatty of Canterbury Bankstown Council were among the many top speakers and moderators at the summit, hosted superbly by the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue.

Maths guru and YouTube sensation Eddie Woo delivered the 2019 Lachlan Macquarie Lecture while Punchbowl Boys High School’s award-winning 320 Band performed at the closing ceremony.