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February 17, 2020 11:58 PM   Subscribe

"When Perth Festival's incoming artist director Iain Grandage announced that his first edition would open with a week of exclusively Indigenous work, it was a big deal: this has never been done before in Australia." Excellent long review by arts editor Dee Jefferson at the ABC.
Even a decade ago, Perth Festival's 2020 opening week would have been unthinkable.
"Only 12 years ago, when I started [as artistic director of Ilbijerri] the saying at the time was 'Yeah, it's risky programming black works, you don't get bums on seats'," said Maza, co-director of Black Ties.
"So if festivals and theatre companies were going to program [your work], it would be the 'risky piece' that they were prepared to have a loss on."
Cut to 2019, and the most produced playwright in Australia was Nakkiah Lui, with the combined power of her plays Black is the New White, Blackie Blackie Brown and How to Rule the World, and with sold-out seasons around the country.
For Perth Festival, ticket sales reveal a similar picture: Bennelong came just shy of selling out; Buŋgul sold out its three performances in Perth Concert Hall; Black Ties had sold out most of its shows at time of writing (following a sold-out Sydney Festival run in January).
"There has been a distinctive shift in this nation … there is a demand for the work," Maza said.
Four significant works featured are:
Buŋgul - a tribute to Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, using music from his final album. (Guardian review))

Hecate - a Noongar language version of Macbeth. Especially exciting as it is part of the language rebirth of Noongar. Part of the Noongar Shakespeare project, Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company in association with Bell Shakespeare. (Excellent longer read about the project by Rebecca Turner at the ABC.)

Bennelong - a production by the Bangarra Dance Theatre. Bennelong tells the story of first contact and the reverberations of colonisation into the present day. (Review at Limelight Magazine.)

Black Ties - a cross-cultural romantic comedy by The Ilbijerri Theatre Company in Australia and Te Rēhia Theatre in New Zealand. (Interview with cast on Pacific Mornings on Radio Australia - 18 minutes.)
posted by freethefeet (4 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
I am looking forward to sitting down and watching all these videos later! Great post!
posted by halcyonday at 5:44 AM on February 18, 2020


This is so interesting; I didn't realize there'd been such a marked shift in demand over the last ten years, even though it makes sense when I think about it. Thank you for posting this.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:04 AM on February 18, 2020


This is so cool and I'm so grateful that you posted this!
posted by cadge at 8:59 AM on February 18, 2020


I love that you posted this, thank you!
It feels like Perth is so remote from most of the Metafilter world and it’s hard to know if it’s just me who thinks my city is doing something amazing with this festival (and the last two years’ events too.) I think this opening week marks a remarkably flourishing post colonial positioning of Western Australia. To see Hecate performed in Noongar, a language resurging here on Noongar Wadjuk land, was profoundly moving as an artefact of the post colonial re-presentation of Country and the Other. To see the incredible Bungul and Bennelong performances, tears-inducing in their mesmeric beauty and storytelling.

The film festival aired In My Blood it Runs, a superb documentary written, filmed and directed by Maya Newell (who directed Gayby Baby.) Newell’s exploration of the ethics of representation, duty of care and other issues involving creating and exploring indigenous life experience in the free discussion ‘Maya Newell in Conversation’ revealed aspects of this genre that every wetjala/ non-aboriginal film maker should consider when considering First Nations storytelling and documentary. Everyone in Australia and wherever should watch this wonderful film. Dujuan, the ten year old Arrernte/ Garrwa boy in the documentary is a total Aussie hero.
posted by honey-barbara at 4:15 AM on February 20, 2020


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