YIRRA Yaakin (Stand Tall in Noongar language) is renowned for its long history of sharing Aboriginal stories.
Now, for the first time, the Subiaco theatre company showcases a new cultural perspective with an Italian-Australian voice interwoven in the script.
Sista Girl follows a first nations woman and an Italian-Australian woman who meet for the first time across the bed of a dying man: their father.
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READ NOWBonded by blood and grief, the sisters break the silence of the hospital room to start a difficult conversation.
Will they be able to connect with such vastly different backgrounds?
“I’ve told so many stories as theatre director that cover Aboriginal culture and the opportunity to share Italian-Australian culture is such a privilege and I really think our audience will get a sense of the connection between our minority groups in Australia,” director Kyle Morrison said.
“We’ve got a Greek-Australian female writer (Elena Carapetis) and an Aboriginal-Australian female writer (Alexis West): these are minorities within minorities talking about the strength of their own identities.
“The conversation between these two artists as played out by the characters on stage is a conversation that I think should be had more in Australia: it’s not a conversation about reconciliation, or recognition, it’s about two people having an understanding of each other from their own cultural perspective and that is more important than any other overarching idea of reconciliation.”
Morrison, with the company since 2009, said the production was an important work for all Aussies to watch, especially men.
“Men should sit at the back of the room and just listen,” he said.
“The future of the Australian narrative should be written by women because the narrative of this country has been written by privileged men who have gotten it wrong and the truth of our human experience has lost the strength of femininity because it’s dominated by male ego.”
THE ESSENTIALS
What: Sista Girl
When: August 9-19
Where: Subiaco Arts Centre
Tickets: www.ticketek.com.au
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