Ilbijerri Theatre Company, formerly Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Cooperative and also known simply as Ilbijerri, styled ILBIJERRI, is an Australian theatre company based in Melbourne that creates theatre creatively controlled by Indigenous artists.
History
editIlbijerri was founded in 1990 as Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Cooperative by a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists galvanised to tell Indigenous stories from an Indigenous perspective.[1] Ilbijerri, pronounced il BIDGE er ree, is a Woiwurrung language word meaning "coming together for ceremony".[2]
Dancer and choreographer Daniel Riley worked as associate producer and then creative associate for Ilbijerri between 2019 and 2021.[3]
Notable productions
edit- Stolen by Jane Harrison, commissioned in 1992 and first performed in a 1998 co-production with Playbox Theatre
- Jack Charles v The Crown, about the life of Jack Charles, which premiered in 2010 at the Melbourne Festival.[4] Charles was nominated for a Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Play for his performance in the play in 2012,[5] and the play was also nominated for Best Direction of a Play.[when?][citation needed] The show toured across Australia and internationally, and in 2014, Ilbijerri was joint winner of a Drover Award from APACA,[6] and Ilbijerri Theatre, toured by Performing Lines, won the Helpmann Award for Best Regional Touring Production.[7] and in the same year
- Beautiful One Day, a theatrical documentary about events on Palm Island (co-produced with Belvoir and version 1.0), which also played at London's Southbank Centre as part of the 2015 Origins Festival of First Nations[8]
- Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country, a verbatim theatre work based on historical events at Coranderrk, a former Aboriginal reserve in Victoria. Giordano Nanni and Yorta Yorta/Kurnai playwright Andrea James wrote the play, and it was co-produced with La Mama Theatre, in collaboration with the University of Melbourne.[9] It was performed at the Playhouse at Sydney Opera House in June/July 2012.[10][9][11][12]
- In 2016, Ilbijerri performed a tanderrum ceremony to open the Melbourne Festival[13]
- Coranderrk, a recreation of the 1881 Coranderrk inquiry, was co-produced with Belvoir Theatre in 2017.[14]
- Black Ties, a story about a cross-cultural relationship between a Māori woman and an Aboriginal man, was first performed for the Sydney Festival in January 2020, starring Jack Charles, Mark Coles Smith, and Lisa Maza, and co-directed by Rachael Maza Long .[15] It then toured to Perth, Melbourne, and then Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand in February and March of that year.,[16]
- Big Name, No Blanket, a musical based on the story of the Warumpi Band, premiered in January 2024 at the Sydney Festival. It was written by Andrea James with Sammy Butcher and his daughter Anyupa Butcher, and co-directed by Rachael Maza and Anyupa Butcher.[17][18][19] Baykali Ganambarr plays Sammy Butcher.[20] The show was also performed at the RISING Festival in Melbourne, Darwin Festival, and Brisbane Festival.[21] In October 2024 a slightly scaled-down version of the show was undertaking a tour of 16 prisons, supported by the Balnaves Foundation.[20]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Ilbijerri Theatre Company: A history – Maggie Journal". Maggie Journal. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
- ^ "About". ILBIJERRI Theatre Company. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ "Board". Tandanya. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
- ^ "Jack Charles V The Crown". Melbourne Festival 2011. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
- ^ "Past nominees and winners". Helpmann Awards 2012: Theatre. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- ^ Wade, Matthew (11 July 2014). "Talent crowned with touring awards". ArtsHub Australia. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- ^ "Past nominees and winners: 2014: Best Regional Touring Production". Helpmann Awards. 1 January 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- ^ Ross, Annabel. "Beautiful One Day: Ilbijerri Theatre takes Palm Island story to London". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
- ^ a b "About". The Juice Media. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ "Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country". ILBIJERRI Theatre Company. 5 September 2018. Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ "Coranderrk: We will show the country". AIATSIS. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020.
- ^ Nanni, Giordano; James, Andrea (2013). "Coranderrk: We will show the country [catalogue entry]". AIATSIS. Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN 9781922059390. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ "Melbourne festival a celebration of song, film and art". National Indigenous Times. 12 September 2016. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016.
- ^ "Coranderrk". ILBIJERRI Theatre Company. 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ "Black Ties". AusStage. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ "Mark Coles Smith". AusStage. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ Tongue, Cassie (12 January 2024). "Big Name No Blankets review – Warumpi Band musical is a joyous, rollicking tribute". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
- ^ "Big Name, No Blankets". Ilbijerri. 25 October 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
- ^ Garrick, Matt (6 August 2024). "Decades after bursting out of the Red Centre, Warumpi Band's story returns to the territory". ABC News. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
- ^ a b Quinn, Karl (19 October 2024). "Big Name, No Blankets: Ilbijerri show about Warumpi band tours prisons". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
- ^ "Big Name, No Blanket". Ilbijerri. 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.