Ilbijerri Theatre Company facts for kids

Ilbijerri Theatre Company is a special theatre group in Australia. It is based in Melbourne. This company creates plays that are made by Indigenous artists. They tell stories from their own culture and experiences. The company's name, Ilbijerri, is pronounced il BIDGE er ree. It comes from the Woiwurrung language and means "coming together for ceremony".

History of Ilbijerri Theatre

Ilbijerri started in 1990. A group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists created it. They wanted to share Indigenous stories from their own point of view.

John Harvey, a theatre and film producer, helped lead Ilbijerri. He was a general manager and co-CEO with Rachael Maza. Daniel Riley, a dancer and choreographer, also worked with the company. He was a creative associate from 2019 to 2021.

Famous Plays by Ilbijerri

Ilbijerri Theatre Company has created many important plays. Here are some of their well-known productions:

Stolen (1998)

• Stolen is a play by Jane Harrison. It was first shown in 1998. Ilbijerri worked with Playbox Theatre to produce it.

Jack Charles v The Crown (2010)

• Jack Charles v The Crown is a play about the life of Jack Charles. It first opened in 2010 at the Melbourne Festival.
• Jack Charles was nominated for an award for his acting in 2012. The play also received a nomination for Best Direction.
• The show toured all over Australia and to other countries. In 2014, Ilbijerri won an award for touring this play.

Beautiful One Day (2015)

• Beautiful One Day is a play that tells a true story. It is about events that happened on Palm Island.
• Ilbijerri worked with Belvoir and version 1.0 to create this play. It was also performed in London in 2015.

Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country (2012)

• Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country is a play based on real historical events. It tells the story of Coranderrk, a former Aboriginal reserve in Victoria.
• Giordano Nanni and Andrea James wrote the play. It was produced with La Mama Theatre and the University of Melbourne.
• The play was performed at the Sydney Opera House in 2012. A new version, simply called Coranderrk, was co-produced with Belvoir Theatre in 2017.

Black Ties (2020)

• Black Ties was written by John Harvey and Tainui Tukiwaho. It is a story about a relationship between a Māori woman and an Aboriginal man.
• It was first performed in January 2020 for the Sydney Festival. Jack Charles, Mark Coles Smith, and Lisa Maza starred in the play.
• The show then toured to Perth, Melbourne, and also to New Zealand.

Big Name, No Blanket (2024)

• Big Name, No Blanket is a musical. It tells the story of the Warumpi Band.
• The musical premiered in January 2024 at the Sydney Festival. Andrea James wrote it with Sammy Butcher and his daughter Anyupa Butcher.
• Rachael Maza and Anyupa Butcher co-directed the show. Baykali Ganambarr plays Sammy Butcher.
• The show was also performed at the RISING Festival in Melbourne, Darwin Festival, and Brisbane Festival. In October 2024, a smaller version of the show toured to 16 prisons.

See also

• Indigenous theatre in Australia