Performing arts
Drama principles and protocols
An increasingly popular addition to this kind
of consultation is the engagement of an
Indigenous cultural consultant or advisor to work
with the cast and crew. This is an important part
of the production of dramatic works for both
Indigenous and non-Indigenous performers.
A cultural advisor will provide important
information on the protocols relevant to the
particular dramatic work.
Case study: Yirra Yaakin Noongar
Theatre – The Dreamers
In the 2002 season of The Dreamers,
directed by Wesley Enoch, the theatre
company Company B employed Lynette
Narkle, associate director at Yirra Yaakin
Noongar Theatre, as cultural advisor.
Enoch worked closely with the family of the
playwright, the late Jack Davis. The play
involved references to Western Australian
Indigenous cultural material, and Lynette
was contracted to ensure that the proper
cultural protocols were followed.25
Case study: Kooemba Jdarra
Indigenous Performing Arts –
Luck of the Draw
The play, Luck of the Draw, tells the story
of some members and family of the Stolen
Generation. When Kooemba Jdarra, an
Indigenous performing arts company based
in Brisbane, performed the play, the company
hired an elder from Cherbourg to advise the
cast and crew on cultural issues.26
A number of Indigenous groups consult
regularly with the Indigenous community on
the development of their overall work, and
the development of particular performances.
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Comment: Ilbijerri Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Theatre
Co-operative
At Ilbijerri we are focusing on strategies to
get as many Indigenous people to come
along to performances as possible as our
primary goal is to produce works for and by
our community. Our ‘Blak Bums on Seats’
project ran focus groups with Indigenous
organisations and community members
to find out what audiences want, so Ilbijerri
can cater for those audience needs. We are
asking, “What do Indigenous audiences
want to see?” and using those answers
to guide our development.27
Case study: Kooemba Jdarra
Indigenous Performing Arts
When Kooemba Jdarra presented Going to
the Island, about the Minjerribah community
on Stradbroke Island, consultations with the
community commenced at the writing stage.
Performing arts
Drama principles and protocols
Case study: Ilbijerri Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Theatre
Co-operative
Since 2005, Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Theatre Co-operative has
collaborated with Indigenous community
partners to ensure that its work is meaningful
to the Indigenous community. Ilbijerri teams
up with an Indigenous organisation with
specialised skills as co-producers. The
Indigenous community partner works with
Ilbijerri on the creative development, is
consulted and involved at each step, and is
acknowledged for its contribution to the
production. The productions are also the
beginning of an ongoing relationship
between Ilbijerri and the Indigenous
community partners.
Although the process of production was
more time consuming, it resulted in a
production everyone was happy with. The
Stradbroke community felt a great sense
of ownership of the work and supported
it enthusiastically during the performance.
The Dirty Mile is a collaboration with Parkies
Vic Inc., the community organisation that
represents the Parkies who live and socialise
in Melbourne’s public space. Through Ilbijerri’s
Indigenous community partnership with
Parkies Vic, permission to perform on the
land in Fitzroy could be worked through.
The partnership also meant that the Parkies
were an important part of the production and
were involved in performance. The story of
Fitzroy is one of a continual and ongoing
attempts to disperse the local Aboriginal
population and it is also a story of the ongoing
resistance to those pressures. By working
in partnership with Parkies Vic, Ilbijerri was
able to undertake a cultural process to
recognise this important organisation and
support that resistance.
Kooemba Jdarra has developed strong
community consultation protocols for
production of its work, and Going to the
Island was a great example of the successful
operation of its cultural protocols.28
In another example, the Department of
Human Services’ Blood Borne Viruses
section asked Ilbijerri to create a production
about Hepatitis C. Ilbijerri asked its peak
Indigenous community health organisation,
A non-Indigenous writer based at Kooemba
Jdarra initiated consultation with the
Stradbroke Island community through the
Indigenous theatre group members. Drafts
of the play were sent to the community
to be checked for accuracy and to seek
the community’s creative contributions
to the work.
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the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled
Health Organisation (VACCHO), to be
involved. VACCHO’s role as a partner on
Chopped Liver is significant and extends
Ilbijerri’s ability to find Indigenous ways of
working. This partnership draws on
VACCHO’s network of member health
services to directly involve their health
workers in bringing their clients as audiences
to Chopped Liver. VACCHO also contributed
significantly to the script development, making
sure the health facts were correct and that
the play was written in a voice its clients
would recognise.29
Case study: Yirra Yaakin
Noongar Theatre
Individuals
In some instances our work has focused on
telling the life story of an individual person.
After consultation with the broader
community, we usually find the individual is
the best person to do the consultation and
we leave the community consultation to that
individual. The contract, in those cases,
gives royalties to the individual and to the
family members who were consulted.
Communities
In 1999 we wanted to develop work based
on the traditional stories about waterways
in the southwest of Western Australia. We
knew families from that area who had those
stories, so we went and talked to them.
They in turn advised that we talk to others
– and this of course unearthed more
stories. We spent about six to eight months
talking to the owners of those stories. The
work we produced in 2000 was called
Djildjit. It’s not unusual for any of our works
to be developed over an 18 to 20-month
period before production starts.