AustLit

'Intercultural dance company Marrugeku bring to life the buried, haunting story of Broome’s pearling industry, and the bond between Malay peoples and First Peoples of the Kimberley.

'Reflecting on early colonial times of racism, slavery and stolen children, Mutiara celebrates a deep connection that often led to love and lifelong companionship.

'Marrugeku’s Dalisa Pigram and Singaporeans Soultari Amin Farid and Zee Zunnur co-choreograph and perform, collaborating with Broome ex-pearl diver Ahmat Bin Fadal, visual artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah on set design and sound by composer Safuan Johari.

'Mutiara’s dance language draws on diasporic connections, Southeast Asian martial art silat, and Yawuru and Minangkabau dance forms, to interrogate a hidden history.

'Bones speak, seas change, ancestral beings feud and deep beneath the surface the pearl diver yearns for home. Mutiara celebrates resilience, love and the strength of ancestors.'

Source: Sydney Festival.

'A noir fable for the demons we invite into our hearts.

'The Demon is a physical theatre work which reimagines a dark story in the history of White Australia. A Chinatown for modern Western Sydney written by Michael Mohammed Ahmad, it explores the bond of two detectives who grew up as brother-boys in Bankstown; Arab Australian Jihad (Johnny Nasser) and his Aboriginal Muslim partner Matthew/Muhammad (Kirk Page).

'Alliances and divisions of family, faith and culture are tested as they investigate a crime allegedly perpetrated by a Chinese Australian street fighter Wei (Yvonne Huang) and her gang; The Celestials. Wei draws the detectives on a road trip from Western Sydney out west to Burrangong, site of the Lamming Flat Riots in 1861. To solve this mystery, the brothers must confront the landscape and its hidden demons and ask themselves: does a curse inhabit a land or its people?

'The Demon is an action-packed play with a thriller twist, featuring filmic dance theatre and aerial stunts that push the boundaries of magic realism on stage. Co-created by writer Michael Mohammed Ahmad, director Rachael Swain and choreographer Gavin Webber.

'Co-commissioned by OzAsia Festival and the Sydney Opera House and enabled for the Opera House by New Work Now founding supporter Prof Ross Steele AM.'

(https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/events/whats-on/unwrapped/2022/the-demon.html)

'Challenging, joyful and deeply affecting, Jurrungu Ngan-ga confronts Australia’s shameful fixation with incarceration in a powerful and provocative new dance work. Inspired by perspectives on incarceration, Jurrungu Ngan-ga reflects on the disgraceful disproportion of Indigenous Australians in custody and first-hand descriptions of life inside Australia’s immigration detention centres. Searing truths blend with dark humour, fear, sadness and courage to shine a light on new ways to resist and to empower us all to rewrite our future – together.' (Production summary)