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'Reconciliation… or revenge?
'Somewhere in the Australian bush, mild-mannered archaeologist Dr Jacqueline Black is conducting a survey on a site intended for the new factory of a shadowy corporation. She’s under pressure to provide the all-clear, but when her dig uncovers a mass grave, she picks up a skull and is immediately over-powered by the spirit of her Aboriginal great-great-grandmother. Blackie Blackie Brown, cold-blooded vigilante, is born.
'In a no-holds-barred gore-fest, she’s going to kill all the descendants of the men who massacred her ancestors. White people, watch out. You could be one of them.
'Paying homage to blaxploitation movies, Blackie Blackie Brown features the work of Barkindji, Birri-Gubba illustrator Emily Johnson and animations by visual effects whiz-kids Oh Yeah Wow. Nakkiah Lui’s script matches perfectly the lo-fi, hi-camp style of director Declan Greene (Sisters Grimm’s Calpurnia Descending).
'With break-out newcomer Megan Wilding in the title role, and the ever-hilarious Ash Flanders playing every white person she needs to kill, this two-hander is a wild ride that will have you laughing out loud while squirming in your seat.
'All in all, it’s precisely the violent and uncompromising take-down that our country’s genocidal history had coming.'
Source: STC.
Notes
-
Additional Awards:
Sydney Theatre Awards:
Best Lighting Design of a Mainstage Production (winner, 2018).
Green Room Awards:
Set and Costume Design (winner, 2019).
Composition (nominated, 2019).
Helpmann Awards:
Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role (nominated, 2019).
Production Details
-
World premiere, Sydney Theatre Company (Wharf 2 Theatre, 12 May - 30 June 2018).
Director: Declan Greene.
Designer: Elizabeth Gadsby.
Animation: Oh Yeah Wow.
Lighting & AV Designer: Verity Hampson.
Concept Artist: Emily Johnson.
With Ash Flanders, Megan Wilding.
Illustration: Emily Johnson.
Subsequently performed as part of Malthouse Theatre's 2018 season, 5-29 July 2018, with the same cast and crew.
Revived for the 2019 Malthouse Theatre season, 29 August - 8 September 2019.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
White Australia Has A Blackie Blackie Brown History
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: NEW : Emerging Scholars in Australian Indigenous Studies , March vol. 5 no. 1 2020;
— Review of Blackie Blackie Brown : The Traditional Owner of Death 2018 single work drama 'The gatekeepers for institutions of fine arts, classical music and theatre in Australia are traditionally white, upper middle-class people. Nakkiah Lui’s existence and success as an Indigenous playwright is a radical disturbance in this bubble of society as, by nature, stories and storytellers that challenge cultural hegemony will always be political, and Blak artists entering theatre demonstrate a fusion and adaptation of Indigenous oral traditions into Australia’s highbrow society. Aboriginal playwrights and performances have a complex history in terms of audience reception as they often deal with difficult and confronting topics that ‘regular’ theatre audiences may not engage with (Grehan 2010). Not only do they have the burden of representing ‘all’ Aboriginal people, but the stories they share are often those whose voices were historically silenced, erased or dismissed (Morris 1992).' -
White Australia Has A Blackie Blackie Brown History
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: NEW : Emerging Scholars in Australian Indigenous Studies , March vol. 5 no. 1 2020;
— Review of Blackie Blackie Brown : The Traditional Owner of Death 2018 single work drama 'The gatekeepers for institutions of fine arts, classical music and theatre in Australia are traditionally white, upper middle-class people. Nakkiah Lui’s existence and success as an Indigenous playwright is a radical disturbance in this bubble of society as, by nature, stories and storytellers that challenge cultural hegemony will always be political, and Blak artists entering theatre demonstrate a fusion and adaptation of Indigenous oral traditions into Australia’s highbrow society. Aboriginal playwrights and performances have a complex history in terms of audience reception as they often deal with difficult and confronting topics that ‘regular’ theatre audiences may not engage with (Grehan 2010). Not only do they have the burden of representing ‘all’ Aboriginal people, but the stories they share are often those whose voices were historically silenced, erased or dismissed (Morris 1992).' -
Telling the Untold Stories : Alexis Wright on Censorship
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , February 2019; Overland , Autumn no. 234 2019; (p. 16-21)'I would like to acknowledge the Boomwurung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and pay respect to their elders, past and present, and extend that respect to other Aboriginal people here today.
'I would also like to acknowledge the ancestral stories of our people which we safeguard in the world’s oldest library – the land, seas, skies and atmosphere of this country.
'It is a great honor and privilege to give the 2018 Stephen Murray-Smith Memorial Lecture. One small thing that I have in common with Stephen Murray-Smith is that I also came from a home that was bookless, but even so, I would not have traded a childhood that was enriched every day by the oral storytelling culture of my family and our people. Now I live more than a thousand miles from my home in this beautiful city of literature. I read that Stephen Murray-Smith had unswerving principles about the things he believed in, and I am sometimes like this too.' (Introduction)
-
Don’t Mess Around with Blackie Blackie Brown
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 30 April 2018; -
Nakkiah Lui Unleashes Vigilante Aboriginal Superhero 'Blackie Blackie Brown' in Her New Comedy
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , May 2018;'"Your white meat is DONE, motherf***er!" The words, growled by an unseen protagonist, echo around Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf 2 theatre.'
-
White Australia Has A Blackie Blackie Brown History
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: NEW : Emerging Scholars in Australian Indigenous Studies , March vol. 5 no. 1 2020;
— Review of Blackie Blackie Brown : The Traditional Owner of Death 2018 single work drama 'The gatekeepers for institutions of fine arts, classical music and theatre in Australia are traditionally white, upper middle-class people. Nakkiah Lui’s existence and success as an Indigenous playwright is a radical disturbance in this bubble of society as, by nature, stories and storytellers that challenge cultural hegemony will always be political, and Blak artists entering theatre demonstrate a fusion and adaptation of Indigenous oral traditions into Australia’s highbrow society. Aboriginal playwrights and performances have a complex history in terms of audience reception as they often deal with difficult and confronting topics that ‘regular’ theatre audiences may not engage with (Grehan 2010). Not only do they have the burden of representing ‘all’ Aboriginal people, but the stories they share are often those whose voices were historically silenced, erased or dismissed (Morris 1992).' -
Young Black Writers Are Told 'Don't Make Art' but Nakkiah Lui Stretches What Is Possible
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 16 May 2018;'Lui has been criticised by Quadrant and News Corp. Would this have been the case if she wasn’t black?'
-
Blackie Blackie Brown Review – Murderous Heroine Dishes Out Revenge and Laughs
2018
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 22 May 2018;'Not your everyday superhero story, Nakkiah Lui’s satirical revenge comedy takes on colonisation with unexpected consequences.'
-
Nakkiah Lui Unleashes Vigilante Aboriginal Superhero 'Blackie Blackie Brown' in Her New Comedy
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , May 2018;'"Your white meat is DONE, motherf***er!" The words, growled by an unseen protagonist, echo around Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf 2 theatre.'
-
Don’t Mess Around with Blackie Blackie Brown
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 30 April 2018; -
Telling the Untold Stories : Alexis Wright on Censorship
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , February 2019; Overland , Autumn no. 234 2019; (p. 16-21)'I would like to acknowledge the Boomwurung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and pay respect to their elders, past and present, and extend that respect to other Aboriginal people here today.
'I would also like to acknowledge the ancestral stories of our people which we safeguard in the world’s oldest library – the land, seas, skies and atmosphere of this country.
'It is a great honor and privilege to give the 2018 Stephen Murray-Smith Memorial Lecture. One small thing that I have in common with Stephen Murray-Smith is that I also came from a home that was bookless, but even so, I would not have traded a childhood that was enriched every day by the oral storytelling culture of my family and our people. Now I live more than a thousand miles from my home in this beautiful city of literature. I read that Stephen Murray-Smith had unswerving principles about the things he believed in, and I am sometimes like this too.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2019 nominated Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia — Best Production of a Play
- 2019 nominated Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia — Best Direction of a Play
- 2019 nominated Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia — Best New Australian Work
- 2019 nominated Victorian Green Room Awards — Production : Theatre - Companies
- 2019 nominated Victorian Green Room Awards — Writing/Adaptation for the Australian Stage
