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y separately published work icon The Visitors single work   drama  
Date: 2023
Date: 2020
Date: 2014
Issue Details: First known date: 2014... 2014 The Visitors
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Seven senior law men, in fine suits, meet on the shores of a harbour to discuss the 11 large boats that have just arrived. Should they be welcomed to country or should these seven clan representatives of the Dharug nation, people from what became known as Sydney, combine to get rid of the unwelcome visitors? They take a vote – it must be unanimous – and one of them reckons the visitors mightn’t be all bad. This is a powerful, imaginative response to the beginnings of modern Australia.' (Production summary)

Adaptations

The Visitors Jane Harrison , Christopher Sainsbury (composer), 2023 single work musical theatre opera

'We join seven Aboriginal Elders in 1788 as they meet ‘The Visitors’.

;Imbued with Aboriginal customs, melody and humour from composer Christopher Sainsbury and libretto by original playwright and Muruwari woman, Jane Harrison, it tells the story of the early days of colonialism and its impacts on the First Peoples. Through metaphors of birds falling from the sky and changes to the weather, we watch as the Elders question how to respond to ‘the visitors’.'

Source: Production blurb.

Production Details

  • Presented by Melbourne Theatre Company and performed as part of the Melbourne Indigenous Arts Festival, 6-8 February 2014.

    Director: Leah Purcell

    Cast: Sermsah Bin Saad, Kamahi Djordon King, Greg Fryer, James Henry, Glenn Maynard, Leroy Parsons, and Glenn Shea.

    Developed with the assistance of Moogahlin Theatre Company. Performed as part of the Sydney Festival, 22-26 January 2020.

    Cast: John Blair, Damion Hunter, Colin Kinchela, Nathan Leslie, Leroy Parsons, Glenn Shea, and Kerri Simpson.

    Director: Frederick Copperwaite.      

    Producer: Liza-Mare Syron.

    Lighting Designer: Chloe Ogilvie.

    Sound Designer: Phil Downing.

    Community Liaison & Assistant Sound Designer: Timothy Gray.

    Production Manager: Liv Anstis.

    Assistant Producer: Corrine Shepherd.  

    Set and Costume Designer: Lisa Mimmochi.

    Presented by Moogahlin Performing Arts and Sydney Theatre Company at Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 11 September - 14 October 2023.

    Director: Wesley Enoch.

    Cast: Wiradjuri actor Luke Carroll, Wiradjuri and Gamilaraay actor Beau Dean Riley Smith, and Gumbaynggirr and Wiradjuri actor Dalara Williams.

    Moogahlin Performing Arts and Sydney Theatre Company production presented at Merrigong Theatre Company (IMB Theatre), 25-28 October 2023.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 2014
    • Strawberry Hills, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 6582173337985421335.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 80p.
      Note/s:
      ISBN: 9781760626761
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Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
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Related Works

Is a New Play about the Arrival of the First Fleet Australia’s Answer to 12 Angry Men? Steve Meacham , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 15 January 2020;

'Playwright Jane Harrison’s acclaimed work, Stolen, voiced stories of the stolen generations. Now she’s taken on Australia Day.'

(Source : Abstract)
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (1)

Works about this Work

The Visitors Review – Wesley Enoch at His Best in Play That Thrums with Fresh Potency Larissa Behrendt , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 19 September 2023;
— Review of The Visitors Jane Harrison , 2014 single work drama 'Jane Harrison’s play tells of the first fleet landing from the perspective of the First Nations people watching. It’s a story set in the past – but its most potent questions are about the future'
Festival Platform Shares Our Voice Kirk Page , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 15 January no. 717 2020; (p. 28-29) 'Sydney Festival's Blak Out program is the largest single commissioner of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander works in the country. Artistic director Wesley Enoch said Sydney Festival 2020 presents 46 new co-commissioned works, a great many with Indigenous themes at their heart. "There's politics and social perspectives all throughout everything we do," Enoch said. "And it's interesting this idea of history and retrospectives. When you have someone like (visual artist) Vernon Ah Kee doing his work, called The Island, which is looking at Palm Island and (artist) Fiona Foley and her exhibition work, it's both the contemporary and the historical sitting side by side. "When there is more representation, you can look at the diversity of the voices that non-Indigenous Australia is hearing from us." ' (Introduction)
 
The Visitors Review : A Witty Imagining of What Went before That Fateful Encounter Bronwyn Carlson , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 23 January 2020;
— Review of The Visitors Jane Harrison , 2014 single work drama

'Sydney Festival has really outdone themselves this season with a spectacular line-up of Indigenous shows to choose from including The Visitors.'
New Play Looks at Gadigal Perspective 2019 single work column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 4 December no. 715 2019; (p. 37) 'Muruwari woman and playwright Jane Harrison is set to premiere her new work The Visitors in January, next year.' (Introduction)
The Visitors Review : A Witty Imagining of What Went before That Fateful Encounter Bronwyn Carlson , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 23 January 2020;
— Review of The Visitors Jane Harrison , 2014 single work drama

'Sydney Festival has really outdone themselves this season with a spectacular line-up of Indigenous shows to choose from including The Visitors.'
The Visitors Review – Wesley Enoch at His Best in Play That Thrums with Fresh Potency Larissa Behrendt , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 19 September 2023;
— Review of The Visitors Jane Harrison , 2014 single work drama 'Jane Harrison’s play tells of the first fleet landing from the perspective of the First Nations people watching. It’s a story set in the past – but its most potent questions are about the future'
Festival Platform Shares Our Voice Kirk Page , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 15 January no. 717 2020; (p. 28-29) 'Sydney Festival's Blak Out program is the largest single commissioner of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander works in the country. Artistic director Wesley Enoch said Sydney Festival 2020 presents 46 new co-commissioned works, a great many with Indigenous themes at their heart. "There's politics and social perspectives all throughout everything we do," Enoch said. "And it's interesting this idea of history and retrospectives. When you have someone like (visual artist) Vernon Ah Kee doing his work, called The Island, which is looking at Palm Island and (artist) Fiona Foley and her exhibition work, it's both the contemporary and the historical sitting side by side. "When there is more representation, you can look at the diversity of the voices that non-Indigenous Australia is hearing from us." ' (Introduction)
 
New Play Looks at Gadigal Perspective 2019 single work column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 4 December no. 715 2019; (p. 37) 'Muruwari woman and playwright Jane Harrison is set to premiere her new work The Visitors in January, next year.' (Introduction)
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Awards

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Last amended 4 Aug 2023 10:11:04
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