AustLit

'Bilya Kaatijin (“Fresh Water Knowledge” in Noongar)

'Connecting stories from Noongar land (south-west Western Australia) to Wonguktha land (the northern Goldfields), Aotearoa (New Zealand) and the Kikuyu people of Kenya, Bilya Kaatijin teaches us about the importance of water to First Nations people around the world.'

Source: Playlab.

'Djinda has come out of a bad marriage and moved back in with family. Her best friend Hope is also single and ready to mingle. Djinda is back on the market, but her overprotective brother is getting in the way. Justin is the new man on the scene but is he too smooth? Djinda doesn’t want to risk another broken heart. Because no one comes without baggage after 30!' (Production summary)

'In a world where the Noongar language is spoken by all, a yarn about a Scottish king is retold.

'Join Yirra Yaakin, one of Australia’s leading Aboriginal performing arts organisations for Australia’s first large-scale Shakespeare production entirely in Noongar. 

'Hecate, queen of the witches, is usually omitted from productions of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Most directors are unsure of what to do with her. Here, she is at the heart of everything watching as Macbeth strives toward power at any cost, all the while knowing that order must be restored; that Country always trumps human ambition and greed.

'In 1833 colonist Robert Menli Lyon wrote in reference to Noongar people that ‘the whole of each tribe are bards’. This world premiere event puts those words to the test. Having spent years studying and reclaiming their endangered Noongar language, a star ensemble use this audacious adaptation as a springboard to showcase its poetic and expressive qualities.'

Source: Perth Festival.

'Frankie is in jail for serious offences of assault and drug possession. She’s bitter, disenfranchised and just wants to live life on her terms. But jail is a temporary escape for her – free from financial hardship, homelessness, and hunger. Cracked is the story of Frankie as she rages her way through the criminal justice system with the hope of being reunited with her kids. Weaving several narratives, Cracked shows the complexity and disconnectedness of people that fall into a life of crime, and the trials faced by prisoners and others who are determined to help them find a better life. Written by Barbara Hostalek, whose first play Banned sold out two seasons at The Blue Room Theatre in 2018, Cracked is a powerful and thought-provoking look inside our criminal justice system from an exciting new voice.'(Introduction)

'In 2012, in an international first, Yirra Yaakin presented translated Shakespeare's Sonnets in the Noongar language as part of The Globe Theatre’s Cultural Olympiad in London. This was followed in 2013 by a presentation of a selection of the Sonnets at the Opening of the Perth International Arts Festival, another first for the Company. These Yirra Yaakin presentations represented an important moment in celebrating Noongar culture and language internationally, in addition to generating a sense of pride and connection within the Noongar community.'

'In 2015 we continued this evolution of translating Shakespeare Sonnets into the Noongar language with an expansion of these initial seeding projects. We began a Noongar language-training program for selected Yirra Yaakin artists, which included developing a schools based workshop residency program that was successfully piloted with Clontarf Aboriginal College.' (Source: Yirra Yakkin website)

'Boodjar Kaatijin will be the third instalment of the successful Kaatijin series of new works for families and younger audiences. Just as Kep Kaatijin was about understanding water and Kaarla Kaatijin about understanding fire, Boodjar Kaatijin incorporates live music with storytelling to share Noongar understanding of the Earth and country. This new work is based on the creation stories in and around the Perth metropolitan area, so by sharing stories from our local region, we hope to give audiences in Perth a glimpse of the cultural significance of the places in which we live.' (Source: Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company website)