Presented with BlakDance as a part of Brisbane Festival, Queensland Theatre's Dear Brother - a powerful story of adolescence, self-discovery and an unbreakable connection to Country - held its world premiere at the Bille Brown Theatre on Saturday, with great success.
Running from September 7-28, Dear Brother is a thought-provoking story of brotherhood and Aboriginal masculinity told through dance
Conceptualised by Djabuganjdji man Lenny Donahue and Girramay and Kalkadoon man Tibian Wyles, and directed by multi-award-winning creative, Noongar man Isaac Drandic (37, At What Cost?, City of Gold) the bold, boundary-pushing original work is set to electrify the Queensland stage over September.
Also acting as Queensland Theatre associate artistic director (First Nations), Drandic shared that it is through movement that we see deeper meaning - as further supporting throughout this production and the dancer's movements.
"We don't often get to see dance on stage, and certainly not to this extent. The piece incorporates traditional and contemporary movements in a way that's pivotal to the story-telling. It's going to be magical and something we have never seen on a Queensland Theatre stage before," he said.
"Through the movement, we see the inside story and history of a deep ancestral connection, with a distinct language from each actor's unique cultural journey. Their bodies are able to portray the story in such a way that we can feel the movements of generations of ancestors' past inbuilt in their bodies through each nuance of the performance."
The new play will also be the first project the trio of creatives will embark on together, but follows Drandic's prior projects working with both playwrights. Drandic initially met Donahue on local creative works in their shared hometown of Cairns and most recently worked with Wyles in Queensland Theatre's 5-star powerhouse production featuring a 10-strong-cast, 37.
Wyles said Dear Brother fuses 65,000 years of culture and storytelling with modern day influences and experiences.
"The play is a special story about brotherhood and solidarity, and how we can come together to support, uplift and empower one another," he said.
"We are drawing from over 65,000 years of culture and storytelling, blending this with modern influences and experiences to show how stereotypes of masculinity can be used to heal generations. We want to show a different side to Aboriginal people and Aboriginal men."
The play's representation of brotherhood further mirrors the sentiment of the collaboration between Lenny and Tibian in the writing and production of the project as they both take to the stage as first-time playwrights – an exciting time for both the creatives themselves and patron attending the play.
"Lenny and Tibian are such brilliant dancers, actors and storytellers, and it's been really special to see them draw from these backgrounds to embark on telling this story with a new and exciting lens. The form of the work is really rooted in who they are as individual performers," said Drandric.
Tickets for Dear Brother are available now online, running from Saturday the 7th of September until Saturday the 28th of September.
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