Carriageworks to Present WINYANBOGA YURRINGA

Winyanboga Yurringa will premiere at Carriageworks in August and be followed by a short season at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre.

Inspired by ground-breaking SBS tele-series Women of the Sun (written by the late Hyllus Maris and Sonia Borg) the moving new play is about six Aboriginal women, on country, which takes the intergenerational pulse of Aboriginal women today to expose the complexity and beauty of women's business and identity. It featured in Playwriting Australia's National Play Festival in Perth in 2013.

The lives and aspirations of Aboriginal women will be performed by some of the country's finest Indigenous actors including Elaine Crombie (Redfern Now, Black Talk, Jackie Jackie), Shari Sebbens (Sapphires) Tessa Rose (Redfern Now and Gods of Wheat Street) plus the up and coming Alexis Lane (Cleverman) and newcomers Pamela Young and Angeline Penrith.

Central to the play is the provocative imagery of Wathaurong artist Bindi Cole, who was born in 1975 in Melbourne. Bindi has been commissioned to make new video portraits for the production that will feature prominently in the design. Utilising photography and moving imagery, Bindi has fearlessly explored her Aboriginality through her art and is one of Australia's leading contemporary visual artists. Her maiden exhibition was critiqued by right-wing commentator Andrew Bolt and consequently Bindi was one of nine Aboriginal defendants who successfully sued Bolt for breach of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Writer/director Andrea James interviewed Aboriginal women living in Melbourne and on Yorta Yorta Country whose stories, experiences, philosophies and hope for the future inspired and shaped the work. In an all-Aboriginal women's cast of six that hasn't been seen on stage for a very long time, the play crackles with acerbic wit and humorous banter; and explores the women's struggles, desires, temptations and love for people and land, despite the many challenges that are faced day to day.

Set in regional Victoria on Yorta Yorta country at a campsite on the banks of an inland river and guided by their Auntie/Sister/Cousin Neecy; the women eventually discover that this isn't any old camping trip and that their connection to country and each other runs deeper than they could ever have imagined. Their attempts to connect with land and each other are thwarted by arguments centring on identity, beauty and boyfriends.

Cultural revival and ongoing practice is a key feature of the work that includes grass basket weaving drawn from generations of knowledge that culminates in an awkward but ultimately moving ceremony at the plays conclusion.

Moogahlin Performing Arts was recently granted multi-year funding from the Australia Council to give voice to Aboriginal stories and experiences by developing and presenting distinctive, cross-cultural and interdisciplinary works and events that enable cultural empowerment and social betterment. They produce a bi-annual playwriting festival entitled Yellamundie that develops and promote plays from around Australia and the Torres Strait Islands.

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