2008: Yibiyung by Dallas Winmar

Yibiyung by Dallas Winmar.  Company B directed by Wesley Enoch at Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney, in association with Malthouse Melbourne. Season: September 17 – October 26, 2008.  Bookings: 9699 3444 or www.belvoir.com.au

Reviewed by Frank McKone
Previously published in the Canberra Times, September 2008.
   
There are nearly 5 million reasons why I don't want to live in Sydney, but one that makes me wish I did – that's Company B, Belvoir Street Theatre.  However, matinees at 2pm Saturdays and 5pm Sundays are well worth the drive.

Yibiyung richly deserves the "continued commitment to the development and staging of Indigenous theatre and generous support of Indigenous creative artists" given by the Company B Chairman's Group.  Winmar's 3rd play is not drama on a grand scale.  It is an intimate story of a young Noongar woman, her own grandmother, taken from her family under the WA Aborigines Act 1905, which made the Chief Protector of Aborigines the legal guardian of all 'aboriginal' and 'half caste' children up to the age of 16.

At the end of Act 1, I was in tears not only because of the inhumanity of her treatment at the infamous Moore River Native Settlement, as much as at Yibiyung's loss of family and culture which were so necessary to her after the death of her mother.  This was not fiction, but an indictment of the real history of girl No 454.  At 14 she was sent into 'service' with the worst that could entail.  Yet it was the Aboriginal injunction against marrying within one's own skin group which later she and her Smiley had to accept.  Life in either culture is not easy romance.

Her escape from 'protection' was an act of independence and bravery.  Despite everything, she succeeded in finding her uncle, her real protector, later to become the grandmother of the author, allowing us to leave the theatre feeling as proud of Yibiyung as Winmar herself.

Larrakia (Darwin) woman Miranda Tapsell (Yibiyung) is still at NIDA, Jimi Bani (Smiley) trained at WAAPA, Jada Alberts (Yibiyung's mother Yirrabin) trained at the Adelaide Centre for the Arts, David Page (Uncle) of Page 8 fame is a Queensland Murri, Melodie Reynolds (Djindi, Yibiyung's friend at Moore River) is a Wongi woman from WA, Roxanne McDonald (Cook and Aunty) is descended from the Mandandanjii, Darambal and Kangalou tribes of Central Queensland, while director Wesley Enoch is from Stradbroke Island.  With Sibylla Budd, Annie Byron and Russell Dykstra, this cast is powerful on stage and represents Enoch's picture of the past century: 'my grandparents' struggle for human rights . . . my parents' political struggle . . . my generation's stories of our cultural struggles – to know where we come from, have the right to speak our languages, the right to dance and to tell our stories.'  In this Noongar story, chitty chitty – willy wagtail – is entertaining to watch but will get you into trouble if you follow his saucy dance.

Wouldn't it be great to see this production, and Company B regularly, at The Playhouse or The Street – in the nation's capital?

© Frank McKone M.A., F.A.C.E.
Canberra, Australia