Theatre: Songbird (★★★)

By Shakara Walley
Imprint Productions in association with Yirra Yaakin
directed by Ian Wilkes
designed by Patrick Howe
performed by Bethany Cooper, James Taylor and Zac James
Blue Room Theatre
10 - 19 July, 2014

James Taylor, Zac James and Bethany Cooper (pic: Jamie Breen)

 Shakara Walley’s interest is in the personal qualities and attitudes to life, family and friendship her Indigenous characters possess, rather than the particular issues they face as Aboriginal people.  Essentially, they live the same stories as everyone does, and respond in ways that may be influenced, but are not defined, by their Aboriginality.
Walley's approach to indigenous theatre is innovative and impressive. It will be fascinating to watch it progress.

Read the complete review in The West Australian

Theatre: Confessions of a Pyromaniac

By Matthew Cooper
Imprint Productions in association with Yirra Yaakin
directed by Shakara Walley
designed by Patrick Howe
Music and lighting by Joe Lui
performed by Mathew Cooper, Calen Tassone, Katya Shevtsov and Stephanie Somerville
Blue Room Theatre
10 - 19 July, 2014
 
While Matthew Cooper’s Confessions of a Pyromaniac (directed by Shakara Walley at the Blue Room Theatre) isn’t in the first rank of Aboriginal theatre, it is undeniably and impressively liberating.
That’s because while three of its characters, and the actors playing them, are Aboriginal, their ethnicity is a subtext, rather than the defining factor in either their personalities or the play’s action.
There’s a continuing conversation about the opportunities for Aboriginal actors to play other than Aborigines; here Cooper inverts the argument by presenting characters who conform to none of the stereotypes, positive or negative, we’ve come to expect in the representation of Indigenous people on stage.

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian

Theatre: Kep Kaatijin

By David Milroy with Derek Nannup
Yirra Yaakin for the Awesome Festival
Directed by Derek Nannup
Performed by Shakara Walley, Ian Wilkes and Amy Smith
Until October 14

The Noongar word kaatijin means "learning", or "knowledge", and there's no doubt Yirra Yaakin, WA's indigenous theatre company, believes teaching its audiences is a critical part of its purpose. Just as impressive is how adept the company is at learning from those audiences.
You see it in the growing impact and enjoyment of their series of Aboriginal stories for adults at the Blue Room. And much the same development is evident in the origin stories they tell for children at the Awesome Festival.
This year's, Kep Kaatijin, has much to recommend it, and promises even more for Indigenous theatre for children in the future.

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian

Theatre: Yirra Yaarnz

Yirra Yaakin

directed by Eva Grace Mullaley

performed by Zac James, Mathew Cooper, Shakara Walley and Amy Smith

Blue Room Theatre

9 – 13 July, 2013

Shakara Walley (pic: Ashley de Prazer)

If the Yirra Yaakin production that closes the Blue Room’s first 2013 season is any gauge, the development of Aboriginal writers and performers in WA is in good hands.

Seven young writers (four of whom also perform) have taken up the challenge of creating short theatre pieces with the overarching theme of the river, and the result – brought together as Yirra Yaarnz – is diverse, compelling and insightful.

Much credit is due to the dramaturg Hellie Turner and project manager Irma Woods for a fine job of tending the material, and the director Eve Grace Mullaley and designer Daniel Ampuero for giving it an understated yet focused staging. The four actors, all graduates of WAAPA’s Aboriginal Theatre course, give clear, measured performances with much emotional subtlety.