A Summary Of The History Of Performing Lines’ Engagement With Contemporary Indigenous Performing Arts Over the years, first as the Australian Content Department of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and then as Performing Lines, the company has a strong history of supporting Indigenous productions through creative development and touring. 1982 -
Produced the Australian Aboriginal Theatre Co in Robert Merritt’s The Cake Man. It was showcased at the Parade Theatre in Sydney, and then went to the World Theatre Festival in Denver Colorado USA. It was the first Aboriginal production to go overseas and on its return it had seasons in Melbourne and Brisbane.
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1983 -
A production of Jack Davis’ The Dreamers did a 17-week national tour which included a WA country tour and seasons in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Tasmania. On the strength of The Dreamers, Wendy Blacklock commissioned Jack to write No Sugar and a play for young people called Honey Spot.
1985 -
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Honey Spot was chosen to be in the ComeOut Festival in Adelaide, did some performances around South Australia and went on to Melbourne. Tom Keneally’s Bullies House was included in a world theatre program at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut USA. The Aboriginal cast was Tommy Lewis, Ernie Dingo, Richard Walley, Paul Prior and Justine Saunders. The white cast were Americans.
1986 -
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Honey Spot did a Victorian tour, visited Sydney and then went onto the Edinburgh Festival and Glasgow. No Sugar was chosen to represent Australia at the World Theatre Festival at Expo ‘86 in Vancouver, Canada. It also toured onto Ottowa and triumphantly returned to Melbourne.
1988 -
The sequel to The Dreamers and No Sugar,
Barungin was written and played Perth, Adelaide, Alice Springs, Brisbane and Townsville while Melbourne staged the entire trilogy. Honey Spot was re-rehearsed and toured the circuit of children’s festivals in Seattle, Vancouver Island, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Regina followed by performances in Brisbane.No Sugar represented Australia again during the bicentennial year, with performances at the Riverside Studios in London.
1991 -
Bran Nue Dae left its home in Broome and played a season in Brisbane before coming to Parramatta and Sydney during the Sydney Festival.
1992 -
Sistergirl by Sally Morgan and directed by Andrew Ross toured to Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra, Darwin, country Western Australia centres and Melbourne.
1996 -
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The 7 Stages of Grieving (Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman’s play from Kooemba Djarra) did an extensive tour through WA - Broome, Derby, Port Hedland, Roebourne, Carnarvon, Perth then onto Hobart, Canberra, Launceston, Ulverstone, Sydney and Melbourne. Bidenjarreb Pinjarra was devised and performed by two Aboriginal artists (Kelton Pell and Trevor Parfitt) and two white actors (Geoff Kelso and Phil Thomson). They played Tandanya in Adelaide, and then toured to Mt Gambier, Raukkan, Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Alice Springs, Hermannsburg, Tennant Creek and Ali Curang.