Contemporary Indigenous Plays: Bitin' Back, Black Medea, King Hit, Rainbow's End, Windmill Baby

by Vivienne Cleven, Wesley Enoch, David Milroy

This diverse collection of contemporary plays from all over Australia Bitin Back by Vivienne Cleven, adapted from her novel of the same name this funny and perceptive play explores stereotyping, identity and race relations in a Queensland country town; Black Medea by Wesley Enoch, this richly poetic adaptation of Euripides Medea, blends the cultures of Ancient Greek and indigenous storytelling to weave a bold and breathtaking commentary on contemporary Black experience; Rainbow s End, by Jane Harrison, set in the 1950s, in northern Victorian. It creates a resonant snapshot of one particular Koori family to dramatise the struggle for decent housing, meaningful education, jobs and community acceptance; the acclaimed King Hit by Geoffrey Narkle and David Milroy, tells the remarkable life story of Geoffrey Narkle which strikes at the very heart of the Stolen Generation, exploring the impact on an individual and a Culture when relationships are brutally broken; and Windmill Baby by David Milroy. Winner of the 2003 Patrick White Award (the only indigenous play to win this award).

Genres: Plays, School

242 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2007

Reviews

[Steph A]

I don’t like year 12

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vivienne Cleven's Bitin' Back: This is a very funny play, though it's also deeply serious in much of the subject matter it deals with. The play focuses on Mavis Dooley, the mother of Nevil, who wants her son to become a football star in order to escape the poverty they live in. However, Nevil--who is very good and could become a professional--doesn't want to play professionally. He wants to write. And he begins dressing in women's clothing as part of the transition to his new life. Mavis, and especially her brother Booty, aren't willing to accept that Nevil doesn't want to play football, so they try to force him back to "being a man." But they're unsuccessful, and a series of mistaken identities, misunderstandings, and lost drugs creates havoc in the household.
https://youtu.be/4Lcgf9KWuGs

Wesley Enoch's Black Medea: This is a really good adaptation of Euripides' Medea, relocated to contemporary Aboriginal communities in Australia and dealing with the experience of severed connections to land and culture that many displaced/urbanized Aboriginal people struggle with. Jason is re-imagined as an urbanized Aboriginal man, who marries the rural Medea and takes her away from her community after she shows him natural resource deposits on sacred land, which they then reveal to a mining company so he can get a well-paying job. But their relationship breaks down, partly due to his alcoholism and abusiveness (learned from his father), and partly because they are both haunted by having violated the sacred space to strip it of mineral resources.
https://youtu.be/J-BZOmMqEqY

David Milroy & Geoffrey Narkle's King Hit: This autobiographical play follows Geoffrey Narkle's early live growing up in poverty on a reserve and subsequently being taken from his parents to be put, along with his sisters, in a mission school, before finally coming of age and struggling to find a place in the world that wasn't built around alcohol and violence. Thematically, the play deals with a lot of the kinds of struggles typical of Indigenous people under settler colonialism and capitalism, whether that be Aboriginal Australians, Maori, or Native Americans, First Nations Canadians, Inuit, and Metis in North America. Dispossession of the land, containment in arbitrarily bordered reserves, a lack of economic and educational opportunities, poverty, and both individual and systemic racism typify the experiences of too many Indigenous people, and Narkle's play brings those experiences to the forefront in an accessible and easy to follow way that makes these experiences more easily visible for audiences, including non-Aboriginal audiences who may not know these histories and current realities--whether they've purposefully closed their eyes or society simply doesn't talk about the treatment of Aboriginies.
https://youtu.be/xdbs85TpiZQ

Jane Harrison's Rainbow's End: This is a very good play about the difficulties faced by Aboriginal Australians in the 1950s, along with the vague hope in the post-war world and with Queen Elizabeth II that things might begin to get better. There's a lot of complexity in this play, which is especially good because it doesn't boil down to a simple moral tale in which white Australians are bad and Aboriginal Australians are good. Both groups have good and bad people, and among the main characters many of the negative attitudes are built out of misunderstandings or anxieties rooted in cultural perceptions--but when those misunderstandings are shown to be wrong, the characters work to correct their views (which is a lovely view of the world and a great moral lesson, but often not how things really happen, unfortunately). The complexity of the characters, their interactions, and their hopes/dreams/fears/desires makes this a rewarding play.
https://youtu.be/Ofuy4yrDTs4

David Milroy's Windmill Baby: This is a one person play in which the performer plays multiple roles, which generally isn't a structure I'm a big fan of. But this one isn't bad. The main speaker of the play is Maymay, an older Aboriginal woman who has come back to a cattle station she lived on in her youth. She tells the story of her life there and the various people. One big thematic concern in the play is a sense of finding one's place. This shows up in the contrast between the Missus--a delicate woman married to a relatively cruel boss of the station--and the harsh environment of the arid landscape. She finds her place by being kind and considerate to the Aboriginal people that he husband is cruel to, including looking out for Wunman, a crippled man who finds his place tending the garden (which he's exceptionally good at, as it turns out). However, when Wunman and the Missus have a affair, it threatens everything good on the station.
https://youtu.be/GeViV-oz13Q

[keely (taylor’s version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

i’m in a slump so i struggled to read this, however i didn’t hate it. this was on my year 12 reading list for 2023 and i’m actually very excited to do work on this because it’s so interesting to pull apart.

[Jude R · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of people praise and focus on Rainbows End (partially because its the required reading for year 12) but i genuinely think some of the other plays (particularly the first and second) are incredible powerful reads

[angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 ⭐️!!
woah

[Ethan · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Rainbow's End*

A poorly-written play whose core fundamentals are only considered notable enough to be included in the year twelve English reading list because of its politics, amounting to a poor exegesis on the nature of Aboriginal social status, and which does not have the quality of prose required to stand up on its own two feet.

[kie-dizzle · Rating 3 out of 5]

i’m in a slump so i struggled to read this, however i didn’t hate it. this was on my year 12 reading list for 2023 and i’m actually very excited to do work on this because it’s so interesting to pull apart.

[Guenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read the play Rainbow's End. It provides a solid exploration of the racism and prejudice of 1950's Australia although its relevance to 2024 is questionable. Perhaps more focus on current examples of systematic racism would appeal to a contemporray audience.

[Phoebe 💫 · Rating 3 out of 5]

BLACK MEDEA: very well written and a very interesting adaptation of the story, but the pacing feels off when reading, this would probably be rectified when watching live

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Medea is brilliant. Others are uneven.

[Natalia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly I preferred this to the crucible

[Riley Beech · Rating 3 out of 5]

read Rainbows end for curriculum planning. some wonderful human moments with tasteful and insightful social commentary however, the attempts to wrap up the plot were rushed and forced

[Claire]

My daughter is studying Rainbow's End for school next year. Enjoyed the play more than I thought I would. Loved Nan Dear's humour and the relationship between the Nan, Gladys and Dolly.