Marrugeku's JURRUNGU NGAN-GA Comes to Canberra Next Month

Marrugeku, firmly established as Australia’s leading Indigenous-intercultural dance company, is set to confront Australia’s shameful fixation with incarceration in a powerful and provocative dance work presented by Canberra Theatre Centre. 

Playing on 23 and 24 August, Jurrungu Ngan-ga (meaning Straight Talk in Yawuru) tears down walls and builds bridges in a frank conversation with the Australian psyche. The multi-media production exposes the deep-seated fear and deception within the ‘prison of the mind of Australia’— to portray forces that hold us back from moving forward with truth and justice. 

Alternately challenging and joyful, Jurrungu Ngan-ga reflects on the disproportionate rates of Indigenous Australians in custody and first-hand descriptions of life inside Australia’s immigration detention centres. 

The multimedia theatre production is inspired by perspectives on incarceration shared by Yawuru leader and Senator for Western Australia Patrick Dodson, one of six commissioners and the only non-lawyer who sat on the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. It draws on themes from the acclaimed autobiographical novel No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison (2018) by Kurdish-Iranian journalist and filmmaker Behrouz Boochani. Written in collaboration with and translated by Iranian-Australian scholar-activist Omid Tofighian. The novel draws from thousands of WhatsApp messages written by Boochani on a smuggled phone. It is an account of his perilous journey to Christmas Island and his subsequent incarceration in an Australian government immigration detention facility on Manus Island.

Marrugeku addresses local and global issues of the fear of cultural difference. Through movement, spoken word, installation and a powerful musical soundscape, its multi-talented cast draw on their intersecting yet distinct cultural and community-informed experiences (Indigenous, immigrant, people seeking asylum, transgender and settler) to ask: who really is in prison here? 

Set within a large-scale installation designed by leading West Australian visual artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, Jurrungu Ngan-ga was conceived by choreographer Dalisa Pigram and director Rachael Swain with Patrick Dodson, dramaturgy Hildegard de Vuyst and cultural dramaturgy Behrouz Boochani, Patrick Dodson, Omid Tofighian, with music by Sam Serruys, Paul Charlier and Rhyan Clapham aka DOBBY; sound design by Sam Serruys and Paul Charlier, costumes by Andrew Treloar and lighting design by Damien Cooper. 

Marrugeku Co-artistic Director Rachael Swain said, “Jurrungu Ngan-ga brings attention to Australia’s creation of dehumanising spaces without due process of law and the necessary social support and respect. The show reveals how this unique dialogue between Indigenous, settler and refugee perspectives can address the burning issues of our times, investigating that which Australia wishes to isolate and lock away from view.” 

2024 marks the final time Jurrungu Ngan-ga will play in Australia. Tickets are available to purchase at canberratheatrecentre.com.au/show/straight-talk-2024. 

Concession prices are available, and tickets can be booked in a multi-show package to save up to $125* – 3-show & 5-show options available. Visit the website for details. 

 

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