This September, the multi award-winning Tasmania Aboriginal festival hit, The Season by Nathan Maynard, is heading to Riverside Theatres followed by the Seymour Centre as part of its national tour. Sharp as a tack and blunt as a brick, The Season is a funny, charming and real portrait of Tasmanian Aboriginal culture.
The Season features the exciting - but all too rare - combination of an Aboriginal writer, director and seven member cast comprised of some of the nation's most distinguished Aboriginal actors including Trevor Jamieson (The Secret River) and Tammy Anderson (I Don't Want to Play House).
Winner of three Green Room Awards and three Tasmania Theatre Awards, the show focusses on one larger-than-life family, the Duncans, who return to their shed on Bass Strait's Dog Island for 'the season', the annual harvesting of mutton-birds. Amid the threat of snakes and Pop's explosive temper, the family reunites with a country and culture still very much alive.
With their long memories and smart-arse streak, it's not just the bird sticking their beaks where they are not welcome. Old memories are dug from their burrows and fledging rivalries begin to take flight - it might all fall apart if it wasn't for the fierce love that holds this bunch together.
Maynard said, "The Mutton Bird takes the longest migration of any animal in the world, a migration of 30,000 kilometres. They are simply amazing and resilient as hell. Just like the people they are forever connected to."
The Season is big-hearted, upfront and honest, providing a fascinating glimpse into a little-known tradition. It joyously celebrates a thriving culture that continues to grow and strengthen despite several centuries of colonisation.
Writer: Nathan Maynard; Director: Isaac Drandic; Set and Costume Designer: Richard Roberts; Lighting Designer: Rachel Burke; Sound Designer: Ben Grant; Cast: Mathew Cooper, Nazaree Dickerson, Trevor Jamieson, Lisa Maza, Della Rae Morrison, Maitland Schnaars and James Slee.
20th to 22nd September at Riverside Theatres - cnr of Church and Market Sts, Parramatta. Tickets from https://riversideparramatta.com.au/show/the-season or from the Box Office (02) 8839 3399.
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