Dear Brother
Written and performed by Djabuganjdji man Lenny Donahue and Girramay and Kalkadoon man Tibian Wyles, Queensland Theatre’s newest production Dear Brother is all about giving today’s young Murri men a voice, and challenging the narrative around public perceptions of Aboriginal masculinity.
Young men from different corners of Queensland blow into the big smoke burning with unbridled energy, desire and confusion. Each of them filled with the need to escape, to make something of their lives, to defy the hand that life has dealt them. An individual ignition has driven them all to Brisbane but something else — something ancestral — will bring them together. Caught between adolescence and adulthood, these young fellas will converge and wrestle with themselves, each other, their ghosts and a deep-etched sense of duty to Country. Together they’ll lay themselves bare and bond as brothers over what it means to be a young Aboriginal man in 2024.
This high-energy, form-defying work, presented with BlakDance as part of Brisbane Festival, uses dance, music and poetry to craft a tour-de-force performance that is as physical as it is heartfelt.