Once in a blue moon, in the middle of nowhere, two teenage boys meet under a lemon tree.
After a rough start, a fragile friendship fruits into a heady romance. Ty and Neddy fall madly in love, as teenagers are wont to do.
If history would just unfurl a little differently, the boys might have a beautiful future ahead of them. But without knowing it, Ty and Neddy are poised on the brink of a world that is about to change forever. It’s the early 19th century. Ty is River Mob. Neddy is Mountain Mob. And the earth they stand together on is about to be declared ‘Australia’.
In Whitefella Yella Tree, award-winning playwright Dylan Van Den Berg has penned a heart-warming and heartbreaking story about love, Country, and Blak queerness throughout history. Starring Helpmann Award-winner Guy Simon (First Love is the Revolution, Wakefield), and nurtured through our Griffin Studio program, Whitefella Yella Tree is a force of nature and a tender first kiss.
Content Warnings: loud noise, blinding lights, sex scenes and weapons. It contains descriptions and representations of colonial violence.
“It is the best of theatre writing where you feel you ‘have learned’ but did not experience ‘being taught’. Subtle, clever and straight to the heart.” ★★★★.5
“Dylan Van Den Berg’s sensational new play, Whitefella Yella Tree tells a multi-faceted story of great importance, with scintillating humour, extraordinary tenderness, and shattering poignancy. Everything one could possibly ask of a playwright, Van Den Berg delivers, through the greatest of acuity and sophistication. As a work of romance, Whitefella Yella Tree is likely one of the most moving pieces to encounter.” ★★★★★
“The actors create something impossibly tender that still bites with gloriously lived-in detail. As they fall in love with each other, we fall in love with them.” ★★★★
Cast
Ty Callan Purcell
Neddy Guy Simon
Creative Team
Co-Directors Declan Greene & Amy Sole
Designer Mason Browne
Lighting Co-Designers Kelsey Lee & Katie Sfetkidis
Composer & Sound Designer Steve Toulmin
Dramaturg Andrea James
Stage Manager Isabella Kerdijk
Intimacy Coordinator Akala Newman (courtesy of Key Intimate Scenes)
Community Engagement Consultant Neville Williams Boney
Elder-in-Residence Uncle Graham Simms