Black Cockatoo — Ensemble Theatre

Overview

Whether you're a sports fanatic or not, it's hard to escape chat about the cricket over summer. But among the in-depth analyses of certain plays and team strategy, comparison of players past and present, and reliving of legendary moments in the sport's history, there is one tale that has long been ignored.

In 1868, a group of Aboriginal Australian cricket players became the first Australian sports team to travel and play overseas. Beyond all expectations, the team did extremely well — they won as many games as they lost — and one particular player, Johnny Mullagh (born Unaarrimin), was lauded for his performance, which included scoring 1698 runs across the tour. The tour was a pretty remarkable feat, particularly given the climate of Indigenous affairs in Australia at the time, but the history books have, for the most part, failed to recognise it as such.

That's exactly what this play by screenwriter Geoffery Atherden (Mother and Son, BabaKiueria) and director Wesley Enoch aims to rectify. Taking to the stage at Brisbane Powerhouse across Friday, April 8–Saturday, April 9, Black Cockatoo begins with a group of activists sneaking into a museum to hunt down (and expose) the story of Mullagh and his team. The play then shifts its focus onto that very story — it tracks the team's journey from regional Victoria to Lord's Cricket Ground and reveals the travesties that were unfolding at home while the team were away.

Top image: Jillian Mundy.