A heart-warming comedy not to be missed

Published on 12 June 2018

Mildura Arts Centre and ILBIJERRI Theatre Company present Which Way Home - the heart-warming comedy of an Aboriginal girl, her much-loved ageing dad and their road trip to his birthplace - it’s his return home to country, where the sky is higher and the world goes on forever.

Tash and her dad journey from Ipswich (Yuggerah Country) to Goodooga (Muriwarri Country) learning new things about each other along the way. They experience moments of hilarity and annoyance as the trivial become exaggerated within the four doors of a car.

Which Way Home draws on writer Katie Beckett’s personal memories of growing up with her single Aboriginal father.  Her mother died when she just five-years-old, leaving her dad to raise three children. He also lost his sister, grandmother and mum all within the space of a month.  

“The reason I wrote Which Way Home was because I love my dad. That’s it. It’s truly that simple. I’m daddy’s baby pie. (He still calls me that by the way and I’m 34-years-old),” Katie, a previous recipient of The Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright’s Award said.

“It wasn’t an easy time but he did it.  He is a loving, wonderful, strong man. I have had a lot of wonderfully strong and emotionally in-tune generous men around me growing up and I was wondering, why don’t I see the Aboriginal men that I grew up with represented on stage, on TV, on film?”

Directed by Rachael Maza, actor and writer Katie Beckett plays Tash, while her dad is played by Kamahi Djordon King.

Mildura Rural City Councillor for Arts and Culture Jason Modica said this is the first time ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, Australia’s leading and oldest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Company, has toured the region.

“This heart-warming story draws on writer/performer Katie Beckett’s personal memories. It celebrates dads and single parents, which I’m sure is something that would resonate with many residents in our area,” Cr Modica said.  

Which Way Home is toured by Regional Arts Victoria with support from Mildura Rural City Council, the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and the Australia Government through the Australia Council for the Arts.

Which Way Home

7.30pm, Saturday 7 July

Tickets milduraartscentre.com.au I (03) 5018 8330

Please contact Helen Piscioneri at Mildura Arts Centre at [email protected] or on (03) 5018 8330 for more information, images and bios.

KATIE BECKETT Writer / Performer

Katie Beckett is an actor and writer with a passion for storytelling, both for the stage and screen. She is also a founding member of Cope St Collective. Which Way Home is the first full-length play she has written. It enjoyed an extended sold-out season at Belvoir as part of the 2017 Sydney Festival. She also won the Balnaves Indigenous Playwright’s Award and was nominated for a Green Room Award for her writing. She is currently working on a number of writing projects including a new TV series with Matchbox Pictures, a Young Adults novel with Allen & Unwin and has been commissioned by Arts Centre Melbourne and Belvoir to write two new plays. As a performer, Katie’s screen credits include Redfern Now, Black Comedy, The Slot, Little J and Big Cuz, The Marshes, Talkers, Drover’s Boy and Blackground.

KAMAHI DJORDON KING Performer

Kamahi Djordon King is a Gurindji man who hails from Katherine in the Northern Territory. A multi-talented artist, Kamahi’s creative practice includes acting, singing and visual art. He holds an Advanced Diploma in Performing Arts from the Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts and has just completed a Masters Degree at RMIT. Kamahi performed in The Shadow King, Malthouse Theatre’s Aboriginal adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear. The production has featured at major Australian festivals and headlined at London’s Barbican Centre as part of Shakespeare’s 400th birthday celebrations.

Kamahi is also well known as his female alter-ego Constantina Bush, who has starred in Malthouse Theatre’s Blak Cabaret. Kamahi directed, produced and starred in his own cabaret show Constantina Bush and the Bushettes which was a hit on the Australian festival circuit. As Constantina, he has also performed with some of Australia’s leading cabaret artists including Maude Davey and Finucane & Smith, with whom he received a Helpmann Award nomination for Best Cabaret Performer. In 2017 Constantina returned to Darwin Festival with a brand new show, An Evening with Constantina Bush.

Kamahi’s other stage credits include Wulamanayuwi and the Seven Pamanui (Darwin Festival), Romeo & Juliet (Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne/Australian Shakespeare Company/La Boite), Nyet Nyets Picnic (Snuff Puppets) and The Sunshine Club (Queensland Theatre Company).