This NAIDOC week is about celebrating being “Blak, Loud and Proud” and Yirra Yaakin’s latest show Brothers Wreck celebrates the strong family bonds of Indigenous Australian culture by exploring the worst trauma a family can experience. Written by Larrakia, Bardi, Wadaman and Yanuwa playwright Jada Alberts, it is a story about life after death. A young man called Ruben discovers his cousin has died by suicide, and his family struggle to hold him together in the aftermath.
Directed by Yirra Yaakin’s Artistic Director Maitland Schnaars, Brothers Wreck is set in Darwin, and the whims of the wet and dry seasons dictate the lives of Ruben’s family. The set is immediately recognisable as a Darwinian building, with louvre shutters lining the walls of the kitchen-dining area of the family’s home. Two chairs next to a plant-strewn bookcase serve as the councillor’s office for Ruben’s court-mandated sessions where he makes sarcastic (and genuinely funny) jokes at the expense of his councillor, David (Rubeun Yorkshire).
The sound and lighting design from Rachael Dease and Mark Howett effectively transfer us between seasons and times of day, although the torrential rain in Subiaco on opening night did plenty to evoke Darwin’s wet season on its own.
The most striking aspect of the set is the optical illusion that tricks the eye into thinking the floor is on a tilt, when in fact it is the set and furniture itself that is off kilter. The table and chairs sink into the floor at odd angles and the entire backdrop sits askew. Set designer Bryan Woltjen has created a brilliantly disorienting representation of the disarray this family has been thrown into by the shock suicide of their cousin.
Della Rae Morrison, MarkNannup, Jessie Ward. Photography by Dana Weeks.
The family discovering Joe’s death is what starts the play, and grief reverberates out from that gut-wrenching moment, each character processing it differently. The young family members are desperately trying to hold themselves together, while Auntie Petra (Della Rae Morrison) who travels from Alice Springs to be with them is experienced in her grief, and knows that the only thing that can get them through it is each other. Her pleas to her family to not lose hold of each other are all the more heart-wrenching for Morrison’s beautiful performance in the scene where she tells the story of her sister’s death in a car accident.
Each character processes their grief differently and therefore we see a wide range of emotional responses portrayed on stage. Tyren Tre Maclou is phenomenal as Ruben, balling up his pain and releasing it in violent outbursts at other characters or towards the audience (being in the front row is a borderline immersive theatre experience). He ranges from a hollowed-out shell drowning his feelings in drink to an exposed nerve, howling in grief and forcing every member of the audience to feel it with him.
On the other end of the spectrum, councillor David and Ruben’s sister Adele (Jessie Ward) share their grief in a quiet conversation, full of bumbling apologies for prying and a heartfelt affinity over their shared trauma. The awkward politeness they maintain while both are clearly suffering is what makes the scene unbearably real.
Mark Nannup, Tyren Maclou, Rubeun Yorkshire. Photography by Dana Weeks.
Ruben’s biggest supporter throughout his grieving process is Jarrod (Mark Nannup), partner of his sister and close friend. Jarrod’s steadfast protection of Ruben from himself often results in them coming to blows as Ruben literally fights off Jarrod’s love. It is a touching portrayal of male friendship and Jarrod is a reminder of how being there for the people you love is not always easy, but it is always worth it.
Thanks to Schnaars’ direction and Yorkshire’s fight choreography experience their tousles are shocking in their violence, driving home how badly trauma has unbalanced these friends.
Despite the heavy topics and strong content warnings, the show is not without classic blackfella humour. There are many small moments in the family’s interactions that caused great belly laughs from the audience, a brevity that makes their pain so much more affecting.
Schnaars talks in the program about the importance of the show ending on a message of hope, so I don’t believe it is a spoiler to say that Ruben ends the play much further on his healing journey thanks to the support of his family and community. After an hour and a half of taking that journey with him it was a relief to see him smile, and I left Subiaco Arts Centre with a strong desire to hug my own family.
Brothers Wreck is a powerfully emotional show and a timely reminder of the rising suicide rate across all cultural groups in Australia, and the devastatingly high rates among Indigenous communities. It is a call for action, for understanding, for communication, and for tissues.
Brothers Wreck is presented by Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company and is on now at Subiaco Arts Centre through to July 20.