'The Whisper' is a new play written by emerging and award-winning Wamba Wamba playwright, Brodie Murray and directed by First Nations playwright and actor, Maryanne Sam (Coconut Woman, Casting Doubts). In The Whisper, a tip-off sparks a journey of Indigenous family survival, under the cover of dark. Set against the racialized backdrop of 1940s Australia, a Ngarrindjeri family must make the impossible choice to leave home and country forever.
Brodie is fresh off the success of Soul of Possum, a play commissioned for YIRRAMBOI in 2021 and Billy’s Choice (for which he received the Melbourne Fringe Best Emerging Indigenous Artist and Young Creatives Award 2021). He is the current recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts First Nations Emerging Career Development Award. The Whisper is a 2022 Deadly Fringe Commission with dramaturgy by playwrights Mari Lourey (Bare Witness, Dirt Cloud) and Glenn Shea (An Indigenous Trilogy). Glenn Shea is also Brodie’s cultural mentor for this project. The play is inspired by Brodie’s grandmother, Lorraine Murray and elements of her family’s courageous journey made by horse and cart. It is a work of historical fiction and seeks to honour his family story and contribute to truth-telling around the stolen generations.
This year, it’s about time. 2022 marks 40 years since the birth of Melbourne Fringe, and this Festival we’re looking back at where we’ve been, what we’ve done, and who we’ve become. But we’re also looking forwards, to the future as we make set our vision for where we’re headed; as we write the history of the future. From 6 to 23 October, this Festival is also a massive 40th Birthday party, and on the guest list you’ll find some of the country’s best established and emerging artists, actors, dancers, drag queens, musicians, and DJs, and of course, you.
We’re taking our Festival back to the streets of Melbourne for the first time in 3 years, so be ready to find Fringe in every corner of our city, with giant cornerstone venues everywhere from the Queen Victoria Market to the Docklands Sheds to Prahran’s Grattan Gardens to our home at Trades Hall in Carlton. Set to be our most ambitious program yet, expect immersive exhibitions, massive participatory artworks and the return of the iconic Fringe Parade & Lygon St Block Party. With more than 450 events taking place over 18 days, this year’s massive program promises to be one to remember.
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