ILBIJERRI Theatre Company

ILBIJERRI is Australia’s leading and longest running Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Company.We create challenging and inspiring theatre creatively controlled by Indigenous artists. Our stories are provocative and affecting and give voice to our unique cultures. Each year we travel to national, regional and remote locations across Australia and the world.

Born in 1943, Jack Charles (co-writer, performer) was well and truly a child of the Stolen Generation. He spent many of his formative years in the boys’ homes of Melbourne, which he took on with his usual laconic outlook. “It was alright by me – I was happy to assimilate. The only trouble was I wasn’t ever going to fit in. I’m fucking brown mate.” In 1972 he founded the first Aboriginal theatre company Nindethana and has performed with the cream of Australia’s actors, directors and writers including Geoffrey Rush, Neil Armfield, John Romeril and Tracey Moffatt. His work has spanned feature films, TV series and hundreds of plays including The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Bedevil, Ben Hall and The Marriage of Figaro. Most recently, he was the subject of Amiel Courtin-Wilson’s award-winning documentary Bastardy, and was awarded the prestigious Tudawali Award at the Message Sticks Festival in 2009, honoring his lifetime contribution to Indigenous media.