Q&A — If you ask Americans if they were equal, the answer would be unsure

Q&A — If you ask Americans if they were equal, the answer would be unsure

A SYDNEY Theatre Company production featuring an Aboriginal “superhero” who goes on a mission to murder white descendants of people who killed her ancestors is ditching reconciliation for “revenge”.

The play, Blackie Blackie Brown: The Traditional Owners of Death, is a take on the blaxploitation and revenge comedy genre in the vein of Kill Bill and Django Unchained, created by ABC actress and author Nakkiah Lui.

“Blackie Blackie Brown is a wild, twisted, hilarious origin story by provocative social commentator Nakkiah Lui,” the play’s synopsis reads. “Add a mystical quest, bloodcurdling vengeance and a dose of potent political venom, and a new superhero is born.”

The story follows “mild-mannered archaeologist Dr Jacqueline Black”, played by Megan Wilding, who uncovers a mass grave “somewhere in the Australian bush”.

“She picks up a skull and is overpowered by the spirit of her great-great-grandmother ... BAM! Blackie Blackie Brown has arrived and she is a cold-blooded vigilante,” the website says.

“Her mission: kill all the descendants of the men who massacred her ancestors. White people, watch out. This isn’t about forgiveness. And it’s not about reconciliation.”

The play blends “high-octane stage action” with “heart-pumping visuals”. Actor Ash Flanders plays “every single white person she needs to kill”. “You’ll be laughing out loud one second, squirming in your seat the next,” it says. “Your white meat is DONE, motherf**ker.”

Ms Wilding last month told TimeOut she “couldn’t have asked for anything better” than to have her debut in this show. “It’s right up my alley and it’s so shocking,” she said.

Ms Lui, who also created the award-winning play Black is the New White and is the co-writer and star of the ABC’s Black Comedy, tweeted earlier this month, “#BlackGirlMagic is taking over Australian entertainment and decolonising the f**k outta it!”

In 2014, she told Fairfax the play grew out of a short story, based on her own great-great-grandmother, who was suspected to have been the only survivor of a massacre by English settlers. “We can’t confirm it yet but it’s a story I grew up hearing,” Ms Lui said.

“You have films like Django Unchained, which played in every Hoyts. A hugely popular movie about the way African-American people were treated in the USA through slavery. It is fascinating that they could sell their story in that way.”

Ms Lui received a $40,000 Australia Council grant for the show, produced by Redfern-based theatre company Performing Lines — which has received nearly $9 million in Australia Council grants since 2008.

The NSW government’s Create NSW chipped in nearly $27,000 in 2015, while the Victorian government’s Australian Centre for the Moving Image provided in-kind support through access to its green-screen studio.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said under its legislation, the Australia Council’s funding decisions were made at “arm’s length” from the government.

“The Australia Council advises the development of the work received some funding in 2014,” he said. “It is for the Australia Council to explain its processes, decisions and judgments. I haven’t seen the work, but the description of it isn’t to my taste.”

A spokesman for Create NSW said applications for annual program funding were assessed by “independent panels of peers who then make recommendations to the minister, however neither the minister [nor] Create NSW are involved in the programming decisions of recipient organisations”.

“Blackie Blackie Brown received funding of $26,509 in 2015 through the then Arts NSW Arts & Cultural Projects fund for a two-week creative development of the project, having also been recommended through an independent assessment panel,” he said.

Ms Lui has been contacted for comment. Blackie Blackie Brown premieres on May 12.

frank.chung@news.com.au