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Published in Contemporary Indigenous Plays
With the poetry of a campfire storyteller and the comedy of a great yarn, comes this tale set on an abandoned cattle station in the surreal Kimberley landscape of azure skies and red dirt.
Maymay has come back to the pastoral station she worked on as a domestic half a century ago. As she beavers away around the old washing line, she recalls the season of love and revenge which swept through and turned this dusty collection of bungalows into the scene of an achingly beautiful tragedy.
David Milroy’s Windmill Baby is already an Australian classic. First performed in Perth in 2005 it has since played all over the world.
Windmill Baby is the story of Black Australians in the service of White Australia. It’s also an ancient tale of unexpected love and sudden ruination. Milroy’s wily humour and Maymay’s magnificent forbearance make Windmill Baby an act of grace. It finds meaning in a useless act of violence, and carries the meaning on in spite of the blunting powers of time and the wilful failures of the national memory.
And most wonderfully of all, Windmill Baby is that rare thing: a real love story.
"With its focus on personal relationships framed by social structures that were essentially feudal, Milroy's play... is both moving and discomforting."
Production information from the 2011 Belvoir St Theatre Production.
Production notes from the 2009 touring production of Windmill Baby, including Director's notes, biographies and images.
The preparation of this document was commissioned by Drama Australia to foster access and participation in learning, taking in the broader context of Indigenous educational perspectives and redefining their relevance in the study of Contemporary Indigenou
"This beautifully melancholic story, punctuated with great humour and deft social commentary, resonates long after Roxanne McDonald takes her final bow."
In his review of the 2011 Belvoir St production of Windmill Baby, Jackson considers the relevance of this piece within the context of contemporary Indigenous Australian writing.
"It's a piece born of the West Australian landscape, but Windmill Baby would be a story familiar to indigenous people across the country."
VIDEO: Sun Herald's Andrew Taylor talks with talks with the director and performer of Windmill Baby.
"When we're serious, we're very focused," Milroy said. "But when we're stupid, we're very stupid."
A brief summary of Theatre Rakutendan's (Japan) 2010 production of Windmill Baby, which includes a sample of the promotional materials and a production shot.
"The production design is quintessentially Australian, evoking the dusty landscape via a ramshackle collection of bungalows and a station home caught in a long drought."
AUDIO: Presenter, Danien Browning, talks with director, Kylie Farmer about her recent production, 'Windmill Baby' at Belvior St Theatre.
Media Release: Yirra Yaakin, 2007
TRANSCRIPT: Then Artistic Director, Sam Cook, talks about her experience at the helm of Yirra Yaakin Noongar Theatre Company in the lead up to the world premier of 'Windmill Baby'
"WHEN Ralph Myers, artistic director of Sydney's Belvoir, called Perth-based actress Kylie Farmer to invite her to become an associate artist for a year -- a position that would include her making her debut as a director -- Farmer tried to remain cool."
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