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Windmill Baby

$34.99

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.

  • 0
  • 1 total
  • 1 female identifying
  • people of colour, women
  • 18+
  • adult, young adult
  • Currency Press


  • LINKS & DOWNLOADS
  • PRODUCTION HISTORY

REVIEW: BELVOIR ST THEATRE, 2011

JASON BLAKE, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, AUGUST 2011

"With its focus on personal relationships framed by social structures that were essentially feudal, Milroy's play... is both moving and discomforting."

BELVOIR.COM.AU

Production information from the 2011 Belvoir St Theatre Production.

YIRRAYAAKIN.COM.AU

Production notes from the 2009 touring production of Windmill Baby, including Director's notes, biographies and images.

ATSI GUIDELINES FOR DRAMA/THEATRE EDUCATION

DRAMA AUSTRALIA

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

REVIEW: BELVOIR ST THEATRE, 2011

MAJHID HEATH, ABC.NET.AU/INDIGENOUS, AUGUST 2011

"This beautifully melancholic story, punctuated with great humour and deft social commentary, resonates long after Roxanne McDonald takes her final bow."

REVIEW: BELVOIR ST THEATRE, 2011

KEVIN JACKSON'S THEATRE DIARY, AUGUST 2011

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.

NEW PLAY, WINDMILL BABY...

CHRIS HOOK, DAILYTELEGRAPH.COM.AU, AUGUST 2011

"It's a piece born of the West Australian landscape, but Windmill Baby would be a story familiar to indigenous people across the country."

INTERVIEW: KYLIE FARMER AND ROXANNE MCDONALD

THEAGE.COM.AU, SEPTEMBER 2011

VIDEO: Sun Herald's Andrew Taylor talks with talks with the director and performer of Windmill Baby.

WINDMILL PAIR WIN PATRICK WHITE AWARD

LENNY ANN LOW, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, MAY 2004

"When we're serious, we're very focused," Milroy said. "But when we're stupid, we're very stupid."

THEATRE RAKUTENDAN

CULTURE CENTRE, AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY, TOKYO

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.

REVIEW: BELVOIR ST THEATRE, 2011

LYNNE LANCASTER, ARTSHUB.COM.AU, AUGUST 2011

"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."

AWAYE!: KYLIE FARMER

DANIEL BROWNING, ABC.NET.AU

AUDIO: Presenter, Danien Browning, talks with director, Kylie Farmer about her recent production, 'Windmill Baby' at Belvior St Theatre.

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN PLAYWRIGHT WINS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD

Media Release: Yirra Yaakin, 2007

GEORGE NEGUS TONIGHT: YIRRA YAAKIN

ABC, EPISODE 86, BROADCAST JULY 2004

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'

ACTRESS'S NEW ROLE CLOSE TO THE HEART

ROSALIE HIGSON, THE AUSTRALIAN, JULY 2011

"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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