BLACK BRASS

Archived

BLACK
BRASS

  • 6 – 23 Jan 2022 Upstairs Theatre
  • 70 mins (No Interval)
Archived

BLACK
BRASS

By Mararo Wangai
Directed by Matt Edgerton
Produced by Performing Lines WA

  • Venue Upstairs Theatre
  • Dates 6 – 23 Jan 2022
  • Duration 70 mins (No Interval)
  • Accessibility
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  • Co-production with
  • In association with
  • Supported by
  • Co-Commissioned & Presented by
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Music. Memory. Hope. The lauded hit of Perth Festival, now in Sydney for a limited season.

Australia, today. In a small recording studio, a cleaner tries to tidy the mess left by careless musicians. As he cleans, a window opens onto his life – the pain of leaving his home, the alienation of living in a new land, his gratitude, his confusion, the beautiful mess of life. But simultaneously, on the other side of the glass, another man is recording music both joyous and heart-rending, songs of home, of love, of power.


Black Brass is a play of voyaging and discovery told through music and song that span a continent (Shangana, Swahili, Kikuyu, Xhosa, as well as English). Soulful, uplifting, it takes everyone in the room into the rich complexity of here and now.


Performed by the extraordinary Mararo Wangai, joined onstage by composer-musician Mahamudo Selimane, Black Brass was the hit of the 2021 Perth Festival, a piece that stimulates all the senses – and opens the heart.


This is just a gem. It’s worth it for the music alone, but there’s a moving and poignant play at work here too. Mararo and Mahamudo have astonishing presence. Come and see its limited 2022 season. – Eamon

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TEAM

  • Mararo Wangai
    Creator, Writer and Performer
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    Mararo Wangai is a Kenyan-born writer, performer and media graduate, with a passionate interest in diverse forms of storytelling. His work strives to avoid simplistic narratives, assess society critically and tries to remain adaptive, organic and alive through its development, until the eventual encounter with an audience. He is attracted to stories that deal with […]

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  • Matt Edgerton
    Director and Co-Creator
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    Matt is an Australian theatre director with a diverse body of work including contemporary and classical shows across a range of forms, styles and scales, cross-cultural collaborations, work for audiences of all ages and theatre projects promoting social development. For Perth Festival Matt was the director/dramaturg of the AWGIE award-winning A Ghost In My Suitcase […]

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  • Cast

  • Mahamudo Selimane
    Trumpet
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    Mahamudo is a musician, singer, songwriter and composer from Mozambique before migrating to Australia in 2004. Member of many bands within and beyond Perth, Mahamudo has performed and toured in festivals around Europe, Africa and Australia, including Perth International Arts Festival in 2002 with his band Eyuphuro, his first visit down under. Black Brass is […]

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  • Mararo Wangai
    Sleeper
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    Mararo Wangai is a Kenyan-born writer, performer and media graduate, with a passionate interest in diverse forms of storytelling. His work strives to avoid simplistic narratives, assess society critically and tries to remain adaptive, organic and alive through its development, until the eventual encounter with an audience. He is attracted to stories that deal with […]

    Read full bio
  • Creatives

  • Zoë Atkinson
    Set and Costume Designer
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    Zoë Atkinson studied Scenography at The Prague Academy of The Performing Arts, The International Institute of Figurative Theatre (Czech Republic), and at the Institute International de la Marionette in France, under Josef Svoboda. Since returning to Australia in 1997 she has designed for theatre, dance, puppetry, opera and museums. Most recent works include Cloudstreet and […]

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  • Afeif Ismail
    Dramaturg
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    Afeif Ismail is an internationally published poet and playwright from Sudan whose works have been translated into German, Spanish and Swedish. He has published eight books of poetry and short stories in Arabic, and seven books in English. His work has been recognized nationally through winning awards and nominations including winning the Naji Naaman’s Literary […]

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  • Lucy Birkinshaw
    Lighting Designer
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    Lucy Birkinshaw is a lighting designer and artist whose work spans theatre, musical theatre, concerts, opera, dance, film and television. She graduated from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts with an Advanced Diploma of Lighting Design for Production and Performance and Curtin University with a Bachelor of Art, Fine Arts. Lucy has designed lighting […]

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  • Matt Cox
    Lighting Realiser
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    Since arriving in Sydney in 2003, Matt has designed numerous theatre productions including The Seed (Company B); Waru Journey of the small Turtle, Dubboo, One’s Country, OUR Land People Stories, Blak, Belong (Bangarra Dance Theatre); Lake Disappointment (Carriageworks); She Loves Me (The Hayes Theatre Company); The Trouble with Harry (Siren Theatre Co); Diplomacy, Murder on the Wireless (Ensemble); Reflections […]

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  • Mahamudo Selimane
    Musician and Composer
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    Mahamudo is a musician, singer, songwriter and composer from Mozambique before migrating to Australia in 2004. Member of many bands within and beyond Perth, Mahamudo has performed and toured in festivals around Europe, Africa and Australia, including Perth International Arts Festival in 2002 with his band Eyuphuro, his first visit down under. Black Brass is […]

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  • Sisonke Msimang
    Script Editor
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    Sisonke Msimang is the author of Always Another Country: A memoir of exile and home. She is a South African writer whose work is focused on race, gender and democracy. She has written for a range of international publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Newsweek and Al Jazeera.

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  • Tim Collins
    Sound Designer
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    Tim Collins is a sound designer, composer, musician, technician and tour manager. He has worked in the entertainment industry since 2001 involved in performance and logistics for theatre, festivals, concert and studio production, musical theatre and live broadcast. Tim has been a mentor at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts since 2006. Show credits […]

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  • Zainab Syed
    Script Editor and Original Creative Producer
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    Zainab Syed is the Director of International at Creative Australia, leading the organizations’international engagement strategy for the arts. Originally from Pakistan, Zainab has lived, studied and worked across Romania, Yemen,England, Wales, US and Australia. Her practice sits at the intersection of social justice and liveperformance. After graduating from Brown University, USA, she toured across the […]

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  • Adriane Daff
    Assistant Director – Sydney Season
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    Adriane Daff is an actor, writer and theatre-maker. She is also a founding artist of The Last Great Hunt. Some notable theatre credits include ‘Lé Nør’ which was nominated for two 2019 Helpmann awards (including best new Australian work) and ‘The Irresistible’, which was also nominated for a 2018 Helpmann Award (best new play) and had a seasons at Dark Mofo (2019) and the […]

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  • Hannah Goodwin
    Assistant Director – Sydney Season
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    Hannah Goodwin (she/her) is a director who lives and works on Gadigal land. She is currently Resident Director at Belvoir Street Theatre. Her work includes Wayside Bride by Alana Valentine (Belvoir), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire by Caryl Churchill (Belvoir), The Sorry Mum Project by Pippa Ellams (National Theatre of Parramatta, Bondi Feast), A Girl in […]

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  • Niwa Mburuja & Wanyika Mshila (2 Sydney Stylists)
    Community Engagement Coordinators
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    2 Sydney Stylists is a transdisciplinary Creative Agency that helps brands, artists, and organisations to create content accessible to socially and culturally diverse audiences. They facilitate community engagement by designing and delivering strategies and processes to build long-standing relationships between creative and cultural organisations and the communities they serve. The agency also hosts workshops, produce […]

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  • Anna Morris (Black Owned Businesses Australia)
    Community Ambassador
  • Ben Nelson
    Production Manager
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    Ben Nelson is a professional production manager, problem solver and audio operator with 8 years’ experience in the theatre industry. He began his career mixing bands in Albany (WA) before joining the Albany Entertainment Centre as acting Head of Audio (2014-2018), where he expanded his skills working with various touring productions. In 2018 he relocated […]

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  • Cecilia Nelson
    Stage Manager
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    Cecilia Nelson graduated from NIDA’s BFA (Technical Theatre and Stage Management) in 2017 after completing a BSc./BA. at The University of Sydney. This year, she was the assistant stage manager Pippin, Australia’s first commercial musical to open after the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, she was half-way through the national tour of Billy Elliot (LWAA) when our […]

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