Bangarra Dance Theatre Presents

MATHINNA

A BRAND NEW WORK BY STEPHEN PAGE

THE ARTS CENTRE, PLAYHOUSE
16 – 24 MAY 2008
BOOKINGS: TICKETMASTER 1300 136 166
OR WWW.TICKETMASTER.COM.AU

Bangarra Dance Theatre continues to resonate world wide as an acclaimed contemporary dance company of unique style committed to the traditions of Indigenous culture. In 2008 Bangarra presents Mathinna, an exhilarating, brand new work by Stephen Page.

Inspired by a girl’s journey between two cultures, Mathinna traces the history of a young Aboriginal girl removed from her traditional life, adopted into Western Colonial society to be ultimately returned to the fragments of her original heritage.

Mary was born on Flinders Island, Tasmania in 1835 to the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, Towgerer, and his wife Wongerneep. As a child she was adopted into the household of Governor Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin at Government House in Hobart. Mary was renamed Mathinna and was raised with the Governor's daughter Eleanor. Mathinna was eventually sent to the Queen’s Orphan School in Hobart and at sixteen she left the School to rejoin the last remaining of her people at an Aboriginal station at Oyster Cove. At this settlement Mathinna’s life came to a disheartening end.

Mathinna became the archetype of the ‘stolen child’ and, in this brand new work, Bangarra recreates her powerful story of vulnerability and searching in an era of confusion and intolerance.