Tasmanian and indigenous playwriter Nathan Maynard never thought his clans’ favourite past-time, mutton bird harvesting on one of Tasmania’s most desolate islands, would become the scenario for a play set to premiere in the Sydney Opera House, but that is exactly what happened last week. ‘The Season’ is Maynards’ first play and the subject was his very first pick, hoping to dispel the myth of Tasmania’s indigenous community to be decimated after ‘the European invasion’:
” I hope the audience will understand that a lot of what they’ve been taught in school is inaccurate. We are a living, breathing, evolving people and culture that has been going since the beginning of time. We are not just hanging on, we are thriving.”
Tasmanian Aboriginals have harvested mutton birds and their eggs for centuries. The birds cross the Pacific to the Arctic circle each year, before returning to the Bass Strait islands to breed. This is where Maynards’ family would go every year to bond, tell each other secrets and bury the hatches and therefor where the play is situated. Essentially, it’s about connection and the feeling that we all belong somewhere…
The Season is still on until the 15th of January, watch the trailer here:
