On today's episode we sit down with Palawa playwright, Dylan Van Den Berg, to discuss his new play Whitefella Yella Tree.
Dylan takes us through his process of writing as a playwright, what it's important that we share our own stories and how significant Indigenous voices can be in the Australian theatre scene. We explore what paths artists take when becoming a playwright and also explore what audiences can expect from this new production from the Griffin Theatre.
Tickets to Whitefella Yella Tree can be booked via griffintheatre.com.au or by following this link.
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About Dylan Van Den Berg
Dylan Van Den Berg is a Palawa writer from the northeast of Tasmania. For his play Milk (The Street Theatre), Dylan received the 2021 Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. In 2020, his gothic revenge drama Way Back When won both the Griffin Award and the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award, and was developed through Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s ‘Next in Line’ program. Other work includes Whitefella Yella Tree (MTC Cybec Electric), The Camel (Melbourne Fringe) and Blue: A Misery Play (The Street Theatre). Dylan is a current participant in ILBIJERRI Theatre Company’s BlackWrights program, and studied drama at the ANU and the State University of New York.
About Whitefella Yella Tree
Once in a blue moon, in the middle of nowhere, two teenage boys meet under a lemon tree. After a rough start, a fragile friendship fruits into a heady romance. Ty and Neddy fall madly in love, as teenagers are wont to do.
If history would just unfurl a little differently, the boys might have a beautiful future ahead of them. But without knowing it, Ty and Neddy are poised on the brink of a world that is about to change forever. It’s the early 19th century. Ty is River Mob. Neddy is Mountain Mob. And the earth they stand together on is about to be declared ‘Australia’.