We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Elders, Ancestors and leaders of the Kulin Nations on whose unceded lands ILBIJERRI Theatre Company is based.
We extend this respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, recognising their resilience and ongoing connection to land, water and culture, despite ongoing colonial interruption and genocide.
Always was, always will be, sacred Indigenous land.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples should be advised that this website may contain images of deceased persons.
Foley
Presented by ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, Melbourne Festival & Sydney Festival
“If his ego is epic, as his opponents allege, so is his story” - The Age
Political agitator Gary Foley presents a swag of stories from a life lived in the spirit of resistance. From the frontlines of black activism to the halls of mainstream culture, he presents a colourful personal history and a dissident narrative of an Australian half-century.
For more than forty years, Gary Foley has been deeply involved in the continuing struggle against foreign invasion. As an activist, academic and actor, he’s been one of the key figures in ensuring that the Aboriginal experience is not written out of this lands history.
Having spent decades spinning the yarns of black Australia, both past and present, he now uses his well-honed skills as troublemaker, teacher and teller of tales to bring his experiences to the stage in an explosive event that weaves his extraordinary life around the major happenings that have shaped modern Australia.
Entertaining and challenging, Foley is as much a personal narrative as it is an account of an untold Australian history. From land rights to native title, from treaty to reconciliation, from the referendum to the embassy, from black power to black pride, Foley, with characteristic black humour, chronicles his life and times in what promises to be an engrossing tale of resistance and tenacity.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patrons are advised that footage used in the performance contains images of people who are now deceased.
This production has been supported by the Office for the Arts Indigenous Culture Support.
Media and resources
REVIEWS
“Invigoratingly irreverent, driven by an unflinching lifelong passion for justice, it makes absorbing theatre. It’s a warts and all presentation, and often hilarious” - Alison Croggon, Theatre Notes, 2011 [Read More]
"Reconciliation is a joke. Native Title is a fraud. So says Gary Foley, and his anecdote-strewn Australian history primer tells you how he came to hold these opinions - and why you should share them" - Jason Blake, Sydney Morning Herald, 2012 [Read More]
"Passionate, illuminating and electrifying...", Chris Hook, The Daily Telegraph, 2012 [Read More]
EDUCATION RESOURCES
Creative Team
Writers Gary Foley & Jon Hawkes
Director Rachael Maza
Performer Gary Foley
Lighting & AV Designer Danny Pettingill
AV Designer Peter Worland
Set & Costume Designer Emily Barrie
Sound Designer Anna Liebzeit
Researcher Edwina Howel
Production & Technical Management Bluebottle
Production Manager Frog Peck
Stage Manager Blair Hart
