Stardust and The Mission – Two unique Australian stories

A double bill of two unique and intriguing Australian stories. Both shows weave documentary elements into a cabaret/verbatim theatre format.

Stardust:

For over 25 years, a locked wooden dresser sat in the family garage of ABC presenter, Joel Carnegie. The dresser was a once prized possession of his grandfather, Col Brain. Col was one of Victoria’s most well-regarded musicians of his time, leading swing, brass and jazz bands across the state. But Col’s dresser hadn’t been opened since he died. So what was inside? Herein lies the discovery of a time capsule of Australian musical life, in a heart-warming quest to uncover what Col wanted us to know about his life, by the things he left behind.

The Mission:

1914: Conflict on all fronts. 1939: A soldier at home and abroad. 1945: A stranger on his own land. Allan McDonald – a “Fighting Gunditjmara” man from South-West Victoria, was one of the State’s first Indigenous soldiers to enlist for war. Allan fought at some of WWI’s most famous campaigns, including Gallipoli and Beersheba – only to be denied a soldier’s settlement on his return to Australia, and forced from his traditional land at the Lake Condah Mission. So what drives someone to fight for a country that doesn’t recognise them as a citizen? How do you keep fighting in an unjust world and why?