It’s the production many of us were most looking forward to at this year’s Brisbane Festival. And Back to Bilo doesn’t disappoint. This collaboration between Queensland Theatre and Belloo Creative is warm and inspiring, although it will also make you angry at times.
Back to Bilo, now playing the Bille Brown Theatre at South Brisbane, is based on the true story of the Nadesalingams, a Tamil family who were forced to leave their home in Biloela and thrown into immigration detention with their two young daughters, despite having settled happily here.
The play chronicles their ordeal, including their gruelling time in detention where they were treated like criminals. It also tells the story of the community’s strong campaign to bring them home to Biloela, the Central Queensland town colloquially known as Bilo.
On the one hand it fills you with hope and gratitude that the community of Bilo rallied so beautifully to demand their return. It is also inspiring to remember how, ultimately, the nation rallied to help and demand action.
this compact and compelling production tells the story without pulling any punches
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The pleas fell on deaf ears until a new federal government was elected and opted to do the right thing, the human thing, and let the family stay.
What they went through in the meantime was monstrous and this compact and compelling production tells the story without pulling any punches. The way the family was treated in immigration detention was inhuman and appalling – from the same government that gave us Robodebt. What a disgrace.
But there’s no hectoring or lecturing about that in this production. The story is told plainly and truthfully without the politics but with the human factor always in focus. It was written by Katherine Lyall-Watson, based on an original concept by Matt Scholten, and is directed by Caroline Dunphy. They have done such a brilliant job and it was obviously a labour of love.
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Nades is played by Matt Domingo, his wife Priya by Leah Vandenberg and their friend Uru by Menaka Thomas. The Bilo girls Bronwyn, Simone and Angela are played by Liz Buchanan, Sara McIntosh and Erika Naddei. These women kept the faith and fought to keep the family in Biloela in Central Queensland where they had settled after escaping the brutal civil war and its aftermath in Sri Lanka.
Their story became a national cri de coeur from Australians who would not accept what was being done in their name by a government that showed a distinct lack of heart and mercy.
The story has a happy ending, of course, but it’s a cautionary tale because refugees and asylum seekers are still suffering under the system.
This 70-minute production is a kind of theatrical documentary of the first order with audio visuals that help tell the story and some beautiful Tamil singing and cultural references.
One just wishes that the family at the heart of the story could have brought their Biloela food truck down to Brisbane for the season so we could have enjoyed some of their delicious cuisine.
Not to worry, I will just have to go to Bilo one weekend to try their tucker.
It’s a beautifully told story that at times brings a tear to the eye and there is so much inherent drama in the story that no embellishment was needed.
The Belloo Creative team spent a few years getting this show up and they must be thrilled with the way Brisbane Festival audiences are embracing it. I believe there are very few tickets left. but you might be lucky.
The play will have a life after Brisbane Festival, though, and next year will play in Darwin and Perth. Let’s hope maybe we might get a return season here in Brisbane sometime. Because everyone deserves to see this.
Back to Bilo plays the Bille Brown Theatre, South Brisbane, until September 16.