Illawarra First Nations artist Kirli Saunders waded through five years’ worth of poems, monologues and songs to produce MERRIGONGX’s 2025 season opener. Photo: Children of the Revolution.
MERRIGONGX opens its 2025 season strong with the first solo theatre show from proud Gunai woman and Illawarra multidisciplinary artist, writer, singer-songwriter and consultant Kirli Saunders.
Presented as a powerful meditation on resilience, connection and healing Yandha Djanbay (Go Slowly) is a culmination of Kirli’s poetry, song and monologue from the past five years.
She says sifting through a body of work created over half a decade and finding the throughline was no small feat, but she didn’t do it alone.
“Working with (Merrigong Artistic Development Manager) Leland Kean really helped me land on the concept. We were able to pull out key ideas from Eclipse, my new poetry collection out with Allen & Unwin in February, Returning, my collection that came out with Magabala in 2023, and music from my band Cooee, and thread it together into what turned out to be a meditation on the relationship with Country, the struggles and hardships of being Blak, queer and female in this world, and the healing power of land and sea and sky,” she says.
“The opportunity to be mentored by someone so senior in his craft has been a powerful part of this project for me.”
Fusing language with land, and intimate storytelling with audiovisual projections, the performance is a celebration of Kirli’s inherited strength, her identity and the wisdom found in slowing down.
The result is an immersive experience of renewal and connection.
“There will be music I’ve written, mastered by Mark Chester Harding and realised in the space by Dom Hinton, and people will be witnessing my words alongside incredible and arresting visuals of our local environment and community captured by (Illawarra film and photography creative) Tad Souden,” she says.
A multiple award-winning writer, Kirli was presented an Order of Australia Medal for her contribution to the arts in 2022.
She says the collaborative nature of her work with MERRIGONGX felt significant.
“The idea of it being fusion and collaboration and development feels important, because development is something that happens a lot in theatres overseas, but not so much here,” she says.
“I think Merrigong has done a wonderful thing in choosing to develop local artists in a way that allows us to change and evolve our works over time. It means audiences get to witness the first iteration of a work; perhaps the most raw and honest version, and that’s really powerful.”
Throughout the development Merrigong’s emerging First Nations producer, Ngunnawal woman Lillie Paton, will be mentored.
“Being able to stage works with other First Nations artists, and women, is an important part of Yandha Djanbay and of the MERRIGONGX program,” Kirli says.
Audiences should prepare for some “big themes” coming through in Yandha Djanbay, from sexual and gendered violence to racism and how Kirli moved through those hardships. But the underlying message is one of solidarity and hope.
“I hope First Nations audiences feel seen, mirrored on a stage that doesn’t always capture our experiences,” Kirli says.
“Simultaneously for our allies, I hope this is another experience of truth-telling and creative expression that they get to be privy to, and that they find some connection to as well, because I think we’re not alone in feeling the bigness of the world at this time.”
Yandha Djanbay (Go Slowly) will be on stage at Bruce Gordon Theatre, IPAC, from 20 to 22 February. MERRINGONGX invites audiences to reserve their spot for free and pay what they feel it’s worth afterwards.
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