Meet the Artists
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Breaksea's Milu Green sat down with Julianna Thomas & Jarred Wall ahead of Aliwah Bardinar! at the Albany Entertainment Centre in 2 weeks!​​
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Milu - Julianna, what are your most memorable experiences of your early performing opportunities?
Julianna - Well, my first experiences were from a very young age. I have two wonderful older siblings who sparked my interest in performance and acting. I remember playing a monkey in the Wizard of Oz back in Geraldton, where I found out I had a knack for animal noises (weird actor thing, I know) and that was connected to being playful. I was fortunately welcomed into John Curtin College of the Arts for Musical Theatre, and I was accepted into WAAPA for my tertiary studies. I learnt lots there, but I needed to journey out by myself into the industry to learn and discover. I was greeted with an offer to be in the ensemble of Wundig wer Wilura and I haven’t stopped discovering more things since.
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Milu - Jarred, what are your two career highlights to date?
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Jarred - My experiences of performing in language in the two Operas (Wundig Wer Wilura and Koolbardi Wer Wardong) have been amazing. Career altering and cultural enriching. If I were to think of my solo contemporary music as Boox Kid, I'd have to say opening for George Ezra in 2022 was pretty cool.
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Milu - Julianna, tell me about Aliwah Bardinar!, and the characters you are playing?
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Julianna - Aliwah Bardinar! is a story about the friends of Bardinar the Western Rosella, and how they join to support him in getting his colours for the karla middar, the campfire dance. It is told in comparison with Maarli (the black swan) sharing fire with all the barna (animals). Bardinar learns what it means to show up for yourself and why your friends are there to support you. I play 3 characters, Maarli, Djer-djer (Blue wren), Kooyar (Frog) plus a narration-based role. Each character either sings or dances in a song, or both!
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Milu - Jarred, are you looking forward to production week at the Albany Entertainment Centre?
Jarred - It should be a lot of fun, I'm always eager to tell stories about our culture and share Noongar language. It's a really fun show and should be a blast to perform.
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Milu - Julianna, how do you think the audience will react to Aliwah Bardinar?
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Julianna - I think the kids will love it. Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse know how to write a tune and they’re masterminds of appealing to many generations of music. I think they’ll see some light-hearted but valuable entertainment and as a family outing this is a show families are bound to love!
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More about Aliwah Bardinar!
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Aliwah Bardinar! premiere
Breaksea in collaboration with Gina Williams & Guy Ghouse
Albany Entertainment Centre & Awesome Arts Festival (Perth) 2025
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About Aliwah Bardinar!
From the multi-award winning composers of Wanjoo and Koolbardi wer Wardong, comes a new children’s production - Aliwah Bardinar! (Look-out Rosella!). Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse’s new production tells the sweet Nyttiny (creation) story of how the Bardinar (Western Rosella) got its colours. Presented in both Noongar language and English, the work introduces audiences to an ancient language and story featuring an array of barna (animals) from across beautiful Noongar boodja. Premiering in Albany & Perth in 2025, over the next few years, this production will tour Noongar country promoting Noongar language and celebrating creativity.
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First Phase Development
Aliwah Bardinar! began its journey in 2024, as a 3 month multi-art form residency at Hilton Primary School culminating in a full school production. Aliwah Bardinar! continued with multi-artform workshops and a concert featuring performers Gina Williams & Guy Ghouse with brand new music from Aliwah Bardinar! at the 2024 Awesome Arts Festival. The creative team were inspired by community engaged workshops with children, which will inform the design and development of costumes and set. Our first phase development engaged with over 550 children.
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About the Creators
Wanjoo Pty Ltd – is the company of multi-award-winning musical duo Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse. Wanjoo is firmly in the business of building a legacy of sharing Noongar language, through music, storytelling, songwriting and performance. Wanjoo has been at the forefront of the musical revival of Noongar language, releasing four albums, writing two major Festival works (Koorlangka and Koort), two books and two critically acclaimed operas for West Australian Opera (Koolbardi wer Wardong & Wundig wer Wilura). They coordinate the ever-popular Wanjoo workshops, seeing up to 3000 school children a week at any given time and run Noongar singing masterclasses for adults.
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Julianna Thomas & Jarred Wall pictured as Djer-Djer (Blue Wren) & Kooba (Red Robin) and Jarred Wall as Djidi Djidi (Willy Wagtail) - costume design by Michelle Ward - image by Andrew J Clarke.