MERRIGONGX Presents Yandha Djanbay (Go Slowly)

Merrigong Theatre Company’s annual artists’ program, MERRIGONGX returns in 2025, kicking off with Kirli Saunders’ Yandha Djanbay (Go Slowly), at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre from the 20th to 22nd February 2025.

Yandha Djanbay (Go Slowly) presents a powerful meditation on resilience, connection, and healing. Fusing language with land, and intimate storytelling with audiovisual projection, this work honours Kirli Saunders’ relationship with Country as both balm and blessing in times of hardship.

Kirli Saunders (OAM) is a proud Gunai Woman, and award-winning multi-disciplinary artist, writer, singer-songwriter and consultant. Kirli’s eight celebrated books, among others, include Eclipse (Allen & Unwin, 2025), Returning (Magabala, 2023) and Bindi (Magabala, 2020). She was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her contribution to the arts in 2022.

Yandha Djanbay (Go Slowly) includes poetry from her latest book, Eclipse, published by Allen and Unwin (released 4 Feb 2025).

Kirli Saunders:

Yandha Djanbay is a mix of poetry, monologue, song and gesture, it fuses incredible visuals by Tad Souden, with my music and words. Directed by Leland Kean and with Ngunnawal sis, Lillie Paton, as part of the producing team, it’s a project of collaboration, and one of bravely telling the stories I haven’t yet. It’s about our ways, about going slowly, and the connection to land, sea and sky being the balm and blessing, offering calm in those times of chaos.

Lillie Paton is Merrrigong’s new First Nations Emerging Producer and Yandha Djanbay is her first project with the company.

This performance is a celebration of her inherited strength, her identity as a Blak queer woman, and the wisdom found in slowing down, offering an immersive experience of renewal and connection.

Leland Kean, Director and Merrigong Theatre Company’s Artistic Development Manager:

Like the works title, Yandha Djanbay (Go Slowly), has developed over time. Evolving out of Kirli’s first commission with Merrigong, Going Home, and many hours of conversations, the work weaves Kirli’s award-winning poetry with stories of reflection, loss, heartbreak and renewal. This is a deeply personal look into the world of one of the country’s most powerful emerging First Nations voices.

MERRIGONGX places artists and their practice at the centre of their community. From in-house creative developments to full-blown public presentations of new work, and everything in between, MERRIGONGX provides independent artists with financial, technical, marketing, and artistic resources.

Season Details

Venue: Bruce Gordon Theatre
Date: 20 – 22 Feb 2025

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