Family, identity and legacy are at the centre of the many different and varied stories that Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company bring to the stage in 2026.
Artistic Director Maitland Schnaars was enthusiastic about the program for the year ahead.
“2026 will see the continued growth and development of Yirra Yaakin as a significant theatre company with its ongoing and deep commitment to telling Aboriginal stories our way, and creating opportunities for Aboriginal artists both on and off stage.”
Schnaars is excited to announce that the season features “three amazing, contemporary and powerful mainstage productions that speak to who we are, where we come from, and where we’re going. These stories all WA premieres, deserve to be seen, shared, and celebrated and explore themes as varied as Father/Daughter relationships, tick a box Blackfullas and Black exploitation.”
Opening the year is Katie Beckett’s Which Way Home, a heartfelt journey of love, legacy, and belonging. It is a beautiful Father-Daughter road trip, based on Beckett’s own memories of growing up with her single Aboriginal father.
The company said it was a story infused with humour and heart as the pair reconnect on the drive back to Country. Which Way Home features real life father and daughter and much-loved Yirra Yaakin performers Derek and Shaquita Nannup. This personal story offers profound insight into father-daughter relationships and challenges traditional ideas of parenthood. The season runs from 28 April to 9 May in The Studio space at Subiaco Arts Centre.
At What Cost? by Nathan Maynard is the second production of the year and is set in Tasmania and raises the issues of ‘tick-a-box blacks’ and asks what it is to be Aboriginal? Every year, more people turn up claiming to be Palawa, where have they been all this time? Are they genuine? Or just ticking a box? Who gets to decide who is Aboriginal or not? What happens when your identity is up for debate?
Maynard’s bold an unflinching play asks these urgent questions. At What cost? is presented in the main auditorium at Subiaco Arts Centre from 17 July to 1 August.
The company will finish the year with Jacky by Declan Furber Gillick, a co-production with Black Swan State Theatre Company, a razor-sharp tale about the cost of keeping it all together.
Jacky is a smart, enterprising young Aboriginal man making a life for himself in the city. He’s skilfully navigating the gig economy, skipping neatly from office internships to cultural performances to sex work. But when his little brother Keith shows up unannounced, Jacky’s carefully compartmentalised lives are thrown into chaos. This, funny and unflinching play about family, work and culture, explores the compromises we are prepared to make to survive as Aboriginal people.
The play which tackles multiple themes around race and society has been highly praised when its been performed in Melbourne and Sydney. This production will be co-directed by Maitland Schnaars and Black Swan’s Artistic Director Kate Champion.
Jacky runs from 23 October to 8 November in the main auditorium at Subiaco Arts Centre.
To complement the year Yirra Yaakin will continue to run our Community, Young Artists’, Education, and Emerging Storytellers’ programs.
In 2026, they will continue their commitment to regional WA. The 7 Stages Of Grieving by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman, is scheduled (subject to funding), for a regional tour reaching as far north as Karratha and as south as Margaret River.
For more information please visit www.yirrayaakin.com.au. Tickets are available here.
