MATHINNA February 19, 2010

In 2009, Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Mathinna won Helpmann Awards for Best Ballet or Dance Work 2009, Best Choreography in a Dance or Physical Theatre Production 2009 and Best Original Score 2009. This multi-award winning production is back in 2010 with an encore performance at the Riverside Theatre, on February 19 and 20 for two performances only. This is the last chance for NSW to see this very special story of a girl's journey between two cultures.

In this powerful work of visual storytelling, charged with both beauty and an aesthetic empathy, the story of Matthina unfolds. Mathinna is a young Tasmanian Aboriginal girl removed from her traditional life, adopted into western colonial society to be ultimately returned to the fragments of her original heritage.. Young Mary was born on Flinders Island, Tasmania in 1835. As a young girl, Mary was adopted by Governor Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin. Mary was renamed Mathinna. Somewhat an educational and charitable project, Mathinna was raised with the Governor's daughter. When Governor Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin returned to England, Mathinna was sent to an orphanage in Hobart where she struggled to adjust. At sixteen she left the School to rejoin her people at an Aboriginal station at Oyster Cove, south of Hobart. At this settlement Mathinna’s life came to a disheartening end.

Mathinna became the archetype of the ‘stolen child’ and, in this brand new work, Bangarra Dance Theatre recreates her powerful story of vulnerability and searching in an era of confusion and intolerance.