Darwin Festival

The Bougainville Photoplay Project

In this compelling and intimate work of political theatre, writer, academic and performer Paul Dwyer retraces three journeys made by his father Dr Allan Dwyer, a world-renowned orthopaedic surgeon, to Bougainville (PNG) during the 1960s, healing dozens of crippled children.

Family stories are interwoven with the larger narrative of Australia's colonial enterprise over the years following the opening of the giant Panguna copper mine, environmental devastation, a brutal civil war funded by Australia that cost the lives of up to 20,000 people, and finally, a ray of hope in the post-war reconciliation process.

Devised and performed by Paul Dwyer

"I smiled, I laughed, I was educated, I was provoked, I was moved. I was, ultimately, inspired." Kevin Jackson Theatre Reviews

Date: 18-20 August
Time: 18 Aug: 8pm, 19 Aug: 11am* & 8pm, 20 Aug: 8pm
Duration: 75 mins
Venue: Brown’s Mart Theatre
Book: 08 8980 3333
*Indicates designated school show

NT Curriculum Band: Senior Drama Studies Stage One and Two, Senior Art, Stage One and Two. Senior SOSE.
Suitable for:  Senior School Students
Possible Areas of Study: Theatre of the Oppressed, Visual Art and Media, New Mediums and Technology, Human Rights, Reconciliation and Links to the Stolen Generation, Civil War

View full 2010 Schools Program

Toured by Performing Lines for Mobile States, a national touring initiative supported by the  Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
version 1.0 inc is funded by the Theatre Board of the Australia Council and Arts NSW. This project is supported by the Dept. of Performance Studies, University of Sydney.