2024 Shakespeare Memorial Lecture
Hecate is the first adaptation of a complete Shakespeare play in one Aboriginal language of Australia, a landmark work of both theatre and language restoration. Impacted by colonialism and suppressed until the 1970s, the Noongar language of the southwest of Western Australia is endangered, yet it thrives here in this work. On this occasion, the author/adapter/playwright/poet herself will share the story of her process.
Before premièring Hecate to the world at Perth Festival 2020, Kylie led Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company’s presentation of six Shakespearean sonnets in Noongar at the Globe to Globe Festival in 2012. Kylie is an accomplished actor, theatre maker, writer, producer, and director from Perth, Western Australia with over two decades experience working in Australia's creative industries, and has long been a face of Indigenous language survival in Australia.
Kylie will share her translations of Sonnets and excerpts and songs from Hecate in this lecture, celebrating the decade-long, shared journey of Shakespeare on the Noongar Stage.
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Kylie Bracknell is a 2020 recipient of Australia’s prestigious Sydney Myer Performing Arts Award. She is an accomplished actor, theatre maker, writer, producer, and director from Perth, Western Australia with over two decades experience working in Australia's creative industries.
Bracknell is highly respected for her award-winning stage adaptation, co-translation, and direction of Hecate – a reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in the endangered Noongar language of southwestern Australia, Bracknell’s mother tongue. The full play is published in her first book, Shakespeare on the Noongar Stage: Language Revitalisation and Hecate (Upswell 2024), co-written with Clint Bracknell. She received critical acclaim for her ground-breaking language reclamation film Fist of Fury Noongar Daa – the first international feature to be dubbed in an original language from Australia.
Bracknell has long been a face of Indigenous language survival in Australia, hosting the early childhood television program Waabiny Time, performing her Noongar translations of Shakespearean sonnets at Shakespeare’s Globe, London, and again on national television in Australia for the ABC’s ‘Shakespeare special’ program on Q&A – the first time Noongar language was heard on mainstream television. She has also delivered a TEDx talk to raise awareness of Australia’s Indigenous languages.
Bracknell dedicated her adolescent years to learning Noongar language and culture before training as an actor. She received an industry nomination for ‘best-newcomer’ for her performance as Judith in the play Aliwa, and has appeared in various Australian theatre productions, including roles Sandra (The Pool), Kay (The Sapphires) and Rose Jones in Black is the New White for Sydney Theatre Company.
Bracknell landed roles in landmark Australian television programs Heartbreak High, The Gods of Wheat Street and Redfern Now. She plays Amiya in the award-winning feature film I Met a Girl, Annie in the short thriller Ace of Spades, and Donna in the first feature length Aboriginal Australian comedy film Stone Bros. She plays Piper in NETLFIX’s Irreverent, her first lead role in television series.
Bracknell's voice is featured on Fist of Fury Noongar Daa, the award-winning animation series Little J and Big Cuz (English and Noongar versions) and Ivan Sen’s feature film Mystery Road.
Bracknell frequently produces and consults on Indigenous arts projects in Australia and has coordinated and managed a variety of theatre, film and television, and radio industry programs. She worked as Program Manager of the Media and Screen Industry Indigenous Employment Program for Screen Australia, and Program Manager of the Indigenous Department at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. Bracknell also worked as Artistic Associate at Perth Festival, Australia's longest-running cultural festival, from 2019 – 2022.
Presented by the CREATE Centre in collaboration with the Chau Chak Wing Museum.
Header image: (detail) John Pule and Greg O’Brien I am a Dream Blazing Like a Star, Intaglio print 2021.