Arts Centre Melbourne’s Ian Potter State Theatre will reopen on 3 October with a world premiere concert led by First Nations artists and performed entirely in Aboriginal languages from across Victoria.
The production, Gugu Dindi Gunyah (Many Rivers. One Home), will be the first public performance staged in the refurbished theatre following a two-year redevelopment as part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation.
Created by Mutti Mutti, Nari Nari and Yorta Yorta Songman Kutcha Edwards, the work brings together Song Keepers from across Victoria in a performance centred on rivers, songlines, cultural memory and connection to Country.
Every song will be performed in the language of the Song Keeper who carries it, with the production directed by Kylie Belling and musical direction by Aaron Choulai. The creative team also includes artist Tegan Murdock, whose work draws on cultural practice, ceremony and weaving.
Edwards said developing the work began with questioning what story should be told.
“When you’re asked to conceptualise something for Arts Centre Melbourne, you first need to ask yourself why me? Then you need to figure out what story do you want and need to tell. So many things swirl in your mind,” he said.
“You take a deep breath and realise that this concept needs to be seen as ceremony, Waripa (Mutti Mutti).You enter into a cultural framework (Dreaming). Gugu Dindi Gunyah starts to take form. The rivers have their own Dreaming stories. The country has its own story. We have our own story!”
Born on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River before being removed from Country as a child, Edwards has shaped the performance around a journey through the river systems and songlines of south-eastern Australia, working with Song Keepers and cultural custodians across Victoria during an extended period of on-Country creative development.
The performance culminates on the banks of the Birrarung at Arts Centre Melbourne, on the ancestral lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, acknowledging a place that has long been used for gathering, ceremony and storytelling.
The cast includes Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO, Wayne Thorpe, Alice Skye, Stacie Nicholson-Piper, Neil Morris and Brett Clarke.
Victorian Creative Industries Minister Vicki Ward said the opening performance reflected both the calibre of the artists involved and the importance of the occasion.
“With a powerhouse creative team and lineup of Victorian First Peoples artists, led by the incomparable Kutcha Edwards, Gugu Dindi Gunyah is set to be an unmissable and unforgettable performance. A powerful celebration to mark the reopening of the refurbished Ian Potter State Theatre, and this major milestone in the transformation of our Melbourne Arts Precinct.”
Arts Centre Melbourne chief executive Karen Quinlan said the production was chosen to reopen the venue because it honoured the stories and languages of Victoria’s First Peoples.
“Gugu Dindi Gunyah is a powerful and significant piece of storytelling which we can’t wait to see brought to life in our new and improved Ian Potter State Theatre. We knew it needed to be the first concert to reopen our beloved theatre, celebrating and honouring the stories of our First Peoples on Victoria’s most treasured stage.”
The Ian Potter State Theatre has been closed since 2024 while extensive refurbishment works were carried out. Upgrades include improved accessibility with new lifts and accessible seating, new aisles, upgraded heating and cooling, replacement seating, and new lighting and sound systems, while preserving the auditorium’s original design by John Truscott.
Arts Centre Melbourne will announce the remainder of its reopening program in August.
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