Children of the Black Skirt

Written by Angela Belzien, directed by Katanee Draheim

This story takes place in a mythical, timeless Australian orphanage.​

Two orphan children, Old One and New One, are always wary of The Black Skirt (the cruel Governess who floats up and down the dormitory corridors, dangerously wielding her enormous scissors), and tell terrible tales of other poor lost children to escape the reality of their own lives.​

The play delves into the history of Australia through the   eyes of children, from convict times to early white occupation, to the vast era of the Stolen Generation to World War Two and beyond. These actors create a highly theatrical, physical and visually spectacular gothic fairytale, as they slip in and out of the perspectives of different characters to tell us the tales of children from Australia’s past.​