Powerful performances wall to wall in this gritty, poignant and highly relevant debut play.

Wharf 1 Theatre, Walsh Bay
June 5, 2015

Across the world, in cities from Sydney to London, Berlin to New York, the creeping capitalist phenomenon of so-called “gentrification” has seen the slow, steady erosion of communities on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder, priced-out of neighbourhoods transformed by property developers from no-go to des-rez.

In Sydney, the indigenous communities have found themselves on the front-line of this struggle. Pushed into slum housing, viewed as an inconvenience to the priorities of urban refurbishment, the philosophical and historical resonances of this contemporary battle with the dark, blood-soaked centuries of Aboriginal oppression since the arrival of the first fleet is a stark and persistent reminder to the Koori people of why they should fight for their right for “a place and a say.”

In tackling this thorny and complex subject, actor-turned-playwright Kylie Coolwell set herself an unenviable challenge. However the result is a masterfully articulated and sensitively observed debut play that uses the universally familiar prism of the home to communicate a very culturally specific story.

Set in the James Cook and Joseph Banks Towers, The Battle of...