Bran Nue Dae: an essentially conservative work sacrificing politics for a Utopian reconciliation?

Abstract

Bran Nue Dae, written by Jimmy Chi, directed by Andrew Ross, and with a score performed by Kuckles, uses the eccentricity of the musical theatre genre to communicate political messages in innovative and unexpected ways. Indeed, the play’s origins are in Broome, a city that as Peter Bibby articulates in the script’s introduction, ‘is such a long way from anywhere that it might as well be nowhere, which is perhaps a good starting point for surprises’ (Bibby 1991, p.6). Part of what characterises the text and makes it so surprising is its combination of non-naturalistic techniques and hard-hitting political statements. In this essay, I will first weigh up three separate issues; whether Bran Nue Dae can be considered conservative, the extent to which it is political, and the nature of its conclusion which, as the essay question suggests, presents a utopian reconciliation that compromises its political aims. Following this, I will assess the question as a whole, determining whether the musical’s conclusion jars or aligns with the rest of the text. Ultimately, I will argue that although the musical theatre genre enables Bran Nue Dae to be blatant and outlandish, the political issues it explores are incorporated into the text in complex, subtle and oftentimes abstract ways.