Whitefella Yella Tree is an important story centring humanity and love as they struggle to survive while their worlds and cultures are being shattered
Presented by: Griffin Theatre Company and Adelaide Festival
Reviewed: 12 March 2026
Whitefella Yella Tree is a love story intertwined in tragedy when a young couple’s exploration and bonds are torn and twisted by the early stages of colonisation.
Whitefella Yella Tree opens with Thai (Joseph Althouse) from the river mob and Neddy (Danny Howard) from the mountain mob meeting as is their duty to exchange knowledge. There is an early naivety and playfulness between the pair. Codenames and teasing each other as they drop information about the new white people hanging around by a river mouth.
Thai, who’s been designated to keep his mob’s memories, crafts his knowledge through story. Neddy has more energy and impulse. They both are played with charisma and charm that seem contradictory yet it’s through this that they are drawn together. The actors did a wonderful job of performing the tragedy while not losing the tenderness and underlying care between their characters.
The play is entirely set in a single meeting over the course of initially months and then years. Suspended above the centre is the base of a tree, the roots exposed and reaching down. Mixed with the lighting and acting, the tree’s presence is haunting. The words and performance describe the uniqueness of the living tree while the audience is presented with how it is slashed down and ripped out from the ground.
The opening scenes are particularly light and mischievous with the undercurrent of innocent flirtation. The potential threats are signalled and it’s only later we witness the true impact of the invasion, which drives at the heart of the story. The romance is challenged when during a raid Neddy’s sister is kidnapped and his desire to find her almost consumes him. Their regular knowledge exchanges they’ve been tasked with become broken by Neddy’s absences and his slow infiltration of the colonisers.
The narrative holds on the heart and deep bonds despite the bleakness and toll that came with invasion. The playwright Dylan Van Den Berg has broken down complex intergenerational trauma and loss into a tale of just two people, an uncomplicated desire to be together, that is brutally confronted by external sources.
The lighting and staging complemented the layered production. They brought the needed intensity behind the threats within the story and lit the young, blooming intimacy in an artful and delicate manner. The entire production is carefully and beautifully staged and crafted by the crew, including Declan Greene and Amy Sole as Co-Directors, Mason Browne as Designer, Kelsey Lee and Katie Sfetkidis as Lighting Co-Designers, and Steve Toulmin as Composer and Sound Designer.
Whitefella Yella Tree is an important story centring on humanity and love as they struggle to survive while their worlds and cultures are being shattered.
Reviewed by: Alex Duncan
Venue: Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
Season: 12 – 15 March 2026
Duration: 90mins, no interval
Tickets: $40 – $69 (Plus Booking Fee)
Bookings: https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/shitegeist-af2026
