The Wake

Welcome to The Wake. 

The funeral is the place where life meets death like nowhere else. Funerals have become our family gatherings, our cultural connections and ongoing reunions; now the mainstays of cultural practice, knowledge and language-sharing. Laughter is the centrepiece of funerals and grief for many Indigenous Australians. Told with humour and bittersweet levity, The Wake is an exploration of the issues facing Indigenous peoples from a variety of backgrounds, touching on the themes of birth, death and love.

The Wake is a virtual, interactive theatre stage. On this stage, the funeral guests have gathered. Each guest of The Wake is there to celebrate a loved one, telling their own real stories of loss, life and laughter. 

Four writer-performers representing a diversity of backgrounds, ages and genders stand in front of you. They are a mix of fair and dark complexion, Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal.

Through deeply personal and vivid recollections, they do more than just pay homage to loved ones. They offer us an insight into their precious and sometimes hilarious customs and rituals. They expose our similarities and differences; of birth and death, beliefs and cultural practice.

Perhaps most of all, they remind us that those we’ve lost and cherish most will always rest in power.

The Wake is an SBS & NITV installation produced by Distil Immersive.

Director - Adrian Russell Wills

Producer - Anusha Duray

Performers - Shari Sebbens, Sani Ray Townson, Yvonne Weldon, Matty Mills