Adelaide Festival. The Space. 13 Mar 2026
Whitefella Yella Tree is outstanding theatre and sharply focussed storytelling.
Written by Dylan Van Den Berg and presented by Griffin Theatre Company, this two-hander features Joseph Althouse as ‘Ty’ and Danny Howard as ‘Neddy’. The action follows the unfolding love story between two young Indigenous men navigating life in the early years of white colonisation of Australia.
Van Den Berg’s writing skilfully interweaves two thematic strands: the place of queerness within Indigenous culture, and the destructive impact of European colonisation. While these ideas might seem unrelated, the playwright uses each to illuminate the other with impressive clarity. Their relationship recalls M. C. Escher’s Drawing Hands: each theme gives shape and momentum to the other. Though the narrative is historical, the production frames it with a contemporary sensibility, including costuming that sees Ty and Neddy dressed in board shorts and T-shirts (one imprinted with the “Always was, always will be” slogan) quietly merging past and present.
The central relationship is compellingly drawn through contrast. Ty and Neddy come from different mobs. Ty is calm, sensitive, and a man of ideas; Neddy is restless and driven – he’s a man of impulsive action. Their differences drive the narrative. As the first flushes of Ty and Neddy’s romance gradually emerge, Althouse and Howard reveal themselves to be highly assured performers. Their work is restrained and truthful: nothing is overstated and nothing approaches salaciousness. The intimacy—carefully shaped with the guidance of intimacy coordinator Bayley Turner—is tender rather than provocative. Indeed, the fact that the relationship is between two men quickly becomes incidental, which is precisely the point. As Van Den Berg notes in his program notes, traditional Indigenous perspectives on queerness differ markedly from those imported through European colonisation. One simply exists without stigma; the other imposes it. (And who cares what people like Anthony Mundine think?) This reviewer pondered the similarities of how the writing treats the relationship between Ty and Neddy, compared to how David and Patrick’s love affair in the hugely popular comedic TV series Schitt’s Creek is addressed, where homosexuality is not an issue and almost doesn’t even need to be named.
The play’s emotional trajectory darkens when Neddy’s curiosity and sense of adventure draw him into contact with white colonists, and it changes him forever. Exposure to colonial attitudes, and especially about the immorality of homosexuality, dramatically changes how he views his relationship with Ty, and it almost destroys it. When they are reunited, Ty is supremely suspicious of what has happened to Neddy and he holds even more dearly onto his sense of self and history, as he perceives the looming physical and cultural danger of the whites.
The production’s excellent design elements clearly articulate this tension with precision. The sound design by Steve Toulmin, alongside the stunning lighting by Kelsey Lee and Kaite Sfetykidis, create an environment that is both beautiful and foreboding. The sparse staging evokes the Australian bush, while the lighting captures the shifting interplay of heat, shadow, and sunlight with striking effect.
Dominating the stage is an uprooted lemon tree—the “whitefella yella tree”—suspended above the stage. Citrus trees are not native to Australia, and the image resonates symbolically: the sour fruit and the looming spectre of the tree that could fall at any moment are a metaphor for the destructive forces of colonisation hanging over Ty and Neddy’s world.
This is a powerful production. Its message is unmistakable yet never moralising; its visual and sonic language is evocative; and the performances are authentic. Like the dreamtime, the storytelling passes in the blink of an eye, but its impact is long lasting.
Kym Clayton
When: 12 to 15 Mar
Where: The Space
Bookings: Closed
