Australia » Objects

The Dilly Bag

In simple terms a dilly bag is a woven string bag. This particular bag, woven by Frances Djulbing, is in the tradition of her people and comes from North Eastern Armhem Land. The techniques used in the weaving of the bag have been passed to Frances, who in turn is teaching these to others, in the continuous lineage of the oldest culture on the planet. In the Malthouse Theatre’s presentation of The Shadow King (a radically altered version of King Lear, adapted by Michael Kantor and Tommy E Lewis and spoken in five indigenous Australian languages as well as English), this Dilly Bag was carried by Frances' character of Edmund’s mother (the character replaced Shakespeare’s Kent and cleverly emphasized the importance of female elders in the community). A repository of sacred knowledge and objects, the bag was symbolically torn in two and discarded during production when Edmund with Goneril and Regan capture Lear and the mother. The Dilly Bag, its place within this telling of King Lear, and its relationship to both a truth and a misrepresentation of Australian Indigenous culture, forms a suite of fascinating and deeply complicated stories. There is a story in the joy of a production that examines a traditional white cultural emblem (Lear) and its western understanding of fighting for, owning and selling land as antithetical to the traditional inhabitation of land by indigenous peoples. There is the story of the creative exchange between the city-based creative team and the artisans of Beswick, Katherine and Ramingining and the challenge of making a version of a dilly bag that, despite its great cultural significance, could be torn in two each performance. And there is the greater story of the dilly bag. A story that has different meanings to different tribal groups throughout Australia. The bag from The Shadow King is from Frances Djulibing’s country, and its story is truest when told by her and from her land and the place of her culture. Intertwined in this are the ways that stories from the Aboriginals of Australia have been told as those of yesterday, told by white faces and told without the context of a continually evolving and living culture. And finally there is the story of the Dilly Bag that Frances began to weave at the beginning of the rehearsal period in Melbourne and completed during the fourth season of the production in Perth on the other side of this vast country.

Exhibiting artists / ateliers

• Francis Djulbing


Specialization: actor, sculptor
Teaching activities: Djulibing is committed to teaching her children and grandchildren the techniques and stories she learned from her parents.
Participation in other important exhibitions: She is best known for playing the lead female role in 10 Canoes, the 2006 film by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr, and was the subject of Darlene Johnson’s documentary River of No Return. Recently, Djulibing worked as associate producer on Charlie’s Countr
Additional information: Currently residing about 10 km from Ramingining in North Eastern Arnhem Land, Djulibing is the Chairperson of the Bula’bula Arts Aboriginal Corporation, as well as being a mother, grandmother, actor, weaver, linguist, translator, educator and comedian.

'Directed by Michael Kantor'

Exhibiting works

• Co-Created by Michael Kantor and Tom E. Lewis: (The Shadow King), Malthouse Theatre (Malthouse Theatre), 2013, Director: Directed by Michael Kantor, Associate director: Melodie Reynolds-Diarra Set design: Paul Jackson, Michael Kantor & David Miller Costume & props design: Ruby Langton-Batty Lighting design: Paul Jackson Sound design: Kelly Ryall Film: Natasha Gadd, Rhys Graham & Murray Lui Music consultant: Iain Grandage Musical arrangements and direction: John Rodgers Dramaturgy: Marion Potts Identification of exhibit: object
  Comments: The Shadow King is a majestic and timeless reworking of Shakespeare’s King Lear that speaks to the history and current circumstances of Indigenous Australia.