Noongar opera comes of age in Wundig wer Wilura at His Majesty’s Theatre for Perth Festival and WA Opera

Noongar opera comes of age at His Majesty’s Theatre this week with Wundig wer Wilura, Gina Williams’ and Guy Ghouse’s legend of star-crossed lovers from Ballardong country, York. From a pop-influenced pastiche in Koolbardi wer Wardong (2021), the composing duo have worked up a distinct palette that draws on full operatic and orchestral effects — and a pool of Indigenous talent that has grown through five years of Noongar-themed Perth Festivals. Principals Jarred Wall (Wundig) and Jess Hitchcock (Wilura) are the kissing cousins who provoke tribal rage and retribution, evoking the romantic distemper of young, frustrated love with pathos and passion. They are buoyed by an elemental soundscape, delivered by orchestrator Dr Chris Stone and conductor Aaron Wyatt with WA Symphony Orchestra musicians; full of stark intervals but also resolving to warmth and laughter — and violence — before the tragic end. Language, too, is elemental, with patriarch Bworan (Ronald Dick) setting the tone in a lament for land and heart. Williams once said that Noongar is not a complicated language like English, and here the texture and rhythm of lyrics reflect a natural order. In a work of many moving parts, director Matt Reuben James Ward crafts a seamless flow with expert inputs from choreographer Ian Wilkes, set designer Matt McVeigh, costumes by Peter Farmer and Rae Cottam, and kaleidoscopic lighting (Mark Howett), sound design (Jeremy Turner) and projections (Roly Skender). Dance and song speak of a close-knit society, with themes in costume and set redolent of Aboriginal artwork. When extra imagery is called for it descends from the fly gallery on digital devices, albeit with an elemental edge of fire, rock, water, stars and sky. Wind chimes lead in Wilura’s first aria, a paean to her Ballardong country, full-voiced and folkloric in duet with flute —and Wundig is captivated, their wooing celebrated in brass with cinematic sweep. Wundig’s gilted fiancee Mandi (Bella McGill) is a forceful presence, warning against wrong-side love and shame. Her counterpart, Wilura’s suitor Gulambiddi (Jarrad Inman), picks up the vibe, the injured parties each a perfect foil for the other — did this get mixed up? — but Wundig and Wilura assert their truth in song. Wilura’s Nanna, Kabaarli Kalyat (Della Rae Morrison), casts a knowing eye over the scene, her jaunty air Flirtin’, Flirtin’ drawing giggles from a packed house, with musical exuberance more patterned on West Side Story than its Shakespearean inspiration, Romeo and Juliet. But, of course, this legend predates both by thousands of generations. On one side, Wundig and Wilura pledge their love “until the stars fall from the sky”. On the other, anger simmers in orchestra, voice and gesture as Wilura’s father Maambart (Rebeun Yorkshire) warns of hard days coming. His brother, Wundig’s dad Kongk (Tyrone Brownley), answers in tones of passive-aggressive indignation, and warriors square off on ancestral land. Peacemaking falls to the mothers, Maamyok (Teresa Moore) and Ngaank (Charley Caruso), who harmoniously negotiate an approach to the Clever Man, Mubarn (David Leha), despite misgivings. Leha towers over the scene, speaking with a solemn authority beyond tribal lore, channelling a biblical dimension of paradise lost in scenes of fiery damnation. Warriors are frozen into balga, their spears the spike of the grass tree. And justice flows to Wundig and Wilura; exiled in twin mountains divided by the Avon River at York. Transformed to stone, they keen out their love over stark chords — elemental to the last. WA Opera’s Wundig wer Wilura is at The Maj until February 15. Five stars.