Trail’s End

Brothers Sam and Jamie are out in the bush, on a walking trip to a waterfall, where they’ll honour their late mother. Jamie has brought his GPS, his guitar – he can’t go a week without practising – and a bag of M&Ms. Sam is much more prepared but carries a secret in his backpack.

Trail’s End is written by award-winning Gunai/Kurnai woman Jannali Jones, and places Sam’s Aboriginal culture into a contemporary world, where privilege still pervades. Yet it is also an attempt to reconcile different ways of doing things and exploring how each could benefit the other.

Dylan Miller is Sam and James Goodliffe is Jamie – brothers, but also opposites. Sam spends his time down the street with an Uncle and falls out with Jamie’s dad. Jamie’s private school background is sending him away to study classical music.

There’s comedy from the different approaches the two brothers have to bush-walking, but there’s also a shared history that both Miller and Goodliffe convincingly create. It takes more than good characters to push the narrative along, and the secret is signposted way before its reveal, but it’s no less satisfying when it is.

It is a story of two cultures where there’s both friction and connection. Whilst the two brothers are from different fathers and they’ve had very different experiences growing up, they’re still brothers, and they still have each other’s back.

The entire production is created by Aboriginal creatives, and it’s made something accessible to everyone. What’s shocking is that this is the only Aboriginal theatrical performance in this year’s Adelaide Fringe!

Review by Mark Wickett

To check out our round-up of Adelaide Fringe reviews, click here.