★★★½☆ An unflinching meditation on climate change that allows Western minds to see through Aboriginal eyes.

Arts House Meat Market, North Melbourne
July 6, 2016

In the almost two-and-a-quarter centuries since the white colonisation of Australia, a hard-won and often lopsided mingling of Aboriginal and European cultures has become an important touchstone of our multi-cultural contemporary society. However, even after all this time, there are still some fundamental weaknesses in our Westernised understanding of the first Australians’ way of life.

One of the major flaws in our ability to truly empathise with Aboriginal culture is the difference in our languages. Words that when translated seem mundane and innocuous to us hold major significance in the indigenous tongues. “Country”; “Nation”; “Land”: each expresses a penetrating resonance and a connection to the profoundly sacred that simply can’t be communicated by European equivalents. Broome-based dance-theatre company Marrugeku is using its fusion of the physical and philosophical to try and bridge this gap, offering a conduit for Western minds to see through Aboriginal eyes.

Cut the Sky is a frenetic meditation on modern humanity’s impact on the environment,...