Working on The Never Never Land

Title:
Working on The Never Never Land
NFSA ID
371321
Year
1998
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In 1964 Kay Roberts directed The Never Never Land, a filmed version of the Elizabethan Theatre Trust’s Aboriginal Theatre, featuring 45 performers from the Tiwi Islands, Yirrkala and the Daly River.

Kay replicated many aspects of the theatre version, commenting that she ‘was extremely careful with all the lighting and everything like that to get this wonderful fire-lit value that they had on the stage and translate that into film’, but added narration by dancer and choreographer Robert Helpmann.

In this excerpt from her oral history interview for the NFSA, Kay recalls working with the performers.

Kay Roberts interviewed by Stuart Glover, 1998. NFSA title: 371321
Image: Kay Roberts. Supplied by Di Morrissey.