Heart is a Wasteland by John Harvey is the next production from Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, its a mix of storytelling, original music and a cross-country love story.
John Harvey’s humorous and deeply heartfelt play Heart is a Wasteland examines the complexities of Aboriginal people living in contemporary Australia. The story follows a turbulent love affair that unfurls over a four-day drive to Alice Springs.
Described as a soul warming battle of egos that recognises everyone’s worthiness of, and right to, love. It is co-directed and performed by Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Maitland Schnaars with performer Claire Fermo. It is in the Main Auditorium at Subiaco Arts Centre from 17 October to 1 November 2025.
The play tells the story of Raye, a country-folk singer, playing one back-water pub after another along Australia’s vast desert highways. Trying to make a living in the hope of returning home to her young son Elvis, her lyrics blaze through the landscapes of love and longing. A chance meeting and Raye’s life becomes entwined with that of another wanderer, Dan, a miner disconnected from community.
Their journey is fraught with their own personal struggles and a developing romance, exploring themes of love, loss, and the search for belonging. The play combines storytelling with original songs by Lydia Fairhall, creating an intimate portrait of two individuals grappling with their past and present.
Claire Fermo performs the songs that are a fundamental narrative force that both guides the story and reveals the characters’ emotional depths.
Writer John Harvey said, “The experience of watching the show is like sitting down to your favourite album and going along with the songline and the story and following that, as you do when you listen to your favourite album.”
Co-director and performer Maitland Schnaars said the play is one that explores universal themes.
“There is a growing canon of plays written by Aboriginal Playwrights, which I call ‘slices of life drama’. The heart of these plays is not specifically about being Aboriginal, they are exploring universal themes, themes that are relevant to everyone. It’s just that these themes are explored through our eyes, Aboriginal eyes.”
“Heart is a Wasteland is another one of these types of plays. At its heart it is a love story. It’s about two people who meet at a point in their lives where they needed to feel loved. The play speaks to the need we all have to connect, to not feel alone.
“It is written with a complexity, passion and rawness that speaks to everyone who has felt that need, irrespective of the reasons. John Harvey, a Saibai Islander (Torres Strait) has written a play that I am deeply proud to be presenting here in Western Australia for the very first time,” Schnaars said.
Heart Is a Wasteland was originally produced by Malthouse Theatre with Brown Cabs premiering at Beckett Theatre on June 29, 2017.
The season runs from 17th October to 1st November. Tickets are on sale now.
