THEMES: Immigration, Family, Community, Protest LENGTH: CHARACTER AGES: NO. OF CHARACTERS: 9 (Suitable for a Cast of 5 ) SUITABLE FOR: Senior Students, Adults
Back to Bilo is a true-life testimony to people power and persistence. This text draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with the people at the heart of the story: Priya, Nades, Angela, Bronwyn, Simone, Vashini, and many of the Home to Bilo campaign team.
Back to Bilo is not a documentary or a literal retelling — that script would be four and half years long, with a cast of thousands! Instead, it is a carefully woven selection of the story’s key elements, capturing the heart of the Home to Bilo movement: the courage and resilience of Nades and Priya, the unwavering determination of the Biloela community, and the action of hundreds of thousands of everyday Australians who demanded more from our government. This story unfolds against the backdrop of a political climate where fear and division have long dominated the national discourse on Australia’s asylum policy
SYNOPSIS
Love is stronger than fear. Back to Bilo is the remarkable true account of one family’s ordeal through immigration detention, and how persistence and community can win against crushing odds. Priya and Nades left war-torn Sri Lanka and found each other in regional Queensland. They married, had two daughters, worked hard, and settled into a happy country life. The town of Biloela welcomed them with open arms. Four years later there was a knock at the door, and they were ripped away in a dawn raid. Their story could have ended there, but the community weren’t giving up so easily. Fighting alongside the young refugee family, the women of Bileola launched a grassroots campaign that galvanised ordinary Australians, and demanded the family be brought back to Bilo. A profoundly moving new play from Belloo Creative (Boy, Lost), made with — and from — the heart of regional Queensland.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Back to Bilo was first produced by Performing Lines and Belloo Creative, in association with the Brisbane Festival and Queensland Theatre Company, at the Bille Brown Theatre in September, 2025 .
Back to Bilo by Katherine Lyall-Watson
$25.95
THEMES: Immigration, Family, Community, Protest
LENGTH:
CHARACTER AGES:
NO. OF CHARACTERS: 9 (Suitable for a Cast of 5 )
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Students, Adults
69 in stock
Description
OVERVIEW
Back to Bilo is a true-life testimony to people power and persistence. This text draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with the people at the heart of the story: Priya, Nades, Angela, Bronwyn, Simone, Vashini, and many of the Home to Bilo campaign team.
Back to Bilo is not a documentary or a literal retelling — that script would be four and half years long, with a cast of thousands! Instead, it is a carefully woven selection of the story’s key elements, capturing the heart of the Home to Bilo movement: the courage and resilience of Nades and Priya, the unwavering determination of the Biloela community, and the action of hundreds of thousands of everyday Australians who demanded more from our government. This story unfolds against the backdrop of a political climate where fear and division have long dominated the national discourse on Australia’s asylum policy
SYNOPSIS
Love is stronger than fear. Back to Bilo is the remarkable true account of one family’s ordeal through immigration detention, and how persistence and community can win against crushing odds. Priya and Nades left war-torn Sri Lanka and found each other in regional Queensland. They married, had two daughters, worked hard, and settled into a happy country life. The town of Biloela welcomed them with open arms. Four years later there was a knock at the door, and they were ripped away in a dawn raid. Their story could have ended there, but the community weren’t giving up so easily. Fighting alongside the young refugee family, the women of Bileola launched a grassroots campaign that galvanised ordinary Australians, and demanded the family be brought back to Bilo. A profoundly moving new play from Belloo Creative (Boy, Lost), made with — and from — the heart of regional Queensland.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Back to Bilo was first produced by Performing Lines and Belloo Creative, in association with the Brisbane Festival and Queensland Theatre Company, at the Bille Brown Theatre in September, 2025 .
ISBN: 978-1-76161-986-1
Additional information