Entertainment
21 August, 2026
Courageous family story inspires ‘Fearless’
A DEEPLY personal First Nations theatre work drawing on family history, music and truth-telling is taking shape in Cairns ahead of a public showing at Bulmba-ja on Friday night.
Six years after its first creative development, Cairns hip-hop artist and emerging playwright Charmaine ‘Dizzy Doolan’ Armstrong has returned to the rehearsal room for the second creative development of ‘Fearless’ at JUTE Theatre Company.
Ms Armstrong said the work traced the courage of her family’s previous generations and what she hoped to pass on to her own children.
“It’s all about a bit of a family story of my grandfather and my dad and all his 10 siblings and how that fearlessness got passed down to my father onto me and now how important it is for me to pass it on to my children,” she said.
“I think it’s a story of you know being courageous, being brave, even though you’re scared to do something, you do it anyway.”
At the heart of Fearless is the story of Ms Armstrong’s grandfather, Fred Doolan, who was incarcerated on Palm Island and twice escaped by floating on a log to the mainland.
“A big part of this play and of Fearless is about my grandfather Fred Doolan, who escaped Palm Island a couple of times, and he strapped himself to a log and trusted the current to take him to the mainland,” Ms Armstrong said.
Director Lisa Fa’alafi said the development was bringing Ms Armstrong’s writing from the page to the stage, with the actors providing an opportunity to refine the script.
“It also gives Dizzy a chance to make edits to the script as she’s hearing them for the first time with actors,” she said.
The five-day development culminates in a public work-in-progress showing at Bulmba-ja on Friday 21 August, from 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm, followed by a Q&A with the playwright, director and cast.
Tickets are $10 on Humanitix: www.cnslocal.s.gy/eWZlTY
