Pic: Audience listening to Jalbu/Meri reading
The 5Five Presents were delighted to host and exclusive staged reading of Jalbu Meri, a bold new play by Phoebe Grainer and Wendy Mocke, on Saturday 12 July at By Appointment ArtSpace.
Set in Gimuy, Jalbu Meri is an evocative and powerful exploration of Aboriginal and Melanesian womanhood, cultural survival, resilience, and identity. The play draws from lived experience and blends it with theatricality, interweaving humour, truth telling, and Black joy into a compelling narrative.
“Two drunk besties, a James Cook statue, and a wildly misguided plan to blow it sky high – what could go wrong? As Kimmy and Grace fumble through their chaotic act of rebellion (spoiler: they don’t know how explosives work), their boozy misadventure explodes into an epic tale of Black Indigenous women of the Pacific, spanning generations of love, joy and resistance.
Hilarious, heartfelt, and just the right amount of unhinged, Jalbu Meri asks: who writes history, and who gets to blow it up?”
This work has been in development for several years and is now officially programmed for its world premiere at KXT Theatre in Gadigal (Sydney) in October 2025. Thanks to the generous support of the Cairns Regional Arts Development Fund, Phoebe and Wendy undertook a dedicated writing retreat in Gimuy to sharpen and elevate the script, with this staged reading being the first and only public presentation of the play before it reaches the stage.
Pic: Playwright Wendy Mocke reading with Kheely Bennet, assisted by Tegan Koster.
Phoebe Grainer is a proud Kuku Djungan, Muluridji, Wakaman, Tagalaka, Kunjen, Warrgamay and Yindinji woman. Wendy Mocke is a proud Papua New Guinean woman who grew up in Gimuy since arriving in so-called Australia at twelve years old. Together, they bring deep cultural insight, fierce storytelling, and fearless sisterhood to the stage.
The reading featured Wendy Mocke and emerging creative Kheely Bennett.