Kylie Bracknell, formerly Kylie Farmer and also known as Kaarljilba Kaardn,[1] is an Aboriginal Australian writer, director and actress.
Farmer played Juliet in a run of Romeo and Juliet with the Australian Shakespeare Company,[2][3] featured in the 2010 revival of The Sapphires,[4][5] appeared in Rima Tamou's film Sa Black Thing (an episode of the SBS TV series Dramatically Black) performed in the theatre production Aliwa!,[6][7] appeared in Muttacar Sorry Business[8] and is the face and narrator of the NITV series Waabiny Time.[9]
As Kylie Bracknell, she acted in Nakkiah Lui's Black is the New White,[10] appeared the feature film I Met a Girl,[11] plays Ally in the animated TV show Little J & Big Cuz,[12] and plays Piper in the TV series Irreverent.[13]
Noongar language and culture has featured strongly in her career. She spent 11 years working at Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, an Aboriginal-led theatre company based in Perth, in the heart of Noongar country.[14]
In 2012, she translated a selection of Shakespeare's sonnets into Noongar and performed them at the Globe Theatre in London with fellow Noongar actors Kyle Morrison and Trevor Ryan.[15]
In 2020, Bracknell co-translated and directed a critically acclaimed Noongar adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, titled Hecate, the first full-length adaptation of a Shakespearean play performed in one Indigenous language of Australia.[16] She followed this up in 2021 by co-translating, co-producing, and directing a Noongar language dub of the 1972 Bruce Lee film Fist of Fury, retitled Fist of Fury Noongar Daa.[17] Bracknell has also co-translated and directed Noongar episodes of Little J & Big Cuz.[18]
Bracknell was awarded the 2020 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award.[19]
Bracknell is a strong advocate for Aboriginal languages, with appearances at TEDxManly[20] and on the ABC program Q&A.[21][22]
In addition, she has taught Noongar language to young people in country towns through Community Arts Network's Noongar Pop Culture project,[23] around Australia via the early years television series Waabiny Time,[24][25] and in series of online language learning videos.[26]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Stone Bros. | Donna | Short film |
2012 | Brolga | Short film | |
2012 | Ace of Spades | Annie | Short film |
2016 | Friendship Love & Loyalty | Denise | |
2020 | I Met a Girl | Amiya |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | Dramatically Black | Crystal | Episode: "Sa Black Thing" |
2011 | Waabiny Time | 21 episodes | |
2013 | Redfern Now | Lena | Episode: "Pokies" |
2014 | The Gods of Wheat Street | Jamie Lavelle | 2 episodes |
2017 | Little J & Big Cuz | Ally | 5 episodes |
2022 | Irreverent | Piper | 10 episodes |