The Dark Matter of Usulal
The Jo Ze spArks
World Premiere
Presented by Arts House and the Jo Ze spArks
Thursday 12 – Sunday 15 November 2026
Thu – Sat, 7:30pm
Sun, 5pm
70 mins, no interval
Post-show artist talk for all ticket holders
Fri 13 November
Tickets
Standard $40
Reduced $25
BLAKTIX $15
PASIFIKA TIX $15
Companion Card Free
A small transaction fee will be charged per order.
Experience both The Dark Matter of Usual and Working Class Clown for a special discounted rate. Select a Two-Show Ticket for each performance and see both shows for $45.
Content Advice
Suitable for ages 15+
It also features low-frequency sound, immersive audiovisual effects, strobe lighting, and periods of darkness.
An Access Guide will be available for download prior to the event.
Arts House
North Melbourne Town Hall
521 Queensberry St,
North Melbourne
Wheelchair Accessible
Quiet Space Available
Assistance Animal
Companion Card
Assistive Listening
Visual Rating 50%
Aural Rating 50%A powerful solo performance of body, bloodline and a world already in motion.
The ground beneath WOMXN is shifting.
Her child speaks of moon lilies, black holes and a treehouse in the sky. A black cockatoo appears at the kitchen window. Beneath the ordinary rhythms of everyday life, something begins to hum.
Then WOMXN falls through the world.
As the cracks begin to widen, what was always there begins to emerge.
Through a rich interplay of movement, sound, motion-capture imagery and spatial design, The Dark Matter of Usulal asks what holds when the ground shifts, and what continues long after the ending has already been declared.
The Dark Matter of Usulal emerges from an entrusted relationship with the Ait Koedal Clan story of Usulal, and an instruction given to creator, co-director and performer Margaret J Harvey through her Saibai Island bloodline: “Go and interpret.”
The work follows Harvey’s continuing relationship with that entrustment; an intimate and expansive encounter with a world that was always here.
About the artists
Artist statement
During that time, my understanding of interpretation has changed. I no longer believe my task is to extract a single meaning from the story or contain it within a finished retelling. Interpretation has become a life practice: an ongoing relationship of listening, carrying and responding.
As a little brown girl growing up away from my bloodline communities of Saibai and Bamaga, my body was shaped by stories that measured how much space I was permitted to take up. Usulal came to me through bloodline and kinship. I agreed to receive the story and the responsibility of carrying it.
Through making The Dark Matter of Usulal, I attend to what happens when the stories imposed upon my body as a child encounter Usulal, an old, continuing story I agreed to carry. They remain distinct, but they interrupt and reorganise one another within my body and within the theatrical world taking shape around it. Story-Body, recorded family voices, motion-captured traces and live performance allow these encounters to remain active and unfinished.
Saibaian living cosmologies have always exceeded the boundaries of the measured world. Carrying Usulal has deepened how I live in relation to what continues across distance, diaspora and time.
Artistic credits
Co-Director & Dramaturg: Danielle Micich
Featuring the voice of: Zey Harvey-Connellan
Digital Visual Design: Desmond Connellan
Lighting & Spatial Design: Jenny Hector
Sound/Composition Design: Marco Cher
Stage Manager / Production Manager: Genevieve Davidson
Cultural Acknowledgement:
Margaret J Harvey acknowledges the late Awa Walter Waia, senior Ait Koedal knowledge holder, who entrusted her with the living myth of Usulal, and the late Awa Jeff Aniba-Waia, whose sharing of Saibaian knowledge and stories of Usulal has been integral to the development of this work.
Details
World Premiere
Presented by Arts House and the Jo Ze spArks
Thursday 12 – Sunday 15 November 2026
Thu – Sat, 7:30pm
Sun, 5pm
70 mins, no interval
Post-show artist talk for all ticket holders
Fri 13 November
Tickets
Standard $40
Reduced $25
BLAKTIX $15
PASIFIKA TIX $15
Companion Card Free
A small transaction fee will be charged per order.
Experience both The Dark Matter of Usual and Working Class Clown for a special discounted rate. Select a Two-Show Ticket for each performance and see both shows for $45.
Content Advice
Suitable for ages 15+
It also features low-frequency sound, immersive audiovisual effects, strobe lighting, and periods of darkness.
An Access Guide will be available for download prior to the event.
Arts House
North Melbourne Town Hall
521 Queensberry St,
North Melbourne
Wheelchair Accessible Quiet Space Available Assistance Animal Companion Card Assistive Listening Visual Rating 50% Aural Rating 50%Supported by –
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; the Victoria Government through Creative Victoria; Arts Queensland; Malthouse Theatre; and the City of Melbourne through Arts House.
Image credit: Danielle Micich
Image description: A performer lies on a dark stage floor looking toward the audience. Glowing blue digital figures appear suspended behind her within a dark visual landscape.
