Review: Which Way Home at Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company
Which Way Home at Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company
Friday, April 30, 2026
Which Way Home, the newest offering from Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, is a father and daughter road trip story about the meaning of home and the emotional and physical journey to get there. Taking place over the course of a long day, Tash, played by Shaquita Nannup, drives her ageing father, “Dad”, played by her real-life father Derek Nannup, back to his ancestral country, which she has never visited.
Tash is an organised, tightly controlled, modern young woman who wants to make the trip an emotional journey to the heart of their relationship and discuss the shared trauma of the early loss of her mother. However, her father resists her approach the entire journey, preferring to avoid difficult topics, as well as plans, maps and schedules. In some ways, this is a classic odd-couple pairing, but the two characters clearly love each other and never hold back in letting the other know, even as they continue to irritate each other in the confines of a car.
Their backstory is told through a series of flashbacks, where Shaniqua Nannup’s talent shines in her portrayal of the character at different ages. These scenes reveal the tensions between the two as Dad navigates parenting a mixed-race child as a single Aboriginal father.
The relationship between the real-life father and daughter adds poignancy, and the chemistry between them is obvious. The performances are the strongest aspect of the show, and one could hope that these two appear on stage together in the future. Derek Nannup’s performance as a charming, infuriating, loving and deeply flawed character is very convincing. The foyer of the Subiaco Arts Centre is decorated with family photos of the two together, adding charming verisimilitude and bringing the audience into the family.
The set is a chaotic jumble of items you might find in a shed, spilling out of the invisible car. It’s sometimes difficult to determine exactly what scene the stacks of objects are intended to illustrate or how the characters are positioned in space and time relative to them. The choice not to use a steering wheel while Tash drives is unhelpful, as it doesn’t bring the audience into the story, since Dad’s body language is that of a passenger, but Tash’s hands hang down in her lap, looking as if she is not driving. The soundtrack of country music is evocative when used, but it is used rarely. Simple effects invoke outback scenes, including lighted panels of flora and an LED night sky.
This was the first play by writer and performer Katie Beckett, which premiered back in 2017 and was inspired by her own life. The story is very much about what remains unsaid between family. One could argue whether Beckett strikes the right balance, though, as much remains unsaid and the story lacks the resonance it might have had if the audience were let into their secrets further. Tash is trying to make her way in the world as a young woman carrying childhood memories filled with uncertainty and fear bred of racism and loss. Meanwhile, Dad uses a mix of aphorisms, sincerely held philosophies and evasions to avoid confronting the past, much to his daughter’s frustration. The ending remains tantalisingly ambiguous but may have been more resonant if Beckett hadn’t allowed Dad to remain so stubbornly evasive.
This is ultimately a story of homecoming. For a daughter who has never visited her father’s country, she goes there seeking home, acceptance, belonging and direction. The pervasive emotion throughout this show is love: the complicated love within a family and for the country that is at the heart of everything.
SAMANTHA ROSENFELD
Photos by Dana Weeks
