Dear Son opened this week at Belvoir St Theatre as part of the 2026 Sydney Festival, bringing Thomas Mayo’s collection of letters between First Nations fathers and sons to the stage with an honesty that feels both overdue and deeply necessary.
Adapted by Isaac Drandic and John Harvey and directed by Isaac Drandic, the 75-minute production runs through Jan. 25. Drawn from Mayo’s book, which gathers letters written by Indigenous men to their fathers, sons, and nephews, addressing everything from pride and love to anger, grief, and the weight of history.
“I would describe Dear Son as a collection of letters that has been turned into a theatrical adaptation,” Drandic said. “The significance of bringing these letters and these stories to the stage now is that we as men have to be able to talk about what’s going on for us.”
The Sydney cast includes Jimi Bani (My Name is Jimi, Peter Pan), Waangenga Blanco (37, Patyegarang), Kirk Page (Black Diggers, Redfern Now), Aaron Pedersen (Dead Heart, Mystery Road), and Tibian Wyles (37, Black Diggers), each stepping into a story that reflects lived experience rather than fiction. The production includes culturally sensitive material and images of people who have passed, grounding the work in real lives rather than symbolism.
For Drandic, the project also pushes back against how masculinity is taught and enforced. “For too long, I think we’ve been taught that it’s not manly or it’s not masculine to speak about your feelings,” he said.
Challenging that silence and toxic masculinity is built into the show’s DNA. During rehearsals, the creative team began sharing stories they had never spoken aloud, even among longtime collaborators. Dear Son opened a space for that vulnerability and honesty, which they were able to bring directly to the stage.
Visually, Dear Son keeps the focus on the men and their voices, however, movement and choreography by Waangenga Blanco give the performers a physical language when words fall short. Meanwhile, the stage design creates a space that allows the audience to shifts between memory, conversation, and stillness.
Drandic hopes audiences leave not just moved, but affirmed. “I hope audiences, when they walk away from this work, feel, well, a sense of joy,” he said. “I’d love them to celebrate who we are as men and as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men together.”
He also sees the production as something that can be shared across generations. “I think it would be a really special show to see if a father brings his son,” he said. “It’s going to be dynamic, and it’s going to be moving.”
Produced by Queensland Theatre Company and State Theatre Company South Australia and presented in Sydney in partnership with Belvoir and Sydney Festival, Dear Son is not trying to offer easy answers. It is creating room for conversations that have been shut down for generations.
Through Jan. 25, those letters are no longer private. They are being spoken out loud, where they belong.
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