Fresh Finds: Class Of 2025 – Aussie Acts To Add To Your Playlist

The Honouring

Irene Bell
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"Sheppard’s piece is essential viewing, whether your heart has been ripped [by suicide] in this way or not." Photo by Gregory J Fryer.

If you are suffering from depression or need assistance, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636.

There are many things in life that are too difficult to understand, to fully comprehend with your heart and mind, unless you live through them. Can seeing a piece of theatre open up a certain part of you? Jack Sheppard’s performance for this year’s Yirramboi Festival, The Honouring, will be difficult viewing for people who have lost loved ones to suicide – this should be said straight up. And yet, Sheppard’s piece is essential viewing, whether your heart has been ripped in this way or not.

A white canvas hangs - the stage for shadow puppets to dance and haunt; another canvas stands to look like a rock formation, evoking nature; a figure hangs in the middle of the black box theatre. The Honouring is not made up of slick props and set design, of many words. Everything that is shown and said is precise and with purpose – there is no gross sensationalism here. Sheppard has written a piece of theatre that is moving and graceful, as elegant as its subject matter is heartbreaking. 

As a physical performer, Sheppard is exceptional. Watching him explore trauma and loss through the physical landscape is mesmerising; his movements effortlessly shift from fluid to heavy and determined. James Henry’s accompanying sound design creates an unforgettable atmosphere. The Honouring invites its audience into the ethereal space of trauma – we are witnessing the embodiment of the emotions and thoughts that are going through Sheppard’s mind.

The Honouring is a wonderful, self-contained piece of theatre. It is not explicitly political, but the underlying politics of the epidemic being discussed cannot be dismissed. The black box theatre of La Mama Courthouse is the perfect space: small, tight; in a way that can either make you feel claustrophobic or warm and comforted. This play is a must-see at the Yirramboi Festival – it will not necessarily make you feel good, but it will touch you in a way few theatre pieces truly can.