Cutter and Coota: a children’s play by Bruce Pascoe

Meet author and historian Bruce Pascoe and the main characters from his play Cutter and Coota as they reflect on the play’s themes and the experience of performing at the Hyde Park Barracks.

Presented in association with Moogahlin Performing Arts, the play chronicles the adventures of Cutter, an ambitious and determined rat recently arrived in convict Sydney from Britain, and Coota, an insightful, local bandicoot, as they find freedom and friendship. Along the way, the play explores themes of colonisation, environment and the human ability to grow and change. For Pascoe, the play set out to create a gentle way to talk to children about questions of identity and the past, and to explore the convict history and legacy of the Hyde Park Barracks, from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives.

You've got Cutter .. wanting to make a better life for herself and Coota, the indigenous bandicoot ... who'll do anything to protect his home

actor Mema Munro, 2022