No sugar

The play, No Sugar by Jack Davis seeks to expose the racist attitudes faced by Australian Aborigines at the hands of white authority whilst also promoting the strength of the Aboriginal culture and people in coping with these attitudes. Davis has manipulated narrative and theatrical elements such as characterization, symbol and costume within No Sugar in order to present the plays many issues throughout the text.

Davis has chosen to present his Aboriginal beliefs in the form of a reversionary text, that is a text that challenges the common beliefs held by society. The text can be classified as a "jarring witness" for it attempts to disrupt, subvert and question existing versions of Australia's history. Davis has attempted to challenge the whites' accounts of West Australia's history and undermine their version with a Nyoongah's version of the past. In order to present reliable information Davis has used both official documents and the personal and communal memories of the Aboriginal people in order to create a dramatic narrative that presents the Aboriginal point of view.

[Portrait of Eddie Davis and Sherry Britton, Leon ...

English: From frontpiece of Legendary Tales of the...

Angela Davis à France Culture (Palais de Tokyo)

The text targets a black and white audience, however, endeavours to challenge only the white person's expectations of the aboriginal culture. The play also strives to let the white audience learn of the extreme injustices encountered by the Aborigine's during the white colonization. In doing this it also attempts to let the white audience to experience the inability faced by the Aborigines in terms of power and freedom by the use of the Nyoongah language and manipulation of other theatrical and narrative elements.

The opening scene attempts to establish setting by making clear reference to the poverty the Millumara family lives in (a run down camp e.g.. of poverty, a soak where they must wash their clothes and themselves time after time) however the family appears...