Vinyl Stories: an exploration of sound waves through storytelling and song
Show Date: 24th July 2026, reviewed by Danielle Aquilina, Zesty Productions ★★★★★
Shalom Kaa, John Rawnsley and Melanie MununggurrDeep in the ridges of vinyl records, lives a world of the underexplored. And that is the first taste we have to the provoking and sometimes heartbreaking Vinyl Stories. We are met with the macro photographs of the ridges of a vinyl record with deep cut imperfect grooves that start the audience with a strong sense of overlooking the details in an already overscheduled life. The silence in which we sit allows the gravity of the imagery to have it’s champion moment.
The concept, designed by our first storyteller John Rawnsley is to have three performers select songs on vinyl record that impacted them earlier in life and share the significance of them with story in a shared listening space. And it does not disappoint.
We meet ‘The DJ’ in Act 1 as Rawnsley aka DJ Spinaf-X shares his early life story though a series of black and white text on screen detailing his travels with family across the wide Australian outback to the soundtrack of three cassette tapes on repeat (an precursor to CDs, for those too young to remember cassettes). The strong visuals balanced with the sound provided the perfect backdrop for a beautifully intricate retelling about his parents, finding self and returning to music to soothe and realign him in his future career which would lead him to become DJ Spinaf-X. Which we learn as homage to the hummock grasses that forms a major part of central and southern NT landscapes.
Act 2 brings us ‘The Singer’ with Shalom Kaa, a strong presence onstage as a vocalist, but also as a storyteller. Kaa shares a story about his Mother, with the backing track from her favourite album, Donna Summer’s MacArthur Park Suite 17 minute extended original edition, which might seem extensive for a song, but it’s the perfect blend of drama and longevity for our Darwin stage diva. Although it is only fair to say the story was matched only by the true Diva that is his Mum, Verbenia. The story is strengthened by the addition of “baking” Mum’s cake live on stage, sans oven. The two-minute mania of trying to combine all the ingredients, while simultaneously singing along with Summer’s and sharing a photo montage of his life with his mother, left the audience cheering for the success of the cake, which was then presented as a “here’s one I prepared ealier” display that the audience ate up, literally and figuratively.
‘The Poet’ Melanie Mununggurr brought a sweet serenade through words with her shared story of family and roots, growing up with Mum’s music and how music has the power to shape us for Act Three. Memories are stored in music, and the voice they have allows us to share and express, to caress and hold brining joy and pain as an unbroken pair. To the musical stylings of Tracy Chapman Fast Car, we learn about Mununggrr’s relationship with her mother and how that has shaped her motherhood today.
A no-brainer when it comes to storytelling, the combination of history, family and music left the whole audience moved with eloquent, playful and stirring stories that remind us all to reflect, and hug your Mum.
