No Sugar

by Jack Davis

The family problems of Western Australian Aborigines in the 1930s (4 acts, 12 men, 8 women).

Genres: Plays, School, Historical Fiction, Drama, Fiction, Literature, Read For School

114 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1986

About the author

Jack Davis is better known as a poet and a playwright than as a writer of short stories. He has had four volumes of poems published and has written eight plays. His plays have toured both in Australia and overseas In 1991 his memoir, A Boy's Life, was published. He has been awarded several times for his contribution to the arts and for his welfare work among his own people.

Reviews

[claud. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this as summer holiday homework for Year 12 English. (School starts in less than 4 weeks. Sigh.) I understand that this play (or plays in general) is confusing to read as it looks different in your head when you're reading it from when you're watching it being performed, and also probably because we're all used to reading novels.

However, I have a lot of respect for it as it was written by an Aboriginal playwright, Jack Davis, and it depicts some of the atrocities done by white people to Indigenous Australians. (Did you know Aboriginal people were legally considered 'fauna' and not actual people until the 1960's?) I think Australia puts itself on a pedestal too much by bragging about its "multiculturalism" (when there is little to no diversity or racial representation in mainstream Australian media) and pats itself on the back for having gun control laws (unlike America) while hiding the fact that the government still has shitty policies, like not accepting refugees (as much as it could anyway), treating those in detention centres like animals, closing down Aboriginal communities, etc etc. while simultaneously ignoring the AWFUL, GENOCIDAL history of this country. This play will bring people, especially people who deny the existence of present-day institutionalised racism and white people who deny the existence of their privilege, back down to earth.

You don't have to like this play. But you can't deny that this was rooted from real, historical events and that it depicts the truth about Australia's history.

[Dorian Winter · Rating 5 out of 5]

To read this play, I had to employ a certain technique when navigating some of the foreign words embedded into dialogue. However, in doing so, I noticed that Davis integrates this speech in a way that isn't as jarring as I had thought earlier - repetition of words is not only used for emphasis but familiarises the reader with cultural aspects of the Millimurra family in an unexpected way. I will say that my love for this play was unexpected - over my years of schooling in Australia I've been well educated on the horrors of Aboriginal mistreatment, so I did not think this play would present anything new. However, I found it to be enlightening. So often, we Australian readers are shown the perspective of the whites and we tend to disregard the personal stories of the Aboriginal people. This play felt personal on many levels, and less like a disconnected historical recollection, which has led to me enjoying it immensely. In the world of drama and theatre, such a narrative is often reserved for the realm of poets. This play shows me otherwise. Thank you Jack Davis for such an introspective representation of the darkest sides of Australian history. I enjoyed this journey immensely.

[BookRebel (GinaRosexox11) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to read this for school...that says it all. Good portrayal of the characters but it's not the type of book that I would read again, or the type of book I would ever read if I didn't have to read it for school...

[lilli clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

had to read for literature.

[Broderick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to give this 3 stars because I didn't particulary enjoy it. Although the use of Nyoongah helped make the play more authentic I found that combined with the lack of a visual aid it made things hard for me to understand. One of the other problems I had with the play was that the characters didn't really become people of importance to me. I did sympathise with the family as a whole and understand a couple of the characters, but there was no one who I could relate to. The play as I understand it is meant to span a couple years and I found that events seem to happen almost too quickly, like Joe and Mary's relationship. As a general rule I think that plays should be performed not read because when they're read they lose some of their effectiveness. The Millimurra family's stand against the government features on the back of the book but in the actual play I didn't see them make much of a stand.

[Sarah Leavesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and heartbreaking play documenting the realities of life for Indigenous Australians in Western Australia in the late 1920s - drawing on contemporary accounts. I found this painful to read at times but this is an incredible play and one that should read and taught more widely than it perhaps is.

[Ananya Ghosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a play I read for my Australian literature class and it was great!

It narrates the story of an Aboriginal Australian family that live in settlements under the protection of AO Neville and is a story inspired from reality strung with fiction. It talks about the hardships in life the aborigines faced under colonial rule, their oppressive realities and the subhuman treatment meted out to them.

Davis has used the native aboriginal language of Nyoongah in the drama which is confounding for any non native reader and works beautifully as a political aspect of the play. Thankfully, for readers, there's a glossary of Nyoongah terms included at the back.

However, the play is meant to be performed rather than being read since it uses the elements of the theatrical space and language in ingenious ways and would have more jarring effects in front of an audience.

All in all, if you're interested in reading something away from the mainstream or are interested in exploring native Australian lives, this would be a good pick.

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A play on the cruelties inflicted on the first Australians by those who should have been protecting them.

[Kit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living in Southwestern Australia myself (in Perth), this book is close to heart. Aboriginal literature is scarce and underappreciated, so to find gems like this is really something else. This book is a standard in English classes all over Western Australia, but one must read this book without obligation and expectations, because it does exceed both. What surprised me about this book is its humour, given the subject matter of manipulation and neglect of Aborigines. Davis' use of the local Bibbulmun dialect makes the conversation between the Aboriginal characters more authentic. This will soon be in my soon-to-reread shelf.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally think plays were meant to be watched rather than read, and this is a recurring feeling while reading No Sugar. I bet this would have been an enlightening and heart-wrenching play to see; so many cringing moments of explicit racism, abuse, and pain. I wish there was a recorded performance of it somewhere in existence.

P.S. The Goodreads description of this play being about 'family problems' is completely inaccurate. It is a demonstration of the horrible treatment of Indigenous Australians by European settlers.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I love a book, I'll read the reviews rating it with just one or two stars, and vice verse.
Read the 4-star reviews, but I'm still not prevailed to enjoy the play. :p
Joe and Mary fell in love and Mary got pregnant too quickly.
Jimmy suddenly died of a heart condition, what could his family complain?
It is a happy ending story, the relationship between the western settlers and the aboriginals wasn't as bad as I thought.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was forced to read it for yr 12 English, but i kinda liked it. Tho initially some legal and historical content was a bit confusing and it was hard to separate certain locations and characters that belonged to their specific settings, then Davis puts two different setting on the same stage at the same time. Other than that i give it a 3/5. :)

[Drishti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being the only open account of the paternalistic 1930's Australian Government and written to commemorate the injustice, oppression and assimilation of Aborigines in W.A. I was surprised this book only received a clumsy rating of 2.90 which almost forced me to increase my rating to 4 stars, nonetheless a do-able read.

[sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book in English class, and it was alright but not amazing.

[Rachel🌻 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5⭐️

[David Mackinnon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for my English literature class in year 12, way back in the last late 90s.

I was a bit resentful of the text initially, our teacher initially had no classical texts in our selection for the year (we petitioned and at least got Hamlet added in the end) but actually ended up loving it.

I see many references to the difficulty for some with the use of intermittent Noongar language, particularly for some students.

It might just be me, but I don't recall it being all issue at all. Even without understanding precise meaning (one teacher mentions constant reference to a glossary) the general meaning was obvious from context. No more jarring than a contemporary bilingual character lapsing info the odd second language phrase. In fact The effect on the audience is intentional, and at least as part of a study, discussing this should be part of the reading.

Remember an audience wouldn't likely know these words, and wouldn't likely have a glossary. If your students are struggling then perhaps you need to reinforce their ability to read context.

Anyway, a great play, really want to see it performed one day..

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite plays. It made me uncomfortable and it made me mad; I've never read a play that evoked such powerful emotions out of me, and it did so by delving into the horrors of white colonisation of Australia, and mentioning all of the little things that nobody (or I personally, at the very least) considers when thinking about the effect of white culture on Indigenous Australians. The characters are well constructed and the mix of Nyoongar language with English is in itself a profound statement that Davis implicitly makes. The only downside to this play is that there is a feeling of being rushed through some of the parts, as there are time skips. I would've loved to see more of the development of Joe and Mary's relationship, but again the rushed nature of their relationship allows a greater focus to be placed on the racial and cultural issues.
It's like an Australian 'To Kill A Mockingbird', but with more Australian themes and issues being raised.

[cherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars- alright.

I had to read this for school. It's an important play context-wise, and a powerful voice for the Aboriginal Australian community, especially in the past. I love the key idea, themes and message.

While this perspective was illuminating and very much needed in modern day society, I didn't particularly love the play itself. It's set simultaneously on three different stages, and that confused me a lot. I can't say I followed or was hugely interested the events that happened either.

It's a different sort of book from those I usually read, and I appreciate the themes and moral, but didn't particularly enjoy the writing part of it.

[Gurmeet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking play highlighting the cruelty of 1930s paternalistic Australian policies/attitudes towards the Aboriginal people of Western Australia. The use of Nyoongah language forces the reader to decenter the English language, symbolically claiming the power stolen from First Nations people. Noticed a lot of low rated reviews from high school students who 'didn't get it' - working hard to understand and connect with the characters far from the experience of white Australia is part of what makes this play so important.

[Anka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a text I'd choose for myself. It was a part of my literature syllabus. While enjoyable and very helpful in understanding First Nations culture and attitudes, alongside the oppression faced by First Nations people, I believe it would be much better seeing it performed. The reading simply doesn't provide enough - the perambulant model is necessary to understand confusing time jumps, and the text simply makes less sense without staging in general. However, at its core, it is a good play, and I think I'd rate it higher had I seen it in its intended environment.

[Mandy Partridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Davis has written a family drama about forced dispossession, and the coloniser's total control over the lives of Aboriginal Australians. The Millimurra-Munday family is rounded up from Northam in West Australia, and sent to the Moore River settlement by Neville (the Devil) the Protector of Aborigines. Joe meets Mary and they fall in love and try to escape together; he is jailed and she returned to the settlement, they are eventually allowed to marry and leave. It's not pretty, but it's true.

[Emily]

Read Harder Challenge #8: An #ownvoices book set in Oceania

I haven't read a play since high school, so that was interesting in itself - it's a very different reading experience. The Aboriginal characters use a lot of Nyoongah words, so I had to spend a lot of time flipping back to the glossary, but that's fine.

This was an interesting look at the way Aboriginal Australians were treated in the 20s and 30s. It would be very interesting to see it performed.

[Emma Knights · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story, that was a little difficult to read as it is a play and there was a lot of indigenous language used that I had to look up in the back of the book (this was great to have!). At its core, it is a story of a family and our treatment of indigenous peoples in Australia. Reading from this perspective was insightful and I recommend reading it but note that it is a play so can get a little confusing!

[Rene Hooft · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing bad to say about it. It was a read for university and it just happens that plays aren’t my thing when it comes to reading. It explores a really important time in Australian history that in no way do I mean to discredit. I just can’t justify a high rating for a reading experience I didn’t enjoy.

[Annette Heslin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have actually watched this play on DVD, and the book has been on my reading list for quite some time.

The portrayal of the treatment of Aborigines in Settlements, and the harsh conditions they were made to live in.

Speaking up for themselves usually brought beltings and harsh treatments to themselves and their family, all were punished. A great depiction of a moment in time.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this back in high school, I found it to be very insightful into the experience of Aboriginal Australians as someone who immigrated here and didn’t have that foundational knowledge of the subject from a young age.

[Larissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its an okay book but I do feel like it would make a better play because that is how the story is supposed be consumed. But the story is a good one you learn a lot about what was happening at the time and what it was like.

[Cassie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

I think it was written well in the aspect of the Aboriginal experience and showing the atrocities committed against them but I didn't enjoy it in the play sense. I just feel like i'e read so many more plays that are written a lot better.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good for a studied play. Had plenty of key ideas to write about when writing about culture and identity. I particularly enjoyed reading it post-colonially.

[Nicholas Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A glimpse in to a dark period in our nation's history