Summer of the Seventeenth Doll | State Theatre Centre | Until 20 May | ★ ★ ★ ½ Ray Lawler’s classic Australian play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is his most well-known work, it’s been staged everywhere from Broadway to local community theatre and high school productions, it’s been a feature film with big name stars, and even turned […]
Taylor Mac, who uses judy (lowercase j) as a gender pronoun, left a memorable impression when judy appeared at the Perth Festival back in 2011. Now Perth audiences have another chance to enter the world of the drag legends creative realm as Black Swan State Theatre Company stage judys play Hir. The plays name is […]
Let The Right One In | State Theatre Centre | Until Dec 3 | ★ ★ ★ ★ If a modern vampire romance were to be anywhere, I’m glad it was the Western Australian State Theatre. In the gold of the entranceway it seemed only natural to be greeted by makeup artists offering bite marks and undead […]
I Am My Own Wife | Studio Underground, State Theatre | Until 29 October | ★ ★ ★ ½ Shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall, playwright Doug Wright met Charlotte von Mahsldorf. Living in East Germany the eccentric woman was the curator of a Museum of Everyday Objects. Born Lothar Berfelde, she had surprisingly […]
Charlotte von Mahlsdorf’s life may sound like a work of fiction, but her mark on this earth was very real. The focus of Doug Wright’s Pulitzer and Tony Award winning play I Am My Own Wife, von Mahlsdorf was a trans woman, Nazi survivor, antiquarian, entertainer, LGBTI+ pioneer… and murderer. Director Joe Lui caught up […]
Switzerland | State Theatre | Until September 3rd | ★ ★ ★ ★ There’s been a lot of interest in the work of author Patricia Highsmith in recent years. Her most well-know character Tom Ripley has featured in several movie adaptations, Cate Blanchett delivered an acclaimed performance in Carol, which is based on Highsmith’s novel The Price […]
Black Swan State Theatre Company’s latest production peeks through a window into the life of revered author Patricia Highsmith. The notoriously cynical and isolated writer is perhaps best known for her works that were later translated into successful films such as Strangers On A Train, The Talented Mr Ripley and The Price of Salt which hit […]
Black Swan State Theatre Company’s upcoming production will take audiences on a journey into Coma Land, a world between life and death. Created by Perth playwright Will O’Mahony (Tonsils + Tweezers, The Mars Project, Great White), Coma Land follows the story of child genius and piano prodigy Boon trapped in this bizarre new world trying to wake […]
Endgame | State Theatre Centre Until June 11th | ★ ★ ★ ★ Anyone familiar with the Theatre of the Absurd knows exactly what to expect from the genre’s foremost creator Samuel Beckett. To tell my companion that the performance would indeed be ‘absurd’ was obviously insufficient as he asked if we had watched a feature-length advertisement for stepladders […]
Black Swan State Theatre Company bring the story that inspired Perth International Arts Festival’s stunning roaming Giants to the stage this month with The Lighthouse Girl. Hellie Turner’s touching play tells the story of Fay, who lives an isolated life with her lighthouse keeper father on Breaksea Island in southern Western Australia. As the First […]