Perth’s homemade theatre powerhouse Black Swan Theatre Company, have released their 2023 season. Five plays, from February to December, guaranteed to push boundaries.
Black Swan Theatre company over 30 years old and just like most of us 30 year olds, we’ve grown up in a time of great change and rebellion, particularly in our theatres.
There’s a new artistic director at Black Swan but she comes in with a familiar mantra: [to find] ‘stimulating and arresting ways to tell compelling stories, which grip the imagination in ways that excite and provoke.’
Kate Champion’s inaugural Season at Black Swan looks like she’s hand picked some of the juciest, grittiest, most touching dramas, comedies and every boundary in between.
Cyrano
17 Feb – 5 Mar 2023
Next year starts with some gender flipped classics, a female lead version of Cyrano de Bergerac, lead at the helm by Virginia Gay. You’ll have heard the story before but not like this. Cyrano loves Roxanne, Roxy has eyes for Yan. Yan can’t tak to girls so he gets Cyrano to write his love letters.. You can see how the confusion starts.
The Bleeding Tree
29 Apr – 14 May
Powerful feminism comes next, told through the lense of a cast of talented First Nations women. A gripping revenge thriller set in the outback over the course of just three days.
Things I Know To Be True
27 May – 18 Jun
I first saw a version of this play back in London. I can tell you, from experience. It’s a beautifully scripted story of family and how a mob can come together to face the challenges of life. It’s written by a Perth Local, Andrew Bovell, and tackles some of the most tear jerking material I’ve ever seen put onto the stage. If you take a risk on one play in 2023, it should be this.
Jurrungu Ngan-ga [Straight Talk]
15-23 Sep
Indigenous and refugee stories get laid out bare in this beautifully brutal new dance piece set to a blood-pumping soundtrack.
Dirty Birds
18 Nov – 20 Dec
Closing out the next season is the absurb Dirty Birds. Two cooky sisters set out from their humble abode on an adventure to find beauty, sandess and humour in the search for their own shared identity.
Although a year is a long time to wait for a show, tickets to the entire season of shows go on sale from the Black Swan Website on 24th November.
But the best value way to see it all in 2023 is to get a membership. There’s memberships for every type of theatre goer, from two show to all five, Opening night members that love the red carpet to bargain hunter members that get the mid week cheap seats.