2024 SEASON MEDIA RELEASE
The Blue Room Theatre’s 2024 Season presents fourteen works crafted lovingly from the many hands of local independent artists. The season begins on April 9 and runs through to the end of November 2023.
It takes many hands to tell a story. And our 2024 Season features many different stories. These fourteen shows will entice, entertain and intrigue, spanning the spectrum of human experience to make us feel, make us think, and make us grow, travelling through worlds on evenings of art adventures.
Journey through friendship and loss, drag-kings and schoolboys, of therapy and healing, Dungeons & Dragons, the fiery, the poignant, the queer, and the poetic. Immerse yourself with stories from emerging and mid-career artists and stories told through melodies, dance, poetry, births, and laughter, guided by spirits, puppets, and writers, we’ll be redeemed, surprised, and embracing the unknown.
The Blue Room Theatre’s Program Manager Joel Evans couldn’t be more excited for the upcoming season:
“This year The Blue Room Theatre Season aims to be a bridge, to bring people, eras, ideas, and artforms together. These fourteen shows will entice, entertain and intrigue, spanning the spectrum of human experience to make us feel, make us think, and make us grow. We explore the duality, the contradictions of the world, revisit classics through a modern gaze, witness the connection between loss and laughter, between privilege and pain, between the gothic and the queer. Be immersed in melodies, in dance, in heartbreak, in births, guided by spirits, puppets, poets and writers. Sit in our theatre spaces with friends known and friends of the future, connected through the risk of artists, and the shared act of listening. Put down your screens, turn the phones to silent, and join us, in spirit and in presence. Seek something new, or something old renewed”
Coming up first in April, the season commences with Gal Pals – a new work from award-winning playwright Sam Nerida which explores the dark and heartfelt comedy of the beauty of queer experience and the fierceness of found family. We then follow local theatre-makers Marli Jupiter & Rhiannon Bryan into the world of The State – a visually arresting, scathing commentary on the state of Australian politics. Phallic puppetry, glorious drag, and biting comedy sees the state of our nation dissected like never before.
For a glimpse of all the artists making work in 2024, check out the official 2024 Season Trailer here
Visit the website for further information and tickets:
Gal Pals | Scarlet Rose | 9-27 April
Two weeks in conversion therapy. In a whirlwind of smuggled phones, attempted escapes, punishment essays and betrayals, five queer kids find their own. It’s self-hatred and its religious trauma, but in a fun way, we promise! Award-winning playwright Sam Nerida explores in this dark comedy the beauty, complexity and joy of the queer experience.
The State | Marli Jupiter & Rhiannon Bryan | 14-25 May
Four states are lorded over by foppish drag-king Daddies, all under the thumb of an elusive and shadowy figure known as Mummy. Democracy is falling apart at the seams. Phallic puppetry, glorious drag, and biting comedy sees the state of our nation dissected like never before.
A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath | Red Ryder Productions | 11-29 June
She’s back! 15 years ago Nora walked out, slamming the door on her family and every expectation of what a woman could do and be. 15 years. Not a word. Radical. Legendary. Today, after a shocking discovery, she’s back, demanding to be let in. The team behind Grounded and The Wolves brings you a fiery, funny sequel, of sorts, to Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.
Raagas, Shakespeare and Everything in Between | ChitAmbara | 16-20 July
Raagas, Shakespeare & Everything in Between reflects upon Shakespeare’s timeless words through the lens of Classical Indian Raagas. A journey through text, music & dance in pursuit of deeper meaning, deeper emotion & new experience of the ancient classics. Is there a Juliet in Raaga Khamaj? Was Romeo lost in a moment of Jaijaivanti?
35 | Centre for Stories & Performing Lines | 26-27 July
In partnership with Centre for Stories & Performing Lines, a cohort of literary legends and budding theatre makers will showcase stories inspired by The Blue Room Theatre’s beloved history spanning 35 years. Poets, storytellers, and multi-form artists will develop short works that will reflect on seasons gone by. Come celebrate with us!
Smells Like You | Lady Great Theatre Company | 16 July-3 August
Join Macy as she strolls through cherished memories and reflects on a life well lived. Smells Like You is a dementia-friendly performance blending puppetry & music. Through the smells that underscore Macy’s life, we are given an insight into her inner world; full of colour, tone & depth that make the kaleidoscopic view of the world she has priceless.
ALL BOYS | every other theatre company | 6-24 August
ALL BOYS follows a group of boys at an elite Catholic boys school as they are forged into the type of men that rule the world, whether they like it or not. Longlisted for the 2023 Griffin Award, this explosive new play explores the strange lines between violence and intimacy, victimhood and perpetration, and shines a spotlight on a world hidden in plain sight.
Same Time Next Week | Nick Pages-Oliver & Scott McArdle | 13-31 August
When one of their own is diagnosed with cancer, four friends set out on an impossible quest: make time every week to play Dungeons & Dragons. Based on a true story, Same Time Next Week is a puppet musical about the joy of play, the healing power of laughter, and the stories we tell together.
An Evening of African Poetry & Storytelling | The TOOL Event & Our Collective Dream | 10-21 Sept
Immerse in migration’s poignant tales, melodies, and cultural vibrancy. EAPS – New Home: a soul-stirring journey through African storytelling. Inspired by traditional story circles, this transcendent experience has no beginning or end, embracing migration, identity, and cultural resilience. Authentic. Intimate. Unforgettable.
EVOLVE | STRUT Dance | 1-19 October
The Blue Room Theatre and STRUT Dance partner to support a presentation opportunity for an early-career dance maker in their first 5 years of making. The selected artist/s will present a work that has undergone at least one development or previous presentation. EOIs open March 2024.
a love letter to the Nightingale | Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson | 8-26 October
Somewhere within the lands of dreams and nightmares, an immersive world of enchanting Persian landscapes and myth brings you a love letter to the Nightingale. Two faces, Rage and Reason, unveil the mystery of the Nightingale’s song; we witness the eruption, release and flow of pain and courage – an ode to those who hope for a better tomorrow.
Made in Boorloo | Western Australian Youth Theatre Company (WAYTCo) | 22-26 October
Made in Boorloo is a program of new work by a group of WA Youth Theatre Company members aged 13-26. The Boorloo-based theatre makers have worked side-by-side with local professional directors and dramaturgs to bring their ideas to life. Expect fresh takes, variety and a commitment to telling stories about what matters to young people today.
Unnatural | Holland Brooks | 5-23 November
Squid births. Jesus resurrected. Heartbeat fetishists. And we haven’t even touched the weird stuff yet. Unnatural explores the transformative experience of queerness by traveling through six journeys of metamorphosis. From the Eldritch to the evangelical, Holland Brooks’ playwrighting debut rips open the Australian Gothic to paint a visual story of queer reckoning, redemption, and reclamation.
ASK | 3rd SPACE | 12-23 November
ASK tells tales of a family’s good and bad behaviours as they struggle with their inner turmoil. What will the cost be when an old and mischievous Tree Spirit answers their calls for help? ASK moves across time space realms of a family’s past and present, looking to the future – the realms magical and recognizable and at other times magical and absurd.
The Blue Room Theatre
53 James Street, Northbridge6003, WA
All tickets $27 – $32 incl. booking fee
blueroom.org.au (08) 9227 7005
Media Enquiries
Acting Communications Coordinator
Image credit: Cole Baxter