Black Swan Season 2017

After celebrating the company’s 25th birthday in 2016, Black Swan State Theatre Compay (WA) looks to the future, while at the same time as acknowledging those who have made a significant impact on the company, farewelling Artistic Director of nine years Kate Cherry, who has programmed the majority of the 2017 season. Founding Artistic Director Andrew Rosswill direct the absurdist classic - Beckett’s Endgame, while new Artistic Director Clare Watson makes her directorial debut with the Swedish romantic horror Let the Right One In.

The year commences in the Heath Ledger Theatre with Michael Gow’s Once in Royal David’s City, a co-production with Queensland Theatre, then for the winter season a suitably chilling psychological thriller in Joanna Murray-Smith’s Switzerland starring theatre stalwart Jenny Davis. The Studio Underground showcases: Lally Katz’ surreal fantasy about suburban childhood in The Eisteddfod; Pulitzer and Tony award winning I Am My Own Wife, based on the true story of German antiquarian Charlotte von Mahlsdorf; a Rio Tinto Black Swan Co-commission by resident writer, Hellie Turner in The Lighthouse Girl, a commemorative ANZAC story; and the magical realism tale Coma Land by Will O’Mahony.

The season will deliver four mainstage shows in the Heath Ledger Theatre with a record four shows in the Studio Underground. This includes two World Premieres, four WA Premieres, two co-productions, an Australian Premiere and five plays written by Australian playwrights. The year also marks a 20-year partnership with Rio Tinto and an array of community investment programs and initiatives.

Kate Cherry, Outgoing Artistic Director, says “2016 has been a great year for Black Swan and I thank all of you for your support. I hope that you have enjoyed immersing yourself in the 2016 season. I have certainly had a great time presenting it to you.

“I have planned the 2017 season as your loving and committed outgoing Artistic Director of Black Swan. As such, I have chosen to plan the season like a constant gardener. I have pruned to ensure there is space to honour the past, celebrate the present and assist in launching the future. I have planted seeds in the hope that new plants will emerge, offering delight, solace and a healthy sense of carefully managed chaos.

“And so the 2017 season is a plethora of possibilities, a joyous garden running wild, but nurtured with love and shaped by experience.”

The Productions

Heath Ledger Theatre

ONCE IN ROYAL DAVID’S CITY

25 March – 9 April

The year commences with Once in Royal David’s City by Australian playwright Michael Gow, in a co- production with Queensland Theatre, working with Sam Strong, the new Artistic Director of Queensland Theatre and continuing the successful collaborations with the company established by outgoing Artistic Director Kate Cherry and Michael Gow.

ENDGAME

27 May – 11 June

Black Swan’s founding Artistic Director Andrew Ross, whose aspirational vision of what theatre might become was demonstrated with cross-cultural casting, Australian interpretations of the classics, music, dance and a spattering of new forms profuse with Western Australian imagery returns to direct Samuel Beckett’s absurd classic Endgame, re-uniting with three Western Australian actors Geoff Kelso, Kelton Pell and George Shevstov, who all appeared in Black Swan’s inaugural production in 1991.

SWITZERLAND

19 August – 3 September

Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller Switzerland, winner of Best New Australian work at the Sydney Theatre Awards, is about the last three days in the life of the American crime writer Patricia Highsmith of The Talented Mr Ripley series. Lawrie Cullen-Tait (Venus in Fur) will make her mainstage directorial debut for the company with Jenny Davis as Patricia Highsmith.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

11 November – 3 December

In an Australian premiere, Black Swan will present the stage adaptation by Jack Thorne, of the Swedish novel and film Let the Right One In, a gothic coming of age love story. This is the directorial debut of newly appointed Artistic Director Clare Watsonand will feature a cast of nine with a number of acting graduates making their stage debuts as part of Black Swan’s the WAAPA Bridging Program.

Black Swan Lab - Studio Underground

THE LIGHTHOUSE GIRL

28 April – 14 May

The season includes a Rio Tinto Black Swan Co-commission of a new Australian play by resident writer Hellie Turner and directed by Associate Director Stuart Halusz. The Lighthouse Girl highlights a significant piece of history from regional WA and this family friendly adaptation will have its World Premiere in Albany as part of the ANZAC Day commemorations at the Albany Entertainment Centre before a Perth season.

THE EISTEDDFOD

22 June – 9 July

Debuting in Western Australian and at Black Swan is the comic fantasy and award winning hit from the New York International Fringe Festival, The Eisteddfod by Lally Katz, who emerged from the Melbourne indie theatre scene to become one of Australia’s hottest playwrights. Directed by Associate Director Jeffrey Jay Fowler.

COMA LAND

20 July – 6 August

Writer Will O’Mahony will also direct the co-production with Performing Lines WA of a magical epic tale, celebrating children, difference and the depths of parental love in Coma Land.

I AM MY OWN WIFE

12 – 29 0ctober

In a tour de force role, actor Brendan Hanson will portray over 30 characters in the Pulitzer and Tony award winning I Am My Own Wife, an examination of the life of German antiquarian Charlotte van Mahlsdorf, who survived the Nazi and Communist regimes as a transvestite. This marks the company’s directorial debut for leading WA independent artist Joe Lui.

www.bsstc.com.au

Photographer: Robert Frith