Black Swan’s Creative Learning
Image: City of Gold. Credit: Joseph Myers.
The Black Swan State Theatre Company’s 2022 season celebrates family, friendships and the relationships that connect us. Four productions that will especially appeal to educators and students are accompanied by comprehensive Creative Learning Resource Packs.
Personal, provocative and compellingly brilliant, Meyne Wyatt’s much-lauded debut play City of Gold is headed home to WA from March 17 to 27, in a brand-new co-production with Sydney Theatre Company, as part of Perth Festival.
Wyatt, a proud Wongutha-Yamatji actor/playwright, puts family centre stage in this semi-autobiographical story, fuelled with frustration and unflinching honesty, about growing up black in Kalgoorlie. It touches on grief, identity and rage.
Shari Sebbens, who performed alongside Wyatt in the original Griffin Theatre and Queensland Theatre seasons, says she is thrilled to be joining this new production as director in Wyatt’s home state.
“It’s a show that keeps the audience working; wondering where you will land once the lights go down on Meyne Wyatt’s thrilling and clever dialogue. This show cuts right to the core of Meyne’s lived experience as a young Black man in Australia. It’s unrelenting and honest,” she says.
Image: Barracking for the Umpire. Credit: Frances Andrijich
Premiering in October is Barracking for the Umpire, a new play penned by comedienne Andrea Gibbs (Barefaced Stories). Hailing from country WA, Andrea witnessed the hard-knocks of football first-hand when her father’s injuries meant he had to put down the football and become an umpire.
According to Andrea, “Mum would follow him to all his games, cheer him on. ‘Your Mum was the only one who’d be out there barracking for the umpire!’ Dad would say. A longstanding joke in our family.”
This play centres around the Williams family as they prepare to celebrate their father Doug’s Lifetime Achievement award at the local football club.
Barracking For The Umpire investigates the culture of football, family and the sacrifices made for the game. The issue of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) resulting from football concussions is topical, and the play explores the effects of this advancing condition on the heart of a loving family.
Image: The Glass Menagerie . Credit: Frances Andrijich
A must for Drama and English students is the beautifully crafted, semi-autobiographical play of the broken Wingfield family, in Tennessee Williams’ timeless drama The Glass Menagerie at His Majesty’s Theatre in August. This is the play that thrust Williams into the international spotlight and promises tour-de-force performances by Mandy McElhinney (Wakefield, Love Child), Bridie McKim (The Heights) and Joel Jackson (Ms. Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries).
Joel said “What I’m most looking forward to is capturing and creating that instantly recognisable sense of memory that is the world of the play. The magic, the whimsy, the melancholic, the tragic, the wonder and the beauty.”
Image: Oil. Credit: Frances Andrijich
The family theme continues with the co-dependence of mother and child, matched by the co-dependence on one of Earth’s most precious and finite resources in November with Ella Hickson’s play Oil. This epic drama asks: is blood thicker than oil? Spanning 150 years and traversing the globe through Tehran, Hampstead, Baghdad, and then back to Cornwall, Oil is an explosive collision of empire, history and family. It stars Hayley McElhinney (Doctor Doctor), with a formidable ensemble of nine actors.
Book more than one Black Swan production in 2022 season and receive a 10% discount. Receive one free Educator ticket per 10 students booked. https://bsstc.com.au/
