Theatre & Musicals in Perth

Between April 6 and 18, the festival invites you to monolithic performances within a surround sound speaker array, basement shows traversing experimental theatre, avant-garde metal and free jazz, oddball parties and folk shows, and that’s not even half of it. An Ocean of Ears opens the festival on Tuesday April 6 with sound bubbling and fizzing through the Old Customs House in Walyalup/Fremantle with works by artists based between the Philippines, Los Angeles and across Australia. On April 7, an absurdist film with a challenging provocation. Live performance enters the fray on Thursday April 8, while a dance collaboration interact with the impressive and immersive speaker system. On Friday April 9, listen to Dryandra Woodland, and head on down to Serf Punk at The Bird to hear musique concrete, dance and medieval music collide in a strange revelry. Saturday April 10 offers artist talks, with a chance to dig deep into the peculiar minds of a handful of festival artists. The Rechabite is the venue of choice for the festival’s second week. Upstairs in the Hall, on Wednesday April 14, WAM-nominated songwriting wunderkind Nika Mo launches a new album on Tone List featuring a nine-piece band that smashes improvised music and avant-garde folk together in a sticky mess. On Friday April 16, ambient music, avant-garde metal, noise and experimental theatre co-exist. The festival closes with a cocoon-like experience in the intimacy of Backlot Cinemas,

WAAPA has a thriving postgraduate research program covering a broad range of performing arts disciplines, with a particular strength in practice-led research. Our strengths include interactive digital music systems, performance practices on historic piano, new directions in jazz, physiological analysis of human movement, theatre-making, choreography, and much more. The WAAPA Postgraduate Research Showcase is in part a performance event, and in part a series of short research presentations. It offers a rare opportunity for audiences to sample innovative arts projects in their nascent stages, and to view the ideas that will transform the future of arts discourse. Hosted by: WAAPA Higher Degree by Research students

Written and directed by Scott Mcardle. Originally produced and presented by second chance theatre. In collaboration with the Blue Theatre

Lucy and Arnold are 13. Both outcasts. Both have seen hard times. Both irrevocably changed from one adventure into the bush looking for a dying kangaroo. Now they must navigate a wasteland of broken hearts, peed pants and carrot spew. It’s homework, hormones and homicide.

A hit of The Blue Room Theatre 2019 season, this modern suburban coming-of-age story explores how we hurt each other, how we help those that are hurting, and how your music taste is never better than when you’re a teenager.

Welcome to the topsy turvy world of Alice - where normal rules do not apply. Come along with Alice as she meets those familiar favourites, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Mad March Hare, the Cheshire Cat and of course those incorrigible twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee. A survival guide for our times, Alice is about a sane young lady who finds herself in a mad mad world, learns to survive it and teaches us to do the same! Based on Lewis Carroll's timeless classics, our Alice is a wonderful adventure and perfect school holiday treat that will truly delight and enchant the whole family.

Director: Annie Stainer

Producer: Ariane Katscherian

Lighting: Adelaide Harney

Costumes: Catherine Edis

Photography: Tashi Hall

Performers: Aidan Bayliss, Sophie Bolton, Rebecca Leonard and Mira Schaal

Miss Lily’s Fabulous Feather Boa Based on the book by Margaret Wild & Kerry Argent “…Irreverent and hilarious, the ending literally garners an audible ‘awww.’” – The Australia Times Something so fabulous just has to be magic… The guests at Miss Lily’s Tropical Holiday House enjoy relaxing days and cheerful company - and no one needs it more than the lonely Last Potoroo. When Miss Lily takes to the stage with her fabulous feather boa the timid Potoroo is filled with the feeling that she could do anything, if only the feather boa could be hers. Soon a plan is set in motion with very unexpected consequences. Rambunctious families of koalas and wombats share the stage with the Potoroo and a dancing crocodile of incomparable glamour in this uplifting story that celebrates kindness, courage and a little marsupial pride! Duration: 45 mins Perfect for 5+ but suitable for everyone! Apr 03 – 17, 2021 10am, 1pm & 6:30pm No performances Sundays or public holidays. Bookings Essential Please visit www.sppt.asn.au or telephone 9335 5044 Ticket Prices All tickets $25 Groups of 4+ and 10+ discounts available $3.95 booking fee applies Spare Parts Puppet Theatre 1 Short Street, Fremantle (opposite Fremantle Train Station)

Directed by James Hough-Neilson, One For The Road finds Dennis on the eve of his 50th birthday making a last-ditch attempt to break away from the confines of his middle-class, housing-estate existence. Reaching breaking point at his birthday party, he packs a rucksack to make his escape – but everyone else wants to join him and the freedom of the open road. One For The Road plays at 8pm April 1, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17 with a 2pm matinee April 10. Tickets are $23, $20 concession and $17 children – book at www.limelighttheatre.com.au or call 0499 954 016 between 9am and 12pm, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Limelight Theatre is on Civic Drive, Wanneroo.

Art in Motion Theatre Company is presenting a youth production of James and the Giant Peach this April school holidays at the Don Russell Performing Arts Centre in Thornlie. A play for kids by kids. The plot centres on a young English orphan boy who enters a gigantic, magical peach, and has a wild and surreal cross-world adventure with seven magically-altered garden bugs he meets.

Edith Cowan University and WAAPA are opening their Mount Lawley Campus to the public so you can explore the grounds, tour studios and facilities, watch live performances, and talk to friendly ECU staff about courses you want to study! And you can expect fun activities for the whole family, such as bungee trampolines, a #ECU30 photobooth, pop-up live music, Timezone, VR games, food trucks and a chance to win some incredible prizes. Join them in Mount Lawley: www.ecuworldready.com.au/openday

Adapted by Christopher Sergel and directed by Jane Sherwood, the Pulitzer Prize-winner is set during the Great Depression in a sleepy Alabama town where Scout and her brother Jem live with their widowed father Atticus Finch. When a young black man is accused of a terrible crime, Atticus defends the man in a trial that sends violent waves through the community. To Kill A Mockingbird plays at 8pm April 23, 24, 29, 30, May 1, 6, 7 and 8 with 2pm matinees April 25 and May 2. Tickets are $22, $20 concession – book at www.trybooking.com/BNULQ Stirling Theatre is on Morris Place, Innaloo.

As Western Australia’s leading theatre company making theatre for children and families, children are where our stories begin and end.

Little Geckos - Saturday, 9.00am - 10.30am

Junior Geckos - Saturday, 9.00am - 10.30am & 11.00am - 12.30pm

Senior Geckos - Saturday, 11.00am - 1.00pm

First Nations heritage, a family curse and ghosts at the dinner table. David’s been keeping a safe distance from all these things but now work is calling him home. To make things worse, he’s approving a new mine site, on his own Sacred Ground. This is all a secret from the rest of his family, who think he’s come home for the anniversary of his Dad’s death.

Kangaroo Stew will give you an insight into the life of a modern Aboriginal family. There will be love, punch ups, Creedence Clearwater Revival (Uncle Foggerty!) and of course, the spirits of ancestors past.

Written by Wonguktha/Yamatji/Murri writer Zac James (Ice Land: A Hip H’Opera), this is a story about family and love, grief and Culture, Native Title and the ghosts of our relatives. This is Kangaroo Stew!

Image by Duncan Wright. Warnings: Violence and coarse language. Director: Bruce Denny Writer & Actor: Zac James Cast: Maitland Schnaars, Rayma Morrison, CJ Hampson and Micah Kickett Producer: Emmanuelle Dodo-Balu Stage Manager: Helah Milroy Lighting Designer: Peter Young Publicist: Kaitlyn Elsegood

In the proud tradition of the 'play within a play' style of 'The Play That Goes Wrong' and 'Noises Off', the Darlington Theatre Players will proudly present Don Zolidis' 'An Unspeakable Triumph of Supreme Brilliance' as its second season of 2021. This madcap comedy is set in a Minnesotan Community Theatre where the ragtag Moss River Players get offered the chance to win ten million dollars. The catch? They must write a smash hit play in 12 hours. The pressure is on as their playwright begins to lose the plot, the actors go to war against…well, each other, the stage manager throws a hissy fit and the director attempts to hold the whole show together. With a rival theatre company breathing down their necks and a millionaire’s wife holding their fate in her hands, it is up to the Moss River Players to present ‘An Unspeakable Triumph of Supreme Brilliance’ at all costs. Playing 30 April to 15 May 2021.

Hitting the road this May, multi-award winning YUCK Circus are championing the female voice and having a bloody great time doing it with Regional Arts WA and Act Belong Commit’s latest Lotterywest Shows on the Go tour. YUCK Circus is a 6-strong crew of elite acrobatic gals, ready to flip off double-standards and kick art in the face. They’re not lightly throwing around women’s issues-they’re literally throwing women! Let’s get into the grit of it: they’re coming for your ‘female standards’ and rough Aussie norms. Their award-winning Western Australian company of circus chicks are tackling the uncomfortable through dance, circus, and beaut comedic timing. YUCK is fun for the faint hearted, the strong willed and the everyday battler. YUCK’s here to show the humour of the trials and tribulations of what it’s like to be a young woman growing up in Australia. But don’t get them wrong, this isn’t a girls-only, no boys allowed show. They made this content relatable through comedy gold and crazy flips, so that even Dazza from down the road will have a good time.

AUSTRALIA IT’S TIME TO GET ALL REVVED UP! JIM STEINMAN’S EPIC ROCK MUSICAL, BAT OUT OF HELL is blasting into the country’s biggest arenas in June 2020.

Based on one of the best-selling albums of all time, the award-winning wild child rock musical features a powerhouse of hits including “You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth,” “Bat Out Of Hell,” and “I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)”. An epic love story of rebellious youth and passion, this rock spectacular brings to life the legendary hits of Jim Steinman in an exhilarating two and a half hour rock event.

Surrender to the ‘SHEER POUNDING ENERGY’ (Financial Times) of this ‘OUTRAGEOUS AND NOSTALGIC’ (The Times) Rock Musical and be part of the adrenaline pumping crowd witnessing the production at a scale and size NEVER SEEN BEFORE with the full international cast.See it big at the ultimate arena experience of 2020 with BAT OUT OF HELL – THE ROCK MUSICAL.of the adrenaline pumping crowd witnessing the production at a scale and size NEVER SEEN BEFORE with the full international cast.

See it big at the ultimate arena experience of 2020 with BAT OUT OF HELL – THE ROCK MUSICAL.

From America’s most produced and popular living playwright, Lauren Gunderson, comes the WA premiere of the award-winning I and You. Caroline (Sophia Forrest) hasn’t been at school for months – sick at home, she’s trapped in her bedroom with only Facebook, Twitter and Insta for company. When classmate Anthony (Darius Williams) arrives unexpectedly, spouting Walt Whitman’s 'Leaves of Grass' and brandishing an unfinished English Lit project he urgently needs her help with, she is less than impressed and rejects this intrusion into her damaged life. As they come together and reveal themselves through Whitman’s electric poetry and over waffle fries, they discover a connection far deeper than either of them could ever have imagined. Directed by Kate Cherry.