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Preview: Allison Browning
THE hum of creativity just got louder as The Blue Room
opens its new season rich with an assortment of theatre candy
- including plays from both local and international writers, in
genres from horror and cabaret through to comedy.
So, as The Blue Room folk dust off the old floorboards for the
onslaught of creativity Indieperth spoke to Amber Hasler, who
has almost become part of The Blue Room office furniture, about
what we can expect from this season.
"We have some really established artists coming through,"
she enthuses.
First up in the new season is The Country,
by Martin Crimp.
The Country, a psychological drama, has been described
as a surreal thriller and explores the disturbed triangle created
when a doctor brings the body of an unconscious young woman back
to his wife and home.
The show is presented by local company 'Last Seen Imagining'.
"They produce some really high quality standards of work,"
assures Hasler.
Next up is Shift Swapping, written by Perth
local, David Ryding, and presented by new company, Audax.
Hasler explains that Audax 'is a company of young professional
women who are interested in producing theatre for women and are
producing theatre opportunities for women, so it's great to see
some politics coming into that'!
The piece, however, is not political; it explores how friends
drift apart and how memories of the past don’t always align
with reality.
Serpentine will coincide with Shift Swapping
but will be the late-night treat, with a 9.30pm slot, so
theatre junkies can come and ingest two shows.
Hasler explains that "Serpentine is a fast-paced
thriller set around a gruesome murder, and two detectives and
the devil'.
Serpentine explores a police investigation into a brutal
murder. But, as the police get nearer to finding a suspect, they
are forced to question the sanity of their lead.
Agency provides something lighter, as Hasler
states: "It's a bawdy comedy with bite about singles and
a singles agency. It's an honest reflection on being single and
finding people in a newspaper ad.
"There's quite a bit of research going through about Di
Day, who wrote it, who will quite honestly confess to being celibate
for 15 years, I think, and then all of a sudden feeling the need
to put an ad in the newspaper, and this play sort of came from
her experience in answering the Ad and working with a sort of
singles agency. It's a very interesting play and very well-written,"
adds Hasler.
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Last Days of Weimer
shakes things up a little with some Cabaret.
"It's an extremely vibrant cabaret, it features the music
that was left in The Third Reich, in Berlin, in the 1930's; the
music that was actually banned by authorities as being too political,"
observes Hasler.
Finally, the double billing of Slight Leakage
and The Unkindness of Strangers, both written
by Matt Penny, finish the Blue Room season.
"Slight Leakage is an insightful view into the
weird and strange encounters that hospital orderlies come into
(in) working with old people; it's actually set in a toilet!"
says Hasler.
"The Unkindness of Strangers is a sort of tourist
insight into the less than leafy suburbs of Perth… it has
a little bit of a terrorist underline of the effects of what terrorism
has done to people."
Hasler reiterates that 'the main aims of The Blue Room are to
develop and work with new ideas and practitioners, upcoming and
emerging writers, directors, performers'.
"It's also about promoting individual work, ensuring a safe
haven for work to be presented, and also critiqued. Also, putting
more money into those smaller companies and allowing them a place
to express their work."
The Blue Room programme is in place to support both new and established
practitioners, feeding Perth's theatre community. Any one can
apply for a season at The Blue Room.
Upon presentation of an application, it is submitted to three
industry professionals, and is assessed on suitability to The
Blue Room program, artistic value, innovation, planning and experience.
If the application is successful, a two or three week season
is offered, with venue hire available, as well as marketing support.
A small subsidy of up to $1,900 may be offered, and the artists
keep 90% of the BOCS office takings.
The season is sure to cause a stir as The Blue Room has had its
doors closed for the past six months, as part of plans for a renovation.
Unfortunately, the work has been delayed until next year.
But it will be business as usual when the renovations do go ahead,
and an alternative venue will be available so performances will
not be affected and Perth will continue to have dose after dose
of diverse theatre.
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