2025 Black Swan Season Announced
Black Swan State Theatre Company announces its 2025 Season, presenting six dynamic productions including American and Australian contemporary classics, a sizzling dinner party gone wrong, a new Australian work, a witty political portrait, a coming-of-age story and a musical performance from the Kimberley.
Artistic Director Kate Champion:
Planning a season is like creating a meal .We aim for a mix of flavours and textures, undeniable substance, diverse nutrition, and a sprinkling of surprising spices. Our 2025 season is designed to challenge, delight, and nourish our audiences.
The 2025 Season commences with an undeniably substantial offering of the American contemporary classic August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, winner of 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and five Tony Awards. An unflinching portrayal of a family’s unravelling, reflecting a nation’s own disintegrating facade.
A co-production with Belvoir St Theatre, this is a theatrical coup for Perth audiences and will feature seven WA actors alongside members from the Sydney production. Directed by Eamon Flack and presented in association with Perth Festival, the play runs from 27 February to 16 March in the Heath Ledger Theatre. This production is definitely a ‘don’t miss’ exceptional piece of drama.
Following this is Blue, a beautifully insightful and tender monologue written by proud Kamilaroi man, and Heartbreak High star, Thomas Weatherall. This life-affirming story delves into a young person’s journey through life, loss, mental wellbeing and early adulthood. Ian Wilkes directs this surprisingly uplifting production that runs from 23 May to 8 June in the Studio Underground.
Next up, Never Have I Ever, the explosive and savagely funny debut play by Deborah Frances-White, (host of the global hit podcast The Guilty Feminist), is a riotous mix of humour, savvy political insights, outrageous twists and turns and joyous mayhem.
Undeniably contemporary, genuinely fresh and delightfully contentious, this is a dinner party that leaves its guests reeling with their lives changed. Directed by Kate Champion, this theatrical feast runs from 14 June to 6 July in the Heath Ledger Theatre.
After sold out shows around the country, Jonathan Biggins (Ying Tong, A Walk with the Goons) brings The Gospel According to Paul to WA for the first time. Love him or love him less, no-one can deny the intriguing complexity of Paul Keating’s personality.
A leader who changed the course of our country and who to this day can still ruffle feathers. The play is laden with Keating’s acerbic language and unmatched eviscerating witticisms. Directed by Aarne Neeme, this experience surprisingly moving, and endlessly entertaining show runs from 23 July to 3 August in the Heath Ledger Theatre.
Regarded as a contemporary Australian classic, Speaking in Tongues by Andrew Bovell was famously adapted for screen into the renowned film Lantana. This cleverly crafted story, full of sliding door possibilities, will make audiences question, in a very personal way, ‘what if I….?’
Finely balanced notions of fate and purpose fill its multi-layered narrative leaving us to contemplate the vital significance and inevitable consequence of every decision we make. This masterfully interconnected drama is directed by Humphrey Bower and runs from 23 August to 14 September in the Heath Ledger Theatre.
Bringing a touch of the Kimberley to Perth is Raised in Big Spirit Country, curated by Black Swan’s Broome-based Artistic Associate Naomi Pigram-Mitchell. Born amongst the artistic giants who created the ‘Broome sound’ and who were integral to legendary Black Swan productions such as Bran Nue Dae and Corrugation Road – Naomi’s life has been steeped in the riches of this bountiful creative legacy.
Significantly, she now finds herself centred between the vital history of Broome’s past, her own music, and the next generation of performers. This vibrant concert will bring this multi-generational talent to Perth, to showcase and celebrate the influential past, and the voices of the future.
Finally, Andrea Gibbs (Barracking for the Umpire) returns to the Perth mainstage with her newest offering Carol. Set in the lead-up to Christmas, the play follows Carol, a woman who has unexpectedly found herself on the margins of society.
With a Kmart choir and a homeless Santa in tow, Carol ultimately finds genuine season’s cheer through unexpected alliances, new perspectives and unprecedented resilience. Directed by Adam Mitchell, Carol runs from 22 November to 14 December in the Heath Ledger Theatre.
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