Another year of the award-winning Summer Nights festivities approaches for The Blue Room Theatre in Perth.
Throughout the programme will be 12 hand-picked Perth premiere shows, and 15 new short works in the action-packed 600 Seconds.
New perspectives, challenging concepts, hilarity, chaos and embracing uniqueness – it can all be explored at Summer Nights. Horse girls in the desert, a musical performed in AUSLAN, a theatre transformed into a wrestling ring, and a contemporary opera about a morphine-induced queer priestess escaping the Third Reich.
Blue Room is also welcoming touring acts to join the party – Clara Cupcakes presents her solo show 'Yee Howdy' and Singapore's Jeramy Lim presents their new adventure 'Jack Of All Directions'.
Summer Nights' free-entry launch party gets things going. It'll see the first night of The Blue Room Theatre's courtyard DJ series the 'Club Room', in collaboration with RTRFM 92.1.
“This year’s festival is more than ever about the spirit of community,” The Blue Room Theatre Program Manager Rose Kingdom-Barron says.
“Bringing people into the space to connect with each other, and share stories from our backyard and beyond. This year’s artists aren’t holding back and neither are we – we are going more interdisciplinary than before with a stack of music, poetry, dance and free events, as well as the usual quality theatre the festival is known for. Bring your friends and family, bear witness to a solid mix of independent artists and lean into Boorloo’s sweaty summer festival atmosphere that is like no other.”
'Yee Howdy'
Productions throughout Summer Nights include. . .
'All The Fraudulent Horse Girls', about 11-year-old Audrey who is telepathically linked to every horse girl in the world;
'The Lifetimes Of The Deaf And Deafblind', an AUSLAN musical about the lived experience of Deaf and Deafblind people;
'WHITESNAKE3000', retelling the myth of Madam White Snake in a part lecture, part dance performance;
'Jack Of All Directions', the story of Joey who decides to make the most of his tourist experience in the WA capital after his Grindr date goes MIA;
'The Priestess Of Morphine', a contemporary opera telling the story of a Jewish, German, lesbian, erotic poet, and lover of morphine;
'NOISEROOM', where sound, movement, and visuals come together in a late-night visceral multidisciplinary showcase of abstract theatre;
'An Evening Of African Poetry And Storytelling', a live performance show exploring the meaning of 'home';
'Jack Of All Directions' – Image © Crispian Chan
'Yee Howdy', Clara Cupcakes bringing her one-human hootenanny about cow folk/things;
'Bad Feminist', an homage to early 2000s rom-com films exploring the complexities of sexual assault culture and the role of the bystander;
'Conception', the debut play from Lainey O'Sullivan on the rule of a government with total control over fertility and childbirth to minimise population growth;
'Jabroni', telling two versions of the same story of fictional professional wrestler The Golden Boy;
'Bright And Bold', Dureshawar Khan’s one woman show about titillating tattoo tales and the untold feminist history of tattooing;
and 600 Seconds – showcasing 15 short works across Summer Nights in three different programme streams.
Summer Nights is on at The Blue Room Theatre (Perth) 20 January-11 February.
