Western Australian Theatre Development Initiative backs renewed stage activity

November 6, 2020

Arts / Entertainment / Venues /

Perth will be hosting new local theatre next year thanks to funding for three upcoming productions through the Western Australian Theatre Development Initiative (WATDI).

Western Australian artist Jay Emmanuel will stage his theatre piece Children of the Sea at the Subiaco Arts Centre, sharing the journey of young refugees who come to Australia by boat.

Children of the Sea will feature young performers and a vocal ensemble made up of people from culturally and linguistically diverse/refugee backgrounds who will learn theatre-making, public speaking and gain performance experience alongside professional theatre artists.

Performing Lines WA received $99,949 from the WATDI to bring Jay Emmanuel's project to life and $99,955 for the production phase of theatre maker Katt Osborne and visual artist Tarryn Gill's UNHEIMLICH.

Meaning 'un-homely' or 'uncanny', UNHEIMLICH will be staged at Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts next year, exploring the inner world of relationships and how domestic spaces can become unsafe.

Local theatre artist Joe (Shang Yu) Lui received $76,026 for Enlightenment, a re-imagining of one of the great works of Chinese literature, Journey to the West, a story made popular in Australia through the hugely popular Japanese TV series Monkey Magic.

Enlightenment is a collaboration between Western Australian artists and Melbourne theatre company Elbow Room and was developed with artists from across Australia with diverse backgrounds. The production will be staged at the State Theatre Centre of WA.

Looking forward to the new theatre pieces, Western Australian Culture and the Arts Minister, David Templeman stated “the WATDI encourages a vibrant and sustainable WA theatre sector by supporting the production and performance of world-class theatre in our state.

"All three of these productions will engage audiences and provide valuable professional development and employment opportunities for local theatre practitioners.

"We have an incredible amount of artistic talent here in WA and these new productions are an excellent opportunity for Perth audiences to see this home-grown talent in action."

Image: Subiaco Arts Centre.

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