From a mischievous reimagining of a literary classic to world-premiere Australian works, an acclaimed theatrical masterpiece and a riotous Hitchcock-inspired comedy, Black Swan State Theatre Company is thrilled to announce its 2027 Season that celebrates the breadth of storytelling and creative talent shaping Western Australian theatre.
Black Swan State Theatre Company of Western Australia has announced its 2027 season, featuring six productions that span contemporary Australian writing, international classics, psychological drama and high-energy comedy.
The season brings together four works by Western Australian writers, two acclaimed international plays, emerging artists and established performers, with productions presented at His Majesty’s Theatre, Subiaco Arts Centre, Heath Ledger Theatre and Studio Underground.
The 2027 season also marks the final year of Kate Champion’s tenure as Artistic Director, as she prepares to hand over the role to incoming Artistic Director Matt Edgerton.
Reflecting on the 2027 season, Champion celebrates the collaborative spirit at the heart of theatre-making and the enduring importance of storytelling:
“While reflecting on seasons past and imagining the coming year, I keep returning to the undeniable reality that none of these shows can happen without complex collaboration and the deep consideration of many minds, hands, hearts, and voices.”
As she looks towards the end of her tenure, Champion also acknowledges the support she has received from Western Australian audiences and the wider arts community.
“It has been an extraordinary experience, and I will always carry WA’s generosity close to my heart.”
Champion welcomes Edgerton to the role, expressing her confidence in the company’s future and its continuing contribution to the state’s cultural life.
“I welcome Matt Edgerton wholeheartedly to the Artistic Director’s seat, with the utmost faith that he will bring a wealth of talent and fresh imaginative choices to the seasons ahead and to Black Swan’s important role in WA’s cultural landscape.”
The six-show program moves between familiar stories seen through a new lens and original works that challenge audiences to reconsider the world around them. Young women resist the forces shaping their lives, two strangers find unexpected understanding, a father struggles to make sense of reality, and a journalist is drawn into a surreal comic mystery. The season culminates in a fast-paced theatrical farce in which four actors take on more than 130 characters.
Six productions. Six different worlds.
A Room With A View
5 – 14 March
His Majesty’s Theatre
WA Premiere
The season opens with a fresh, mischievous take on E. M. Forster’s beloved classic, adapted by Western Australian-raised playwright Grace Chapple and directed by Hannah Goodwin.
Holidaying in Florence, Lucy Honeychurch finds her carefully ordered world disrupted by the city’s beauty and her unexpected connection with George Emerson. Back in England, she must choose between the security of convention and the possibility of a life lived on her own terms.
Immortalised in the 1985 Merchant Ivory film, A Room with a View explores love, sexual awakening and the courage to want something more.
The production features an accomplished cast including Kate Atkinson, Tom Conroy, Hayley McElhinney and Nathalie Morris, with set and costume design by Zoë Atkinson and original composition by Grace Ferguson.
Wicked Little Beasts
20 May – 5 June
Subiaco Arts Centre
World Premiere
What happens when young women refuse to accept the rules imposed upon them?
Written by Gita Bezard and directed by Rachel McMurray, Wicked Little Beasts follows a group of schoolgirls confined to their bedrooms after a mysterious illness strikes their town. With no logical cure for the mass hysteria and their freedom increasingly restricted, the girls unite in an act of defiance.
Told through the eyes of a young protagonist, this provocative new work combines humour, complexity and social commentary, interrogating the limitations of modern medical practice and the power of female resistance.
Returning to Black Swan following her play Girl Shut Your Mouth, which was nominated for the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, Bezard delivers a story packed with narrative surprises and cathartic energy.
Sardines
10 – 27 June
Subiaco Arts Centre
WA Premiere
A chance encounter between two damaged strangers becomes an unexpected story of connection, forgiveness and hope in Sardines, a long-overdue Perth production of Hellie Turner’s award-winning play.
On New Year’s Eve 2002, street kid Jason breaks into the home of Gloria, a reclusive woman who has shut herself away from the world. Their initial hostility gives way to an uneasy connection as the pair confront their troubled pasts and discover the possibility of a different future.
Winner of the 2006 WA Premier’s Award for Script, Turner’s funny, poignant and sometimes dark play offers a tender examination of two people finding common ground despite their differences.
Making her Black Swan directorial debut is Pippa Grandison; the production stars Alex Kirwan and Bishanyia Vincent, bringing this intimate two-hander to the stage.
The Father
17 July – 8 August
Heath Ledger Centre
WA Premiere
What happens when the world around you stops making sense?
Florian Zeller’s internationally acclaimed play The Father, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by incoming Artistic Director Matt Edgerton, offers an unflinching and deeply human exploration of memory, identity, family and the fragility of reality.
André lives a quiet life in his Paris apartment, but his world is becoming increasingly strange. His watch keeps disappearing, strangers arrive unannounced, the furniture seems to have a mind of its own, and he begins to question what is happening around him.
As André struggles to hold on to his sense of self, his daughter tries to help him navigate an increasingly uncertain world.
Winner of multiple Molière Awards, including Best Play, The Father balances humour with emotional intensity in a powerful portrait of love and the limits of understanding.
The Father features Western Australian-born actor Claire van der Boom, whose award-winning career has taken her from WA to international stages and screens, including HBO’s The Pacific, Hawaii Five-0 and Off-Broadway. Born in Broome and raised in WA, van der Boom makes a welcome return home to make her Black Swan debut alongside acclaimed WA actor George Shevtsov.
The Noodle Shop On The Corner Of Fourth Street
8 – 24 October
Studio Underground
World Premiere
A workaholic journalist, a questionable lie and a journey into a surreal world of comic mystery collide in this inventive new work by Grace Chow, one of Australia’s most exciting and multi-talented artists, known for Dog Park and Mystery Road: Origin.
Maggie Wu is stuck writing online obituaries while dreaming of her big break. But one fateful lie sends her spiralling into a strange, thriller-like world where she must confront ghosts, stray cats, family secrets and the mysteries of the Pacific Ocean.
Directed by Ian Michael and featuring Chow in the cast, The Noodle Shop on the Corner of Fourth Street blends bilingual storytelling, genre-bending comedy and a touch of Kafkaesque horror, with a fantastical sensibility that recalls the imaginative worlds of Studio Ghibli filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.
Expect an unpredictable theatrical adventure that defies easy categorisation.
The 39 Steps
6 – 28 November
Heath Ledger Theatre
Black Swan closes its 2027 season with a high-speed comic thriller in which four actors take on more than 130 characters in a feat of theatrical dexterity and comic invention.
Adapted by Patrick Barlow from John Buchan’s novel and Alfred Hitchcock’s film, The 39 Steps follows Richard Hannay as he becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue, secret organisations and mistaken identities. Pursued by shadowy figures and fumbling law enforcement, Hannay must unravel the mystery before it is too late.
A Tony and Olivier Award-winning hit that enjoyed a nine-year West End run, the production is a playful homage to Hitchcock’s suspense classics, combining film-noir romance, nail-biting intrigue and Monty Python-style absurdity.
Directed by Adam Mitchell, with composition and sound design by Ash Gibson Greig, The 39 Steps promises a riotous celebration of theatrical ingenuity and live comedy.
Black Swan State Theatre Company 2027 Season is on sale to Black Swan Friends on 8 October 20266. General public tickets are on sale from 15 October 2026.
Website: https://blackswantheatre.com.au/season-2027
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/blackswanstc/
Images supplied.
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