After a long COVID-induced hiatus last year, WA's leading performing arts academy will be returning to the stage with an exciting program of productions spanning musical theatre, dance, classical music and more. Kicking off the start of the season, audiences will be treated to some theatrical treasures including a dramatic reimagining of Ibsen's The Lady of the Sea, creative reworkings of Shakespeare, and a fresh dance series that brings together classical and contemporary dance, and live music on one stage.
The season opens on March 25, and will pave the way for over 120 events coming up as part of WAAPA's 2021 program. Check out some of the highlights coming up and don't miss your chance to see WA's rising stars perform live on stage.
Ellida
An exciting interpretation of Ibsen's
The Lady of the Sea,
Ellida will mark a return to the stage for WAAPA's acting students. A saucy tale of romance and freedom, the production centres around lighthouse keeper's daughter Ellida, who lives a life of quiet desperation with her husband in a small coastal town. When a mysterious lover from her past returns, she is forced to choose between the life she knows with her husband, or answering the wild call of the sea. It's an intoxicating tale that has all the key elements - drama, romance, and mystery, all set against the intensity of the ocean.
Directed by WAAPA graduate and award-winning actor Will O'Mahony, Ellida will be performed at WAAPA's Roundhouse Theatre from Thursday 26 March to Wednesday 31 March, with a matinee on Saturday 27 March. As emotion faces off against rationality, Ellida explores questions of freedom, responsibility, conformity and independence - issues with current relevance on Australia's political stage.
Details
Date: March 25 - 31
Venue: Roundhouse Theatre
Grab tickets here.
New Voices
Head downstairs at His Majesty's Theatre to see some of Perth’s most talented young actors perform a series of original short works.
New Voices is an exciting new program that gives the budding actors free rein to let their creative juices flow, with pieces ranging from re-imaginings of Shakespeare to contemporary and intimate storytelling.
Performed in two short seasons, from March 25 - 27 and then May 27 - 29, the shows will serve up sharp, contemporary reflections of who we are in the present moment - expect to be wowed as the stars take centre stage.
Details
Voices 1: March 25 - 27
Voices 2: May 27 - 29
Venue: Downstairs at The Maj, His Majesty's Theatre
Grab tickets here.
Restart
To kick off an incredible season of dance,
Restart brings dance and music students together on stage for a program of fresh, new classical and contemporary dance works. Watch as 3rd year dance students perform to live music played onstage by talented classical music students. Performed over five nights from March 26 - 31 at WAAPA's Geoff Gibbs Theatre in Mount Lawley,
Restart will start with a classical performance of
Barroco, accompanied on stage by a chamber orchestra performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major.
This will be followed by a new classical dance piece accompanied by exceptional violinist Ciara Sudlow who will perform Bach’s Chaconne, considered to be one of the crown jewels of violin repertoire. The Restart program will culminate with an original and whimsical new piece titled Are You Even Watching?, which has been choreographed especially for the program.
Details
Date: March 26 - 31
Venue: Geoff Gibbs Theatre
Grab tickets here.
To The Hands: Buxtehude, Bach & Shaw
Music lovers can rejoice as WAAPA's annual choral concert returns to St Mary's Cathedral, an atmospheric backdrop for an evening of music from WA's rising vocal stars.
To the Hands: Buxtehude, Bach & Shaw will feature a program of both old and new choral masterpieces, including Sergei Rachmaninoff’s powerful
Bogoroditse Devo and Knut Nystedt’s mesmerizing
Immortal Bach, which is a modern reworking of Bach's original
Komm, süsser Tod (Come, sweet Death).
St Mary's Cathedral is the perfect venue for choral concerts due to its incredible acoustics, so the event is a must-see for choral music lovers. Be inspired by the uplifting and powerful vocals as they resonate through the historic Cathedral's walls.
Details
Date: March 25
Venue: St Mary's Cathedral
Grab tickets here.
Into The Woods
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapin’s award-winning musical
Into the Woods will get an exciting new makeover when it hits the stage at Studio Underground at the State Theatre Centre. Performed by 3rd year music theatre and music students and produced in partnership with
Perth Theatre Trust, this modern take will see the musical taken from the European woods of the Brothers Grimm universe to the edge of an Australian forest at an outward-bound adventure camp.
Watch at the edge of your seat as a group of Gen-Zs navigate the path between the safety of childhood and the confronting reality of adulthood. Directed by experienced director, vocal coach and actor Nicole Stinton, this cutting-edge production will add an exciting new spin on a crowd favourite musical, taking the fairy tales we think we know well and turning them upside-down.
Details
Date: March 26 - 31
Venue: Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre
SOLD OUT
See more details on WAAPA's 2021 performance program here.
See more WAAPA events coming up
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