Season 2021

I write to you from Whadjuk Boodjar, where at Black Swan, we work, create and perform. We pay our respects to Nyoongar Elders past and present. With thanks to Dr Richard Walley OAM, you can watch our Welcome to Country in the video below.

This last year has offered many challenges, but has also afforded us time to reflect. In this reflection it has become clear that what we do as a company is gather. We gather ideas, we gather conversations, and we gather people.

To feel the pulse of an audience gripped by new Australian drama, to hear them laugh in unison at the perfectly paced comedic gesture, to marvel alongside them at a reinterpreted classic and more is a wonderful honour.

It’s a honour we cannot wait to share with you in this, our 30^th year. Be it on a picnic blanket before The Cherry Orchard, or in deep discussion around Le Dernier Appel – we will gather. Whether revisiting the loved independent production Playthings or laughing in the aisles with Animal Farm – we will gather. Walking with us through all stages of That Shakespeare Play and holding our hands in the tenderness of Every Brilliant Thing – we will gather. Uncovering buried histories in the Heath Ledger Theatre with York and dancing under the stars for the Maali Festival – we will gather.

This is our invitation to you. Come and sit with us. Share these radical ideas, with love.

Always, with love.

Clare Watson
Artistic Director