Perth Walkabout - The Insider's Guide to Perth Western Australia

Black is the New White by Black Swan State Theatre Company

Details: Written by: Greg Letts; Published: 15 September 2019

Since the days of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, star crossed lovers and their conflicting families have been a staple of theatre and film. Nakkiah Lui's Black is the New White returns to this familiar theme, taking the race conflict of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner but reversing the typical power dynamic shown between Aborigines and Caucasians to great effect.

Charlotte Gibson is a rising Aboriginal lawyer from an upper middle-class family who has just won a high profile lawsuit which has left her exhausted and questioning the values of her upbringing. She has returned to the family holiday home with her new partner Francis Smith, a white Australian who composes experimental classical music and who scrapes by on his small trust fund allowance.

The Farewell at Luna

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Published: 04 September 2019

American director and writer Lulu Wang’s latest movie The Farewell follows the troubles and tensions of a widespread Chinese family who reunites to visit their dying grandmother whilst concealing the fact that she has been diagnosed with cancer and does not have long to live.

The family visit the grandmother on the pretext of going to China to attend the wedding of a grandson and his Japanese wife to be.

The main character Billi is a young New York woman and budding writer, who has fond memories of her grandmother from when she was a young child growing up in China, before her parents migrated to America.

As well as being funny and heartfelt, the drama comedy raises some interesting and poignant issues about what it means to be family, with Billi being caught in the middle of traditional Chinese culture and the Western values she has developed while living in the USA.

The Apparatus at The Blue Room Theatre

Details: Written by: Lee-Ann Khoh; Published: 18 August 2019

The Apparatus grabs your attention as soon as you walk into the theatre. Mostly because Tim Green is munching on snacks behind a mixing desk in the corner of the stage, with his face painted white, wearing nothing but his underwear. Humphrey Bower soon joins him, similarly dressed, but unlike Green, he acquires more costumes as the show progresses. (As a word of warning, the show in question does get pretty graphic, but not because of the semi-nudity.)

The Apparatus has been adapted from three Franz Kafka stories: Before the Law, The Burrow, and In the Penal Colony. In Part One of the play, a man spends his life trying to gain access to a door guarded by a gatekeeper. In Part Two, Bower seamlessly transitions into the role of an animal, paranoid about defending the burrow he has created. Finally, in Part Three, Bower transforms again, this time into a camo-wearing, broad-accented Australian man, channelling certain politicians as he showcases a new torture device.

The Third Wife at Luna

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Published: 17 July 2019

Beneath the tranquil waters of 19^th century rural Vietnam, we see the turbulent undercurrents through the eyes of 14 year old May as she enters an arranged marriage to the head of a wealthy family in payment for her father's debt.

“The Third Wife” is a cinematically beautiful piece, showcasing the ebb and flow of life and its interconnectedness with nature and its seasons. We see the family go about their everyday routines – putting food on the table, and attending to daily chores.

As May adjusts to life with her new family, she comes of age, and soon realises that bearing a son will bring her an increase in status within the patriarchal household.

Scandinavian Film Festival 2019 at Luna

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Published: 16 July 2019

It's that time of the year as we gaze northwards to enjoy special offerings from the 2019 Volvo Scandinavian Film Festival.

Opening Night kicks off Wednesday 17th July at Cinema Paradiso, with the premier of the Danish comedy Happy Ending followed by an after party Scandi celebration of drinks, Nordic flavours and music.

This year, the film festival brings to Perth audiences movies from across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, along with a series of highly charged Nordic noir works - Millennium Trilogy and Department Q. The Millennium Trilogy series of films pay tribute to the famous late author Stieg Larsson whose Millennium Trilogy novels – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels - sold more than 90 million copies worldwide and were made into feature films.

Here are Perth Walkabout’s top picks from this year’s #ScandiFilmFest :

XR:WA - Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Published: 09 July 2019

A first for Perth, the XR:WA provides a feast of events for those in the industry and public to explore virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, computer animations and other forms of screen-based and immersive media.

It will be on from the 6th July to the 14th July running in parallel to the Revelation Perth International Film Festival which is currently on in Perth from the 4th to the 17th July.

XR:WA demonstrates the potential that can emerge from bringing together the best of cinema, the arts, research, and science and technology to create an immersive environment.

Some highlights for the upcoming week:

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Black is the New White by Black Swan State Theatre Company

The Farewell at Luna

The Apparatus at The Blue Room Theatre

The Third Wife at Luna

Scandinavian Film Festival 2019 at Luna

XR:WA - Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality