The Blue Room Theatre presents UP CLOSE  March - July 2011 - Proudly supported by the City of Perth.

Theatre in Perth has never been more intimate and tantalizing than at the city’s hub of independent professional performing arts, The Blue Room Theatre, presenting its latest season of eight new productions.

With a variety of experiences from original work to new adaptations, the experimental and bizarre, to the serious and comic, these shows deal with themes that are poignant, relevant, controversial and stimulating; strengthening The Blue Room Theatre’s commitment to risk-taking performance for adventurous audiences.

Followed in the second half of 2011 by the Personal season, Up Close features some of the nation’s best emerging and established theatre makers:

March sees the season open with AWGIE winning Brisbane writer/performer Stephen House and his one-man journey Appalling Behaviour, direct from a critically acclaimed season in Adelaide, written about and while living homeless on the streets of Paris; while Helpmann and Green Room Award winner Humphrey Bower returns to Perth to premiere his adaptation of Peter Goldsworthy’s novel of forbidden love called Wish, a drama layered with choreographed movement and live music.

May’s world premiere productions welcome back The Duck House ensemble (The Bearskinner) with A Disappearing Act, a freshly devised, violently romantic 20th century tale of love and death, mice and men, glitter and guns, told in their signature tragi-comic style; and awarded WA playwright Hellie Turner, bringing together a stellar West Australian cast for the absurd and darkly humourous Anytown, exploring the human condition against the backdrop of a secretive and incestuous rural Australian town.

June transforms the stage into a political platform, lecture theatre and riot zone, as local collective Renegade Productions resurge to tackle the enemies of free speech in their impassioned mixed media world premiere Laryngectomy, trampling political correctness at every turn; as A Germ of An Idea: A Dirty Comedy by Monica Main has Perth’s foremost comedy character actor return from Sydney Fringe with her one-woman sketch show exploring our relationship with germs, from the historical to the hysterical.

July ends the Season with two brand new shows by fi rst time producing companies: Little y Theatre Company dedicate Scent Tales, their whimsical interpretation of a tale about a woman accused of stealing smells from a bakery, to their dear friend and collaborator Alexis Davis, who was tragically taken from us late last year; and Drag Queens Are Us debuts with an in-depth, emotional and energetic look at the artform Drag, narrated by John Aitken and featuring numbers by Perth, Melbourne and London drag artists.

Subscriptions are available from 1 March through The Blue Room Theatre web site to see all eight Up Close shows from less than $100, or choose any four shows from only $48. And still with some of the lowest priced drinks in Northbridge, you won’t find a more cosy and affordable small bar in Perth than at The Blue Room Theatre, open to audience members before and after each performance.

If you want to get even closer to the artists involved, attend our Meet the Artists nights on the second Wednesday of each production, at no more than the cost of your show ticket contact The Blue Room Theatre Communications Manager, Di Star on 08 9227 7005 or email.