Theatre: Black Swan subscribes to the power of the pen

Black Swan State Theatre Company
2011 subscription season 

Boundary Street (world premiere)
by Reg Cribb, music by James Morrison
Heath Ledger Theatre, 4-20 March
A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare
Heath Ledger Theatre, 7-22 May
Rising Water (world premiere)
by Tim Winton
Heath Ledger Theatre, 25 June-17 July
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
by Tennessee Williams
Heath Ledger Theatre, 10-25 September
When the Rain Stops Falling
by Andrew Bovell
Heath Ledger Theatre, 29 October-13 November
Ninety
by Joanna Murray-Smith
Studio Underground, 1-7 July
The Damned (world premiere)
by Reg Cribb
Studio Underground, 14-30 October


This is a big year for Black Swan. Its got a brand, spanking new home in Northbridge and a season squarely aimed at delivering a subscription audience worthy of its status as the anointed state theatre company of the Boomiest Place on Earth.
The good news is that AD Kate Cherry is putting most of her eggs in the best basket she can afford: her writers. Tim Winton (now that's going to be a hot ticket!), Andrew Bovell and Reg Cribb (twice) are WA box office boffo, the other Aussie, Joanna Murray-Smith, has got her repertoire and reputation up and about world-wide, and great things are predicted for young Englishman William Shakespeare and the American tyro Tennessee Williams.
My friend and mentor (oh, all right, boss) at The West, Steve Bevis, gives us the low-down here, so I'll say no more. What will be worth watching, though, is whether Sin City on one side of William Street and Loveyland on the other can come together to deliver a package tony enough to lure the Western Suburbs across town and hip enough to get the Inner East and North out of Must and The Queens and down to the theatre. We'll keep an eye on it!
In the meantime, there's no doubt the best way to see these shows is to see them all, and the best way to do that is subscribe. You can start in for not much more than a coffee and a bruschetta in Claremont. You can do it here!