World City Guide

Culture

The arts in Perth tend towards the conservative, except at Perth International Festival time, when the avant-garde is embraced. Nevertheless, the overall scene is healthy, with an excellent symphony orchestra, ballet company, opera company and several professional theatre troupes. There is no shortage of talent in town – the West Australian Academy of the Performing Arts (WAAPA), renowned for turning out stars of stage and screen, attracts students from all over the country. While the arts in Perth lack a visible focal point, such as Sydney’s Opera House or Brisbane’s Performing Arts Centre, the Perth Cultural Centre in Northbridge – comprising the Art Gallery, Western Australian Museum and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts – goes some way to filling the void, as does the 100-year-old architectural gem that is His Majesty’s Theatre.

Tickets to most shows are available from Ticketmaster (tel: 136 122; website: www.ticketmaster7.com). Cultural listings can be found online (website: www.xpressmag.com.au) and in the West Australian newspaper.

Music: The West Australian Opera (tel: (08) 9321 5869; website: www.waopera.asn.au) performs six to nine weeks per year at the Edwardian His Majesty’s Theatre, 825 Hay Street (tel: (08) 9265 0912; website: www.hismajestystheatre.com.au). Perth Concert Hall, 5 St George’s Terrace (tel: (08) 9484 1133; website: www.perthconcerthall.com.au), is the prime venue for classical music and also the home of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (tel: (08) 9326 0011; website: www.waso.com.au). The hall’s acoustics have been acclaimed as the best in Australia.

Theatre: His Majesty’s Theatre (see Music above), is the elegant venue for opera, ballet, musicals and other theatrical presentations. Burswood Theatre, Burswood Casino, Great Eastern Highway (tel: (08) 9362 7777), presents big-budget musicals, such as Chicago and Fame. The Art Deco Regal Theatre, 474 Hay Street, Subiaco (tel: (08) 9484 1133), formerly a cinema, hosts bedroom-farce-style theatre. The Perth Theatre Company (tel: (08) 9325 8366; website: www.perththeatre.com.au) treads the boards at the Playhouse Theatre, 3 Pier Street (tel: (08) 9231 2377; website: www.playhousetheatre.com.au). The more cutting-edge Black Swan Theatre Company (tel: (08) 9388 9388; website: www.bstc.com.au) is based at the Subiaco Theatre Centre, 180 Hamersley Road, Subiaco (tel: (08) 9382 3385; website: www.subiacotheatrecentre.com.au). Yirra Yaakin Theatre, 65 Murray Street (tel: (08) 9202 1966; website: www.yirrayaakin.asn.au), is a leading Australian Aboriginal theatre company whose performances combine traditional dance with contemporary issue-based drama.

Dance: The West Australian Ballet (tel: (08) 9481 0707; website: www.waballet.com.au), resident at His Majesty’s Theatre (see Music above), performs a repertoire of modern dance as well as classical ballet. Buzz Dance Theatre (tel: (08) 9226 2322) is an important local modern dance company. Major Australian and international dance companies frequently tour to Perth and perform at His Majesty’s Theatre and the Burswood Theatre (see Theatre above).

Film: Mainstream movies are screened at Hoyts (tel: (1902) 263 456; website: www.hoyts.com.au) and Greater Union (tel: (1902) 263 456; website: www.greaterunion.com.au) multiplexes throughout the city. Tickets are cheaper on Tuesdays. A good budget cinema in the middle of town is the Piccadilly, Hay Street Mall (tel: (08) 9322 3577; website: www.regentcinemas.com/piccadilly). Arthouse cinema is enjoyed at Cinema Paradiso, 164 James Street, Northbridge (tel: (08) 9227 1771; website: www.lunapalace.com.au), and the Luna, 155 Oxford Street, Leederville (tel: (08) 9444 4056; website: www.lunapalace.com.au). Outdoor movies are popular during the summer months, at the Sunset Cinema in Kings Park, the Somerville Auditorium at the University of Western Australia and the Luna in the Park in Leederville.

Perth is somewhat under-represented in Australian cinema. Peter Weir’s Gallipoli (1981) and Scott Hicks’ Shine (1996) are arguably the best movies to include Perth as a setting. The modern city also appears in Bill Bennett’s Kiss or Kill (1998). Hollywood stars Heath Ledger and Frances O’Connor are originally from Perth.

Cultural events: The Perth International Arts Festival takes places every year, from mid-January to mid-February, showcasing local and international theatre, dance, film, music and visual art at venues around the city. The festival is the oldest of its kind in Australia, dating back to 1952. Further into the year, July sees National Islander Observance Committee Week, featuring exhibitions of indigenous art and traditional performances. Perth’s Pride Festival happens in September/October, with a range of gay and lesbian cultural events culminating in a street parade and dance party.

Literary Notes
Perth features in a number of important Australian books. A B Facey, author of the panoramic autobiography and quintessential ‘Aussie battler’ story, A Fortunate Life (1981), lived for a large part of that life in Perth, working on the (now defunct) tram system. Tim Winton’s modern classic, Cloudstreet (1991), chronicles 20 post-war years in the life of a Leederville family, while Robert Drewe’s memoir, The Shark Net (2000), evokes Perth in the 1950s, during serial killer Eric Cooke’s reign of terror. Archie Weller’s The Day of the Dog (1980), about urban Aboriginal life in Perth, is a key work of black Australian literature; Sally Morgan’s lyrical My Place (1987) is another. The city was also home to Australia’s greatest Aboriginal playwright, Jack Davis, who tackled injustice in The Dreamers (1982) and No Sugar (1986). Writers who currently call Perth home include Australian literary grande dame Elizabeth Jolley, who penned Miss Peabody’s Inheritance (1983) and An Accommodating Spouse (1999), as well as acclaimed, reclusive science fiction author Greg Egan, famous for Permutation City (1994).