Launch!2024

Presented by Curtin University’s Theatre Arts and the Hayman Theatre Company.

The capstone of the Theatre Arts degree at Curtin, this year’s Launch! season features seven short performances across two programs for a very limited season. Both programs highlight the students’ dedication to acting, writing, design and directing, with shows ranging in styles from solo pieces to dramatic group performances. Accompanied by live music before the shows, this is sure to be an evening full of artistry and entertainment hosted by Perth’s emerging theatre artists!

Program A: 2pm – Thurs 31 Oct | 7pm – Fri 1 Nov

ﻣﻠﻌﻘﺔ (mil-aa-qa) Presented by Jude Soussan
What it means to feed and to be fed.
Coeliac disease and Lebanese heritage collide in a journey of longing and adaptation. Without the traditional Lebanese flatbread, meals once meant to be savoured by hand are now eaten with a spoon—an imperfect substitute for a beloved staple. It’s a struggle that feels isolating at times, but cooking for others becomes a beautiful expression of love, connecting tradition, culture, and heart in unexpected ways.
Cast: Jude Soussan

AN EYE FOR AN EYE Presented by Lizzy Ellis. 
A body. A fatal mistake. A life changed forever.
Detective Laya Hawke is a first-class cop. She means business, and she’ll stop at nothing to get a job done. When the body of a young lady is found, Laya’s determination and quest for justice quickly becomes a dangerous dance between life and death.
Directed by Poppy Lindsell. Cast: Lizzy Ellis

NO PLACE LIKE HOME Presented by Danika Bentley, Toby Shepherd, Rhys Healy & Tom Tasovac
Leave your doubts at the door.
After the sudden subsequent deaths of both of their parents, estranged siblings James and Alice return to pack up their childhood home. As they reconnect and reminisce over old memories, they find themselves returning to their past in an unexpected way.
Hidden in the hopes of their revisited childhoods lies a horror that deforms and deceives; something that distorts the familiar with the false.
Cast: Danika Bentley, Toby Shepherd, Rhys Healy & Tom Tasovac

Program B: 7pm – Thurs 31 Oct | 2pm – Fri 1 Nov

THE JUDGE’S WIFE by Caryl Churchill. Presented by Abbey Mitchell
Was he a reactionary or revolutionary?
A Judge passes a harsh sentence on a young man, the violent revolutionary Vernon Warren. Warren’s brother, Michael, kills the Judge in revenge. A play about justice and retribution.
Cast: Adam Gannon, Aleena Shaji, Poppy Algie, Eva South & Thomas Cartwright

IN BETWEEN (the lines) Presented by Macy Sharp
Mia returns to her childhood home following a suicide attempt that led to her being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. She didn’t expect her room to stay the same, but the pink walls and hundreds of stuffed animals remain. Whether it’s dealing with
an ineffective therapist or breaking up with her boyfriend for the ninetieth time, Mia begins to reckon with the diagnosis, as well as what it means for her future.
Cast: Macy Sharp & Tristan Cowcill

BENEATH THE SURFACE Presented by Monique Rodwell
In the depths of isolation, the greatest battles are within.
In a post-apocalyptic bunker, Alex and Darcy live in an isolated routine—one focuses on survival and music, while the other clings to books and what’s left of normalcy. When a sudden knock disrupts their world, fear takes over, revealing a chilling truth as they confront the unknown.
Cast: Rory Geddes & Jack Önell

RED TICKET Presented by Josie Walsh
Making peace with the ghosts of the past.
A psychological thriller and drama, inspired by the Fremantle Lunatic Asylum (now the Fremantle Art Centre). Lily is a new mum struggling with postpartum depression after the birth of her first child. In search of community and answers to her depression she takes up art classes at a community art centre. She soon discovers that the centre was previously a lunatic asylum for women in the early 1900s, the rooms previously being cells. After uncovering the story of Poppy Florence Grey, a previous patient at the asylum, Lily starts to feel like someone, or something is watching her…and the line begins to blur between what is real and what isn’t.
Cast: Jalena Crooks, Poppy Marinovich & Katelyn Rudolphy