Perth Voice Interactive

THE Blue Room Theatre continues its tradition of experimental and “unorthodox” storytelling with its 2025 season which launches this weekend.

Block Party: Glimpse marks the beginning of the season, exploring the work of Australian artists through a mix of improvised music, dance, and experimental compositions. 

The event will take place this Friday (March 21) in the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts carpark, located in the Perth CBD.

The launch mixes “Friday night party vibes” and “unorthodox, absurdist, boundary-pushing” performances, according to The Blue Room Theatre creative director Joel Evans

Featuring a line-up heavy with First Nations Boorloo artists, Mr Evans emphasised the importance of incorporating Indigenous artists into their program.

He said Indigenous culture wasn’t featured enough in mainstream arts; “the arts sector should reflect our society [but] having worked in the sector for a long time, it doesn’t to be honest”.

“We’re making an effort to centre the stories that have been here for 80,000 years.

“One, to celebrate that community, but also to educate the public on the things they don’t know.”

According to Mr Evans, they “deliberately don’t get involved creatively at The Blue Room”, and each artist is encouraged to tell their story the way they want to tell it.

Block Party: Glimpse performer Sage Pbbbt (aka Sage J Harlow, her stage name is pronounced like “blowing a raspberry”) contributes a unique array of skills to the program, drawing on her background in throat singing, improvisational music, and an ongoing exploration with extra-normal voice to “manifest new music that’s never existed before”.

She drew on her practice of being a vocal improvisor and composer of open scores to write her experimental chamber opera work in The Blue Room Theatre’s Season 2025.

Titled O,D,E this retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice explores gender, identity, and “the world of death”, she said.

“It’s kind of a critique of people who practise meditation or magick or spirituality but get distracted by the shiny things instead of what it’s really about, liberating yourself from suffering.”

Referencing her research work into feminist, queer, and trans politics, Pbbbt said she is interested in “queering the voice”.

“I do a lot of different vocal techniques, so I think often it doesn’t particularly sound like a gendered human voice, it sounds otherworldly or demonic or weird.

“It’s all gender-neutral pronouns in the script, (they) can be played by anyone… any voice that is up for doing it, as long as they are comfortable improvising.”

The program also includes an interactive performance about the history of hip-hop and street dance by Ian de Mello and crew, and DJ’d music throughout the night by Ashyln Kaur, representing duo 2Spicii.

by ABIGAIL MARRA