Smallest Stage recognised on biggest stage in WA

Bunbury production The Smallest Stage has been nominated for five awards at this years Performing Arts WA Awards.

The awards recognise the best in professional performing arts in the State, and the BREC production is thrilled to be nominated against professional Perth companies such as Black Swan Theatre Company and Barking Gecko.

The show — written by Kim Crotty, produced by BREC and co-commissioned by the Perth Festival — has been nominated for best mainstage production, outstanding contemporary or experimental performance, outstanding new work, outstanding direction of a mainstage production for Matt Edgerton, and outstanding performer in a lead role for Ben Mortley.

The show tells the autobiographical story of Kim Crotty’s experiences in Dartmoor Prison in the UK as he “endeavoured to stay connected with his two boys, then three and five years old, while serving his sentence for growing cannabis.”

The show includes elements of live drawing, puppetry and animation, and premiered at The Cube Theatre at BREC in February 2022 and was shown as part of the Perth Festival in the Studio Underground of the State Theatre Centre of WA the same year.

BREC executive director and producer of The Smallest Stage Fiona de Garis said she and the company are delighted by the nominations.

“We are both humbled and encouraged by this recognition to continue to create opportunities for performance-makers from across the South West to develop sustainable professional careers right here in the region,” she said.

“Win or lose, we are in very prestigious company and are delighted to have another chance to celebrate Kim Crotty’s exceptional story and the show we made together.”

Acknowledged as experimental for its audience engagement, members of the audience who purchased an interactive ticket were able to step into Kim Crotty’s shoes and find themselves centre stage in a pair (of shoes) with their child.

The parent and child pairs wore headphones and received audio-guided instructions from Director Matt Edgerton for the full duration of the show while on stage with performers, providing a truly unique theatre experience.

The Awards will take place at a ceremony at the Heath Ledger Theatre in Perth on Monday October 30.