LEGENDS (of the Golden Arches) 

Joe Paradise Lui & Merlynn Tong

Producer: Kath Papas and Joo Tan
kath@performinglineswa.org.au
joo@performinglineswa.org.au

A powerful and deeply personal examination of the Asian cultural experience and the enduring power of friendship. It showcases the hard-to-articulate blue-collar religiosity that doesn’t exist in Australia and challenges the notion of Chinese culture as sacred.

Two old besties, Merlynn and Joe, find themselves in the midst of a traditional Chinese funeral for their grandfathers in Australia. As they spend the night in vigil, performing the traditional rites of mourning families, they clash over the preservation of culture and tradition.

The Censor

Vidya Rajan & Cassandra Fumi

Premiering in October 2025 

Producer: Samantha Butterworth
samantha@perfominglines.org.au

Have you ever been told you can’t read this book or see that movie? Can’t listen to this song or watch that show? Maybe the adults said it was too scary? Or not a good work for kids? What if you still really wanted to read it, see it, listen to it? What if you wondered if there was something the adults were trying to hide? What would you do?

Welcome to The Censor: a world where the children are in charge. Where they make the decisions. Where they decide what media you consume. A work by children for children and their adults.

Rinse

Amrita Hepi

Producer: Thom Smyth
thom@performinglines.org.au

What is it about the beginning that remains intoxicating? Our persistent lust for the first rush of a romance, scene, canon, theory, relationship, meal or country. Created by extraordinary dance artist Amrita Hepi, Rinse explores the romance of beginnings and what happens next, when those initial thrills begin to fade and inertia takes over.

The Visitors

Moogahlin Performing Arts

Producer: Kath Papas
kath@perfominglines.org.au

It’s January 1788 and a mysterious fleet is amassing in the harbour. Seven clan leaders must make a momentous decision: to send these strangers on their way or welcome them?

This award-winning and critically acclaimed major production has just completed a 3-month tour of Australia.

Deejay x Dancer

Nick Power

Producer: Kath Papas
kath@perfominglines.org.au

Deejay x Dancer brings Hip Hop’s traditional dance and musical instrument back into sharp focus, honouring the initial connection that sparked the worldwide culture, utilising this foundation to create new histories. Featuring 3 of Australia’s most accomplished Breakers fuelled by DJ Total Eclipse on the wheels of steel, this new work continues Nick Power’s choreographic exploration of Hip Hop’s rituals and origins, following on from his past 3 full length dance works; Cypher, Between Tiny Cities and Two Crews.

Enemies of Grooviness Eat Sh*t 

Betty Grumble

Producer: Thom Smyth
thom@performinglines.org.au

After a decade of playing within her spiritual access point and avatar, Betty Grumble – performance artist Emma Maye Gibson re-emerges. A self reflective, regenerative dive into the compost bin of making and moving through the trouble; of defying the ever-present cultures of violence and ecocide. Bowing to the powers of Grief and Love Energy, Rage Energy, Hope Energy & Fuck Energy, Gibson invites you to sit with and honour the legacy of makers, mentors, friends, lovers and ‘enemies’ that have formed an ecosystem of aliveness within the perils of eco-grief and structures that certainly no longer serve us.

TWO

Raghav Handa

Producer: Vanessa Wright
vanessa@performinglines.org.au

In a joyful celebration of trust and collaboration, the pair push the boundaries of Indian Kathak convention in a charming and playful testament to friendship, respect and profound exchange. Imagining new ways of working shaped by the sharing and negotiation of power, TWO presents impressive physicality, virtuosic music and witty encounters to expertly demonstrate the creative potential in respectfully challenging tradition.

Equations of a Falling Body

Laura Boynes

Producer: Jen Leys
jen@performinglineswa.org.au

Our contemporary world is wildly unpredictable. The ‘elsewhere’ of distant forces – climate, cosmos, politics, memory – continually intervene in our everyday lives. It’s mostly beyond our control – encountered as idle distractions, radical interruptions or insistent voices inside that re-shape and cypher our thoughts and desires.

Hide The Dog 

Nathan Maynard (palawa) & Jamie McCaskill (Māori)

Producer: Sinsa Mansell
Sinsa@performinglinestas.org.au

Best friends Niarra and Te Umuroa discover the last Tasmanian Tiger and sail to Aotearoa to protect it. Dodging hunters, Māori gods, and palawa spirits, they embark on a thrilling adventure. Hide the Dog is a trans-Tasman story of friendship and culture for the whole family.

WAKE 

THE RABBLE

Producer: Samantha Butterworth
samantha@perfominglines.org.au

Exploring the ever-increasing hostility towards women’s bodies particularly for older people, WAKE features acts of artistic courage created by the participating women, featuring anything from a ukulele solo to a professional wrestling bout; a Shakespeare monologue to a political speech. In an age of dislocation, WAKE is a work of solidarity.

Love Less Tender 

Raghav Handa

Producer: Vanessa Wright
vanessa@performinglines.org.au

Love Less Tender looks at the complexity of love and pleasure through the Sanskrit scripture, Kama Sutra.  

The piece, a danced, spoken and sung conversation between the quartet, explores the motivations behind and the borders that lie between love & pleasure and how they are shaped by personal, cultural & contemporary forces.  What would you do for love? Is it ever too much?  Is pleasure always guilty? 

SPHINX

THE RABBLE

Producer: Samantha Butterworth
samantha@perfominglines.org.au

A cinematic performance installation investigating the role of the care giver as a gendered experience.

In 1977 Laura Mulvey made Riddles of the Sphinx, a film investigating her own work on the male gaze. Using Mulvey’s and other feminist filmmakers’ techniques THE RABBLE will create an event that looks at the role of the care giver. The camera not used as a tool to enhance the auteur’s gaze, but instead focusing on the small tasks of the care giver. It aims to decimate the traditional uses of the camera in live performance and search for a new kind of dramaturgy.

Us And All Of This

Liesel Zink

Producer: Jane Schon
jane@performinglines.org.au

In a world increasingly defined by rising geopolitical tension, ecological mismanagement, deteriorating labour conditions and social isolation, Liesel Zink’s Us And All Of This offers a rare moment of calm reflection. Bringing together 100 local dancers for a large-scale contemporary performance work, unfolding across large plots of urban public space, not in the pursuit of profiteering , but in the pursuit of togetherness and communion.

WAKE 

THE RABBLE

Producer: Kath Papas
kath@performinglines.org.au

Exploring the ever-increasing hostility towards women’s bodies particularly for older people, WAKE features acts of artistic courage created by the participating women, featuring anything from a ukulele solo to a professional wrestling bout; a Shakespeare monologue to a political speech. In an age of dislocation, WAKE is a work of solidarity.

Performing Lines has offices in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Hobart. Each artist and project page will direct you to the lead producer. Otherwise, feel free to contact our Executive Producer Simon Wellington.

Simon Wellington
Executive Producer

Simon@performinglines.org.au
WhatsApp: +61 477 277 795