The fun-filled 45-minute performances can be seen each night at 6.30 and 8.00, with extra 4.00 pm shows on Saturdays and Sundays. The season runs until 10^th May.

The set is on the theatre floor level. The 74 audience seats are arranged in the ‘round’ – or to be more accurate – in the ‘square’. On each chair lies a headset and a smart phone.

The stage square in the centre is about 20 by 20 metres, the size of a large retirement unit. Drawn onto the black floor are white lines, these are the ‘walls’ of the sitting room, kitchen, double bedroom, single bedroom, offices and backyard. The rooms are fully furnished and the garden substantial.

       The theatre lights dim and six spotlights glow (lighting designer – Lucy Birkinshaw), highlighting the six audience volunteers, the actors for this show. The large, non-claustrophobic masks are constructed of fly wire; they are then beautifully decorated with a bright face that suits each character’s personality (mask designer – Rebecca Baumann). Under the ‘head’, the actor wears a headset that guides them through the story, giving them instructions of what to do next.

       There is no script for any actor to learn, the pre-recorded dialogue track features vocal performances by some of Perth’s finest actors Igor Sas, Brendan Ewing, Andrew Hale, Talei Howell Price, Kate Neylon, Adriane Daff, Mikala Westall, Will O’Mahony, Sean Walsh, Kym Bidstrup and Brent Hill. The audience hear the full sound track, however, the cast only the narration and the dialogue of the other cast members in the room. Actors in other rooms do not hear another room’s dialogue. Also missing to the actors is the wonderful soundscape / music by composer Ash Gibson Greig, and the work of sound designer Sam Price.

       The actor is in the same position as the audience members. The gripping tale being whispered into the actor’s ears, it unfolds as in real life with the participants not knowing any of the storyline in advance.

       Using their headphones, the audience can eavesdrop on characters’ private thoughts. They can also chose, which area of the action they wish to follow by selecting from six buttons on the Smartphone, inventive storytelling at its most memorable.

        When a friend arrives at Peter’s house with a large sports bag full of cash, his family find themselves caught up in a sinister and disturbing chain of events. The ‘Confidence Man’ is the story of an ordinary family placed in an extraordinary situation. What should they do?

Director Zoë Pepper with assistant director and creator, Adriane Daff, have devised an ingenious, interactive audio experience that gives the audience and actors a novel happening. The ease of use of the audience and participants’ system, hides what must have been extremely complex to create. Brilliant.

If you do want to take part in this exceptional experience, as I did for this review, get to the theatre early and speak to one of the friendly ushers.

Yet again members of the talented and highly inventive, Pepper Family (Zoë and Gemma) have come up with a piece of dynamic theatre to blow your mind away. With every performance unique, this is the most fun that I have had since my honeymoon night!

This Perth Theatre Company’s fascinating and gobsmacking production employs paper, projection and performance. It is presented in association with the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, at the PICA theatre performance space in Northbridge.

The 1-hour enthralling performance starts each evening – Tuesday until Saturday – at 7.30 until Saturday the 28^th March. There are various matinees and school performances (for years 9 – 12), at 11 am and 2.00 pm.

The stage is enclosed by the front of three, whitewashed mud and brick houses in a Middle East remote area. Rubble is strewn around the conflict zone. The town appears deserted.

       Three young girls (Tina Torabi, Mikala Westall and Mei Saraswati) are playing in the rubble, dreaming of owning a home. A home being somewhere that they can have their family and a few treasured belongings, rather than the room they exist in at present, with 50 relatives.

      Well-known TV new reporter, Tracey Vo, cowers as she relates the terrible happenings taking place around her.

      We follow them through war, attempts of escape, along with the deaths of their relatives. We learn of their hunger and having to survive in an area covered by the toxic white dust of bombs.

       Raed Al Athamnen sums up his story in a brief film.

Perth Theatre Company’s Artistic Director, Melissa Cantwell, has proven herself many times over the years, giving Perth a selection of top rate plays. However, she reaches a new zenith with this magnificently conceived production. PTC’s writer-in-residence Ian Sinclair being Melissa’s most capable assistant director,

Much-admired, audio-visual designer, Mia Holton has produced an hour of video that, in its precision and beguiling content, surpasses any AV that I have ever seen in the past. Total genius. The visual artist, Fleur Elise Noble, used stop motion animation of her clever puppets.

Along with the outstanding soundscape from Joe Lui that ranged from exploding hand grenades, full warzone effects, to the beautiful melodies of a honkey-tonk piano, eastern instruments, and of course the flutter of symbolic doves. The sweet tones of Mei Saraswati, in her theatre debut, were a wonderful poignant contrast to the distressing clamours of war. The audience did not simply watch the lives of these poor unfortunates, they were there, immersed in the dust and rubble, suffering it with them.

Stage Manager, Hugo Aguilar Lopez, has created and controls the many special effects, then has to rebuild the set. Stunning work.

This is not a heartless, ill-informed lecture on refugees. At the end of this masterpiece, the audience sat stunned, struggling to find enough energy to produce a VERY well earned applause. This was after only 60 minutes, these poor people have had years of unrelenting suffering, and yet the one thing that shone through at every stage of this play was their constant optimism and that light at the end of the tunnel.

Prepare to be stunned. Tremendous.