National spotlight on Barking Gecko

Western Australian theatre group Barking Gecko Theatre Company has been nominated for two Helpmann Awards for its recent production of Bambert’s Book of Lost Stories.

Established in 2001, the annual awards recognise artistic achievement and excellence in Australia’s live performance industry.

The theatre group will compete in two categories – best presentation for children, and best new Australian work, both of which it won last year with its production of The Rabbits.

Organisation chair Roger Martin said the nominations were well deserved and applauded the ongoing support of government funding, its development partner Woodside, as well as its commissioning circle.

“It demonstrates that donations have produced an outcome that these calls for support are not hollow, that they actually produce great pieces of work that all of us should be proud of,” he said.

The awards will be announced at the official ceremony on Monday July 25 at the Sydney Lyric theatre.

In other news...

International design star visits Perth

The 2016 International Designer of the Year, Spain’s Jaime Hayon, will visit Perth tonight for a one-off talk at the State Theatre Centre.

The talk is part of the three-day Design Circus initiative, which promotes culture and design via free events.

Perth’s Design Circus was founded by design company Mobilia’s managing director, Sam Fazzari, after he attended a similar event during a trip to Madrid.

Mr Fazzari believes the three-day Design Circus event is unique to Perth where design culture is just starting to emerge.

“The Design Circus is about stimulating and exciting the design community and at the same time helping those that are less fortunate than ourselves,” he said.

All proceeds from this year’s event will be donated to Muscular Dystrophy WA, Shalom House and Spare Parts Puppet Theatre.

Mr Fazzari said the event was currently at 95 per cent capacity with 400 attendees confirmed so far.