Read all about Le Nor [the rain] before you see the show - or after if you prefer!
The Last Great Hunt Lé Nør [the rain]
Image: David Collins
A Perth Festival commission
Contents
Perth Festival acknowledges the Noongar people who continue to practise values, language, beliefs and knowledge on kwobidak boodjar. Noongar people remain the spiritual and cultural birdiyangara of this place and we honour and respect the caretakers and custodians and the vital role Noongar people play for our community and our Festival to flourish. We also acknowledge all First Nations people, whose contributions make our Festival culturally and artistically richer. Our hearts are happy that you are here, on the traditional lands of Whadjuk, part of the Bibbulmun nation and its people.
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Welcome
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Show Details
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A Note from the Creators
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Credits
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Biographies About The Last Great Hunt Creative Team
16 Acknowledgements
Perth Festival Noongar Cultural Authority Council Roma Yibiyung Winmar, Vivienne Binyarn Hansen, Richard Walley, Barry McGuire & Mitchella Waljin Hutchins
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Welcome
The Last Great Hunt Lé Nør [the rain]
Supporting the work of Western Australian artists is a core commitment of Perth Festival and a genuine joy for me. The Last Great Hunt are a company whose work I believe can stand confidently on any stage, anywhere in the world. We first commissioned Lé Nør [the rain] in 2019, when Wendy Martin was Artistic Director. It had a wildly successful but bitterly short season. There are some works that deserve to be brought back. To be seen by more. By many. This is one of those works. Built by a stellar cast and crew of WA artists, the show pairs an inventive plot with complex, at times outrageous characters, brought to life through genius design and theatrical trickery. It makes you laugh out loud, then gives your heart a run around the block – all while quietly asking you to consider our place on this planet.
WA 25 – 28 Feb Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA
Yandilup / Perth Duration 90mins Wed – Fri 7.30pm Sat 2 & 7.30pm
Join us after the show on Fri 27 Feb for a Q&A session. Hear directly from the artists and creators of the work. Performed with English subtitles
This is ambitious, brilliant and original theatre made here. It deserves a long life.
Anna Reece Artistic Director
↗ Tactile tour and audio described performance Sat 28 Feb
Latecomers only admitted at a suitable break in the performance. After the third scene, this event is a complete lock out.
Contains strobe lighting, coarse language, mild sexual references and references to suicide or self-harm.
Suitable for ages 15+
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A Note from the Creators
Tucked somewhere between myth and dust sits Sólset; a windswept North Atlantic-esque island you won’t find on any map, unless it’s drawn by dreamers or theatre makers. Sólset can’t be reached by boat or plane. Instead, you arrive by leaning in, suspending disbelief and saying yes to the unknown. Once you’ve visited, a little piece of the island tends to travel with you. The creation of Lé Nør [the rain] began not with story, but with a question of form: what happens if we make a theatrical film and perform it live, every night? From there, the process became one of playful development; discovering film techniques we could theatricalise and theatre techniques we could cinematise. Visually, the work leans into a stylised ’80s, new romantics aesthetic; bold, nostalgic and a little excessive. We wanted to create something that is super fun, full of joy and big emotions, but framed within a world that is falling apart. As the form took shape, so too did the story, characters and world of Lé Nør [the rain] .
What emerged was a faux foreign film set on the fictional island of Sólset, narrated and performed in an invented language and subtitled in English. Each night the film is made live using cameras, a miniature model, floating set pieces, physical contortions, an ensemble of wildly talented actors and a healthy dose of theatrical trickery. Audiences are invited to see both the cinematic illusion and the mechanics that create it. Nothing is hidden. The magic is made in plain sight. It is very important for the audience to have access to HOW we are creating each moment for the screen. To relish in the delicious contrast between the ‘real’ and the ‘fiction’. It’s in this contrast that the show really exists. How you can see and know that what you are watching is fake – a construct, yet at the same time become so swept up in the fiction that it becomes real in a way. That you could find yourself laughing and crying at the same time, seeing a deep truth amongst the make-believe.
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We decided early on to invent not just a language, but an entire culture, something that felt vaguely familiar yet impossible to place. Think Icelandic-meets-Norwegian- meets-French-ish. A melting pot tongue for a people shaped by weather, love and survival. In creating Sólset, we weren’t trying to replicate a real place, but rather build a living relic of a culture facing hardships in a rapidly changing world. The story takes place during a time of great environmental upheaval and Sólset’s future hangs in the balance. Within this we follow an ensemble of characters navigating who they are, how they love and how to keep going when everything familiar is slipping away. Love in Sólset exists in many forms – tender, messy, fleeting, enduring, requited, unrequited. It ranges from friendships to long term partnerships to new love to heartbreak. These intimate stories may seem small against cataclysmic forces, but they are exactly what make survival worthwhile. After premiering at Perth Festival in 2019, Lé Nør [the rain] found early momentum before the world, like Sólset itself, was interrupted. Returning to the show now feels both necessary and hopeful. The questions it asks – about love, resilience, community and how we care for one another in uncertain times – feel even more resonant. This season is an opportunity to let the show live again, to share it with new audiences and to offer a reminder that joy, tenderness and beauty still matter. An image that came to us often while working on this show was of those musicians on the Titanic. Amid the chaos and destruction of the world around them, they chose to play beautiful music as they sank into the icy depths. At its heart, Lé Nør [the rain] is our love letter to humanity. A celebration of everything worth fighting for. This show is all about love, so it feels only appropriate that we have all fallen in love with this show. We hope you do too.
Adriane Daff, Arielle Gray, Chris Isaacs & Tim Watts
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Credits
About The Last Great Hunt We are creators, innovators and, above all else, explorers. Joined by acting director of operations, Jacintha de Nobrega, and producer, Georgia Landré-Ord, we are the Hunters. We aim to be recognised as a sustainable, Boorloo/Perth- based global theatrical force, regularly creating acclaimed, entertaining, original work. We believe that theatre should be accessible to all – free from barriers to participation and engagement – so our work is designed to reach diverse audiences. From large-scale productions to intimate, non-verbal pieces that transcend language and nimble touring works that bring theatre to new and unexpected places, we are committed to creating work that is inclusive, immersive and open to everyone, regardless of background or experience. Chris Isaacs and Kathryn Osbourne are founding artists of The Last Great Hunt.
Creators Adriane Daff, Arielle Gray, Chris Isaacs, Tim Watts Directors Adriane Daff, Matt Edgerton, Tim Watts Devised with Gita Bezard, Jeffrey Jay Fowler, Jo Morris, Matt Edgerton, Clare Testoni Performers Adriane Daff, Arielle Gray, Tim Watts, Gita Bezard, Jeffrey Jay Fowler, Jo Morris, Matt Edgerton Camera Operator Courtney Henri Production Manager Roger Miller Subtitle Operator David Vikman Gadgets Tony Watts Sound Designer Ben Collins Costume Designer Caitri Jones Set Designer The Ensemble & Tony Watts Design Assistant Eilish Campbell Images David Collins & Daniel Grant
The Last Great Hunt Company Director of Operations Jacintha De Nobrega Producer Georgia Landre-Ord Core Artists Gita Bezard, Adriane Daff, Jeffrey Jay Fowler, Arielle Gray, Tim Watts Originally co-commissioned by The Last Great Hunt, Perth Festival, Perth Institute Contemporary Art (PICA) and Mandurah Performing Arts Centre Supported by Government of Western Australia Department of Cultural Industries, Tourism and Sports and Creative Australia
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Creative Team
Gita Bezard Core Artist The Last Great Hunt Gita is a playwright, devisor, director and performer. She’s a founding member of The Last Great Hunt and mother to a tiny artist in the making. Her credits for The Last Great Hunt as a writer/director include Telephone , Perpetual Wake , And All That Glitters and as a co-devisor and performer Whistleblower (Perth Festival, 2021), Stay With Us and Minnie and Mona Play Dead (FRINGE WORLD 2013 Martin Sims Award for Best New WA Work; Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Brisbane International Festival). In 2016 her play Girl Shut Your Mouth debuted at Black Swan State Theatre Company and was nominated for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. Her playwriting commissions include Walk of the Whales (Barking Gecko Arts), Bloody Paris (Black Swan State Theatre Company) and The Paper Escaper (Terrapin Puppet Theatre). Adriane Daff Core Artist The Last Great Hunt Adriane is a theatre maker and actor based in Perth (Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar). She is a core artist with The Last Great Hunt, where she also plays a key leadership role as director of marketing and communications. Adriane aims for her creative practice to sit at the intersection of performance and design – where playfulness, improvisation and collaboration are used to explore the weird and the wonderful. She has studied in her hometown of Perth (WAAPA), New York City (Ward Acting Studio) and Paris (Ecole Philippe Gaulier). Some notable credits include Lé Nør (nominated for two 2019 Helpmann awards including best new Australian work) and The Irresistible (nominated for a 2018 Helpmann Award, best new play), which had seasons at Dark Mofo (2019) and Sydney Opera House (2019). Adriane’s first commission, an adaptation of The Cherry Orchard (2021, co-written by Katherine Tonkin) was staged by Black Swan State Theatre Company and premiered at Perth Festival.
Arielle Gray Core Artist The Last Great Hunt Arielle is a performer, theatre maker, director, puppeteer and founding artist of The Last Great Hunt. Her work is driven by love of inventive form, handmade worlds, theatrical magic and big emotions, often blending live camera, puppetry, projection and performance. Arielle’s creations have toured throughout Australia and the world. As an adaptor and performer, Arielle has toured nationally with Cicada (Barking Gecko), including at Sydney Theatre Company. As a performer, her credits include Cloudstreet (Malthouse Theatre/Black Swan State Theatre Company/ Perth Festival) and Picnic At Hanging Rock (Malthouse Theatre/Black Swan State Theatre Company), including to the Barbican Centre, London. With The Last Great Hunt, Arielle is a prolific co-creator, performer and co-director. As co-creator, co-director and performer she premiered Night Night at Perth Festival in 2025. As co-creator and director, shows include Whistleblower (winner, Outstanding Direction of a Mainstage Show, Performing Arts WA Awards) and Stay With Us . As co-creator and performer, her credits include Lé Nør [the rain] , New Owner and It’s Dark Outside , all shows that have earned multiple Helpmann nominations and various awards. Jeffrey Jay Fowler Core Artist The Last Great Hunt JJ is a playwright, dramaturg, director and actor. He wrote and acted in The Hypotheticals (winner NT Literature Award for Theatre), A History of Drinking and ELEPHENTS (winner Performing Arts WA Best New Play). He has performed in and co-created FAG/STAG (winner Scotsman Fringe First 2017), BALI, The Advisors and All That Glitters and co-devised Lé Nør [the rain] with The Last Great Hunt, of which he is a founding artist. His other plays include Dick Pics in the Garden of Eden , Minnie and Mona Play Dead (winner Martin Sims Award), The One (winner Blaz Award for Best New Writing) and Hope is the saddest (winner FRINGE WORLD Best Theatre). Among the shows he has directed are The Eisteddfod (winner Performing Arts WA Best Director and Best Mainstage Play), Girl Shut Your Mouth , Blithe Spirit and In The Next Room, or The Vibrator Play for Black Swan State Theatre Company. JJ was Associate Director of Black Swan from 2014 to 2017, and then Director of New Writing for 2018 and 19. His postgraduate studies were in directing at NIDA in 2010.
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Tim Watts Core Artist The Last Great Hunt Tim is a performer, deviser, director, puppeteer, improvisor and animator from Perth, Western Australia. He is a founding member of The Last Great Hunt and a Sidney Myer Fellowship recipient. He has a passion for creating and performing original, imaginatively engaging theatrical experiences born from improvisation and experimentation. He has co-created and performed in a plethora of shows, some of which won awards and toured all over the world. These include: The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer (2009), It’s Dark Outside (2012), BRUCE (2014), Monroe and Associates (2015), New Owner (2016), The Irresistible (2017), Stay With Us (2018), Lé Nør [the rain] (2019), Whistleblower (2021), Cicada (2022) and Night Night (2025). Jo Morris Performer Jo is a NIDA graduate and Boorloo/Perth-based independent performer and theatre maker, working across multiple mediums in theatre, film, TV and voice over. Most recently, she appeared in the world premiere of Barracking for the Umpire and York for Black Swan Theatre Company, and Dick Pics in the Garden of Eden and Whistleblower for The Last Great Hunt. She has also worked and collaborated with companies such as Barking Gecko, Performing Lines, Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company and Griffin Independent. She has won multiple awards including the 2014 Blue Room Awards for Best Production and Member’s Choice, the 2016 PAWA Award for Best Independent Production for Those who fall in love like anchors dropped upon the ocean floor (which she performed in and produced), the 2015 PAWA Award for Best Actress for A Streetcar Named Desire , and she was the recipient of the FRINGE WORLD 2017 ECU Performing Arts Award for her work as a performer in Alone Outside .
Matt Edgerton Performer Matt is an award-winning Australian theatre director, writer, dramaturg and actor. He has directed for Melbourne Theatre Company, Black Swan State Theatre Company, Barking Gecko, Bell Shakespeare, Belvoir St Theatre, Monkey Baa, Performing Lines, Poetry In Action, Shaman Productions, Sport For Jove, The Last Great Hunt and WAAPA. His work tours widely to major festivals around Australia and overseas, winning PAWA, AWGIE, Glug and Helpmann awards. As an actor Matt has a 25-year career performing classical and contemporary work around the country on stage, screen and radio. He has written plays for Poetry In Action and Bell Shakespeare, seen by over a million young people. Matt trained at WAAPA in Perth, with SITI company in New York and is a Winston Churchill Fellow. He has held positions as the Artistic Director at Barking Gecko, Resident Artist at Bell Shakespeare, Head of New Work at Melbourne Theatre Company, Senior Lecturer at WAAPA, founding Associate Member of Moogahlin Performing Arts and Core Company Member at Sport For Jove. Courtney Henri Camera Operator Courtney graduated with a Bachelor of Performing Arts degree in 2018 and a Diploma of Screen Acting in early 2021 from WAAPA. Upon graduating, she debuted as Lucy in Playthings by Scott McArdle, which later had a remount season with Black Swan State Theatre Compnay in 2021. Throughout the past eight years, she has had the opportunity to collaborate with a multitude of theatre makers and companies, many of which have been nominated or successful recipients of awards. Her most recent credits include leading CDPkid’s national tour of Ratburger and Legs On The Wall’s tour of Beetle .
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Roger Miller Technical Manager After attending the Victorian College of Arts in 1981, Roger worked as a stage manager for the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney for two years. He worked at the Sydney Opera House until 1994, with companies like the Australian Opera, Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Dance Company and Sydney Symphony Orchestra, between touring productions around Australia. Roger moved to Perth in 1994. He has worked as a lighting operator and designer, sound operator and designer and stage manager at many venues. Roger was venue and operations manager at The Blue Room Theatre from 2006 to 2020, where he got to work with many of Perth’s theatre makers, including the artists who would go on to become The Last Great Hunt. He was the production manager at The Last Great Hunt from 2021 to 2023. Recently he has been freelancing for various companies, including Perth Festival, Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, WAYTCo and Sensorium Theatre. David Vikman Stage Manager David is a performer and artist with a foundation in classical dance, trained at the National Swedish Ballet School and Lund Performing Arts School. He later expanded his practice at WAAPA, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Performance Making in 2019. He returns to the world of Le Nør for the second time, having initially contributed as dialect coach and now applying this expertise as subtitle operator. Previous credits include The Last Great Hunt’s Dick Pics in the Garden of Eden , Spare Parts Puppet Theatre’s Rules of Summer and the improvisation ensemble The Big HOO-HAA.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to our Partners
Thanks to our Donors
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Principal Partner
We thank our community of donors for helping us achieve our bold artistic vision and for making an impact on the cultural narrative of our State.
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Major Partners
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Chair’s Circle $20,000+ John & Linda Bond* Margrete Chaney & Michael Chaney AO Jock & Kathryn Clough Marco D’Orsogna & Terry Scott* Paul & Didi Downie Adrian & Michela Fini
Greg Lewis & Sue Robertson* Ben Lisle James Litis The Mack Family The McClements Foundation Paula Rogers & Phil Thick Tim & Chris Ungar*
Festival Partners
To review Perth Festival’s complete donor acknowledgement please visit our website . Find out more about how you too can join our community of donors and support Perth Festival.
Alex Hotel | Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions | Heritage Council of WA Paramount Security Services | RTRFM 92.1 | The Backlot Perth | The Embassy of France in Australia
With thanks to State Theatre Centre of WA staff, management and board
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