Human behaviour under the microscope
Get ready for a unique and unrepeatable performance that unifies an audience of strangers in the spirit of play.
Upon entering The Waiting Room you immediately ask: where’s the stage? The entire space is filled with rows of chairs. Sit where you will – from the outset, you are complicit in what happens next. As the performance begins to unfold, you are free to sit and watch or to join in and be seduced into collective play and scrutiny.
Interactions occur, events take place and meaning accrues. These interactions are the engine of The Waiting Room, as the line between audience and performer fades as genuine in-the-moment exchanges shape each moment that follows. The stakes keep getting higher, building to an unexpected and unforgettable climax.
Empowering and unpredictable, each show is idiosyncratic, site-specific and driven by a soundscape created live each night.
What are we waiting for? Lunch? The dentist? A job interview? Judgement day? The end?
The Waiting Room is a brilliant psychological experiment and surreal human study of what we do… when there is nothing else to do.
“The Waiting Room is cutting-edge experimental theatre: a profound exploration of how we choreograph ourselves from chaos. What makes this piece radically beautiful is that it interrogates and embodies the random processes intrinsic to human behaviour. The Waiting Room is a living incarnation of fractal art.” – Cameron Woodhead, The Age
“‘Sheer, playful joy” – Tim Richards, Issimo Magazine
“Don’t expect to sit passively in a darkened theatre when you see The Waiting Room because you will incrementally become part of the performance without really noticing” – Kate Herbert, Herald Sun
“Surprising, eloquent, strange, funny, exhilarating, ridiculous, intimate, awkward, original.” – Sue Giles, Polyglot Theatre
Sessions & Times
Friday, 28 March
7:30pm - 8:30pm
Saturday, 29 March
7:30pm - 8:30pm
Sunday, 30 March
7:30pm - 8:30pm
Extra things to know
Born in a Taxi is an independent, artist-run and award-winning physical theatre company whose artists are internationally recognised as masters of improvisation. Led by artistic directors Carolyn Hanna and Penny Baron, the Melbourne-based organisation creates original, physically driven and participatory works in theatres, site-specific and outdoor contexts that focus on real-time co-creation.
Born in a Taxi are in a perpetual state of research and discovery, uncovering deeper nuances in the relationship between performer, audience and place through the mediums of dance, theatre, live art, visual art, improvisation and sound.
The Waiting Room will take place inside Joondalup Library.
For more information about Joondalup Library, see Plan Your Festival.
Joondalup Library is accessible via stairs, a ramp and a lift from the underground car park.
Food and drink will not be available during the performance but there will be food and drinks available nearby at The Cube to enjoy before or after the show.
The Waiting Room is an interactive performance, with some audience movement required throughout the show.
The show on Sunday 30 March will feature Auslan interpretation.
Program details
28 March 2025 - 30 March 2025
$17 - $19
Ages 15+