SWIM

Sizzling hot concrete. Rainbow towels on half-dead grass. On a hot summer’s day, bodies of all shapes, colours and sizes journey to the public pool longing to do one thing… swim. 

Genderfluid protagonist E negotiates the space between the men’s and women’s change rooms. They flex in front of the cute pool attendant. As they step onto the diving blocks, the words of their Aunty come to them – and suddenly, the crystalline blue tiles give way to much deeper water.  

Mununjali poet Ellen van Neerven is one of Australia’s finest and most awarded writers (Throat, Heat and Light). swim, which premiered at Griffin Theatre Company, is their debut work for the stage. Now, ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, YIRRAMBOI and Malthouse Theatre bring the magical realism of this poetic play to the Kulin Nations, with direction from ILBIJERRI Artistic Director Andrea James.   

Starring award-winning storyteller Cynda Beare (Poems of a Transsexual Nature) and Tahlee Fereday (Black Light, Because the Night), swim is delicate and tough, honest and achingly beautiful – musing on everything from the sovereignty of water to gender identity and the binding strength of culture and family. 

2027 TOUR

swim was first produced by Griffin Theatre Company, 2024 at Carriageworks. 

swim has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body and supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and by the NSW Government through Create NSW. This project was first developed by Moogahlin Performing Arts through the Yellamundie Festival 2019. Script development continued in 2020 by Moogahlin Performing Arts, with the support of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Sydney. Creative developments have received generous support from Malcolm Robertson Foundation, Robert Dick and Erin Shiel and Home of the Arts (HOTA). swim has been developed with support from BlakDance and continued support from Queensland Performing Arts Centre.