Zoology
Dates
Wednesday 25 February - Friday 27 February
8pm - 9.15pm
Standard | $35
Site access information
WA Museum Boola Bardip is fully accessible. Call 1300 134 081 for assistance. Accessible resources and programs >
Some sudden loud sounds.
Potentially disturbing content about extinction and loss.
Extinction reimagined through movement and memory
When artist Talya Rubin was little, she would tell adults she wanted to be “a ballerina and a gorilla” when she grew up. Zoology is a performance lecture and dance work for one woman and two children that attempts to live up to that childhood dream.
Zoology was inspired by slides found in a New York City antique shop of zoo animals in vibrant 1980s Ektachrome colours.
In the work, the animals tell their wordless story of extinction through movement that has absurdity and poignancy at its core.
There is a dream-like lecture at the centre of Zoology. It riffs on zoos, panda diplomacy, The Wizard of Oz, extinction, and Talya’s own childhood.
A world premiere, presented by PICA and set within WA Museum Boola Bardip, Zoology provokes a deep, visceral reconnection with our inner wildness and invites us to sit in the unresolved spaces of the current extinction crisis.
About the artists
Too Close to the Sun is an interdisciplinary performance company run by writer-performer Talya Rubin and director Nick James. Their work unfolds like living poems - blurring the boundaries between lecture, ritual, and dream - and invites audiences into spaces of intensity and reflection. Working from Western Australia, they collaborate with artists across the country and abroad to craft works that are both precise in form and open to mystery.
Their most recent production, At the End of the Land, premiered at PICA in 2023, establishing the company as a distinctive voice in Western Australia. With Zoology, they continue to expand the boundaries of contemporary performance, drawing audiences into immersive worlds where the poetic meets the political, and the personal extends into the mythic.
Their works have been created through: The Banff Centre & The National Arts Centre (Canada), Bundanon (NSW), Terrapin Theatre (Hobart), PICA (Perth), Malthouse Theatre, CultureLAB (Melbourne), Performance Space (Sydney), Adhocracy (Adelaide), Metro Arts (Brisbane) and have toured to Arts House (Melbourne), Brisbane Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse, Performance Space (Sydney), PICA (Perth), Vitalstatistix (Adelaide), Summerworks, Theatre La Chapelle & Uno Festival (Canada).
Reviews
"Among the very best theatre makers in this or any other country. There are few true originals, Too Close to the Sun is one such company." – Damien Cassidy, Former Producer, Brisbane Festival
Credits
Talya Rubin – Writer / Performer / Co-devisor/Visual Concept
Nick James – Director / Co-devisor
Laura Heffernan – Costume & Set Designer
Giorgos Poulios – Sound Designer
Katie Sfetkidis – Lighting Designer
Natalie Allen – Movement Consultant
Emma Valente - Dramaturg
Samuel James – Slide & Projection Design
Tiyan Baker – Video Editor
Erin Coates – Props Maker
Alison Halit – Executive Producer APAM
Jodi Donovan – Associate Producer
Will Gammel – Production Manager
Jasmyn Day - Stage Manager
This project was supported through a residency at Theatre and Performance Studies, The University of Sydney. Proudly supported by the WA government.
