Stage set for a star

THEATRE lovers will get the chance to sit just metres from Grey’s Anatomy star Kate Walsh, with the actor to play the lead role in the maiden production of the newly-formed Fremantle Theatre Company next month.

The star of Netflix hit The Umbrella Academy will play Juliana, a neurologist, in the Perth premiere of Sharr White’s Tony-nominated Broadway play The Other Place. And no one is more surprised by this turn of events than Walsh, pictured right, herself.

“If someone had said a year ago, ‘I reckon you’re going to be in WA, doing a play in Fremantle’, I would have been like ‘What’ — I didn’t know Fremantle, I didn’t really know WA, let’s be honest,” Walsh laughed.

When a brief visit to Perth at the start of the year turned into an extended stay due to COVID, the New Yorkbased Walsh looked for things to do.

Initially, this saw her coopted by local filmmakers to lobby for much-needed studio facilities, which led to the State Government formally seeking proposals last month. Then a chance meeting with local actor Lucy Kate Westbrook resulted in an introduction to FTC director Renato Fabretti, who was looking for a play to put into Fremantle’s historic Victoria Hall.

Having done a readthrough of The Other Place on Zoom earlier this year for charity, Walsh convinced Fabretti it would be the ideal way to launch WA’s newest theatre company.

“I moved back to New York to do more theatre and then all of that shut down, so I’m just happy to be here doing it,” she said.

The Other Place runs from October 17 to November 8. Tickets are available through Ticketek.