Our Mission
Whale Chorus
Based in Newcastle, Australia, Whale Chorus is a leading professional theatre company in the Hunter region. Our mission is to reinvigorate theatre’s true function as a ritual of reconnection. We tell heart-centred stories, from Shakespeare to boundary pushing original plays, and experiment with new ways of engaging audiences through immersive, immediate and enlivening theatre. Our works take place in public parks, community halls and inside traditional theatres in non-traditional ways. Alongside our public performances, we are committed to nurturing the next generation of storytellers and theatre makers through our artist development, training and education programs.
Whale Chorus was founded in 2007 by Artistic Director Janie Gibson. Since 2020 the company has been based in Newcastle, Australia. We make art for and with the community we live in. Our projects centre local voices whilst participating in a global conversation through international collaborations and partnerships with leading theatre practitioners.
Our name draws inspiration from the migrating companies of whales which travel seasonally along the east coast of Australia. Our theatre work is centred on the ensemble, the chorus. We believe that theatre can be personally and collectively transformative and that when we work together we can create something that is more than the sum of its parts.
By Janie Gibson
Ode To Theatre
What other art form can do this?
To rebel against the tyranny of rational thinking
And embrace the disruptive healing potential of art
Creativity and associative thinking
As we gather together to hear a story
To navigate the terrain of the soul
Through the gateway of all the senses.
For what are we but the stories we live in?
They shape our world, identity, belief
And chart the way to action
They map out where we’ve come from
Where we are headed
And the great questions swirling around this present moment
Stories then can show us the way through
Light a path
To illuminate what may be hidden
Speak about what is unspoken
Amplify our shared mythologies
As we contemplate what binds us
Because we’re going to need each other
We already do.
Theatre then will hold a mirror up to nature
And provoke the questions in our hearts
How must I act? What must we do?
