the booster protocol - Perth Festival

Reviewed by Kate O'Sullivan

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As part of Perth Festival, the booster protocol transforms a quiet area of the Perth CBD into the launch pad for a time-travelling mission with a social conscience.

The adventure begins at the Boost Travel Agency, tucked in beside the Liberty Theatre. The (temporarily set up) office is convincingly ordinary, albeit slightly dated, full of technology and travel posters, until you notice the brochures advertising tours not just for 2026, but for decades in the future and years long past. A silent 'travel agent' sets the scene and ushers your group through before your adventure begins.

Audience members become “agents” assigned missions across time. Each participant is equipped with a bright yellow bag (which matches the shirts of the attendants and the signage you're on the look out for each activity), a device that functions as a headset of sorts, and a mobile phone delivering instructions. From there, the city becomes your stage. Your route, your encounters and even your reflections will differ from anyone else’s. This is a genuine choose-your-own-adventure, shaped as much by the participant as by the creators.

My own assignments ranged widely: the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, the suffragette movement, disability access, and the use of art as protest. Each stop had a distinct tone and texture, yet all were anchored by an overarching current of hope. The work does not shy away from struggle, but it consistently redirects the focus towards possibility and collective action. It is worth noting that the overall experience is only 80 minutes long, with a timer to that effect, so you are not able to get through all of the possible activities and experiences in the time allowed.

There is something quietly radical about being sent out into the streets to consider human rights while pedestrians look on, bemused. I found myself in unexpected conversations with members of the public curious about our yellow-bagged wandering. The production makes clever use of alternate spaces, reframing familiar corners of Perth as sites of resistance, memory and potential. Even small recurring hand gestures, used as signals between locations, become subtle reminders that action need not be grand to be meaningful, especially in the context of hope.

Practical advice: wear comfortable walking shoes - you will cover ground, both physically and intellectually. This is theatre that asks you to move, to listen, and to think. You are invited to see parts of the city in a different light, through a lens that insists change begins locally. The world, we are reminded, is made up of countless backyards. When individuals act within their own, those efforts can link up and radiate outward.

the booster protocol is the kind of experience you could attend twice and have an entirely different journeys. Definitely one for audiences who enjoy theatre that is active, immersive and genuinely participatory; it is a thoughtful and invigorating addition to the festival program.

Reviewer Note: Tickets for this performance were provided by Perth Festival