20 January – 14 February

This show belongs to the FRINGE WORLD Festival 2026 season. This season is now over.

A person in a suit wearing a rat mask stands beside a person in a pink dress, who rests a hand on their chest. Both face the camera against a bright pink and yellow backdrop.
FRINGE WORLD Festival 2026

Hard Cheese: Rat in the City: One Last Bite

The rat, the myth, the legend. Harland "Hard Cheese" Cheese is back for his most maddening case yet. Clawed back into the underworld of hard-rind police work by his old friend-turned-enemy, he's led on a wild goose-game of cat and rat chasey. Like a clown stuck in the mirror maze at a dodgy, third-rate carnival, he's led into the deepest recesses of his mind... where, like some cruel Ancient Greek myth, he must gaze into a dirty back-alley puddle and face his greatest foe: himself... but, like a cool breeze carrying the siren's call of a perfumed woman on a hot summer's night, he gets an old, familiar scent stuck in his snout. Call it fate. Call it destiny. Call it Real-Life Actress Alison Brie, because it is. You know what they say: every rat has its trap, and she was his.

Presented by: The Blue Room Theatre & Dream Simulator

Dream Simulator was born to create rich, design-focused theatre that balances the visual, sonic and textual. We believe that independent theatre doesn't have to be restricted to the black box and we welcome inter-disciplinary collaboration that engages different artforms and artists to make theatre with us. We don't shy away from the bizarre and our stories are lurid, surreal and absurd - but more than anything, they're entertaining. To this end, our aim is to engage a wide and diverse audience. You'll find masks, puppets, cartoon logic and strange worlds to explore. We'll leave you wanting more, and dreaming of new possibilities.
Theatre & Performance • Comedy
Western Australia • World Premiere
 
Previous Award Winner
Reviews
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Suitability & warnings

Content rating: M
Family friendly: No
Smoking
Depicts Violence
Drug Use
Coarse Language: Occasional
Suicide/Self Harm
Strobe Lighting

Presenter

Presented by: The Blue Room Theatre & Dream Simulator

Dream Simulator was born to create rich, design-focused theatre that balances the visual, sonic and textual. We believe that independent theatre doesn't have to be restricted to the black box and we welcome inter-disciplinary collaboration that engages different artforms and artists to make theatre with us. We don't shy away from the bizarre and our stories are lurid, surreal and absurd - but more than anything, they're entertaining. To this end, our aim is to engage a wide and diverse audience. You'll find masks, puppets, cartoon logic and strange worlds to explore. We'll leave you wanting more, and dreaming of new possibilities.