June Season Program 2023

JUNE

PRODUCTION SEASON 2023

NIDA acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the sacred lands, from the mountains to the sea, on which we learn and tell stories.

The lands of the Bidjigal, Gadigal, Dharawal and Dharug peoples. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past and present.

We also recognise the work and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, workers and creatives within the NIDA Community that spans this continent.

Sovereignty was never ceded.

Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

WELCOME

Welcome to NIDA for the 2023 June Production Season.

We are excited for you to experience some of the magic of NIDA and the extraordinary depth and breadth of skills from Australia’s next cohort of sought-after creative storytellers.

There is a strong richness and diversity of these creative productions which are a key collaboration opportunity for students across many disciplines with both each other and highly respected and successful industry leaders.

The four productions showcase the creative courage, ingenuity and the storytelling superpowers of NIDA students across acting, design, costume, technical theatre and stage management and props and objects. These students are the future imagineers of our screens, stages and the new realms of entertainment.

NIDA’s commitment to environment sustainability is also a continued focus this production season. The NIDA Green Sustainability Manager is working with the production teams and will aim to ensure that at least 50 per cent of production materials are sustainable: recycled, upcycled or made from sustainable materials.

As always, the staff at NIDA have worked tirelessly with the students to bring these productions to life which I am extremely grateful for. I would also like to thank our wonderful industry friends and collaborators whose input and experience provide enormous value to all of the NIDA students involved.

We wouldn’t be able to present this season of performances without the generous support from the Australian Government, as well as our corporate partners, trusts, foundations, supporters and donors. On behalf our NIDA Board, the NIDA Foundation Trust Board, staff and students – thank you.

Liz Hughes — NIDA CEO

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PRESENTED BY NIDA

BFA Design for Performance

BFA Costume

BFA Properties and Objects

BFA Scenic Construction and Technologies (SC&T)

BFA Technical Theatre and Stage Management (TTSM)

Diploma of Musical Theatre

Final year BFA Acting students

MFA Directing

Understudies

Diploma of Stage and Screen Performance

NIDA employs a wide range of industry professionals on both a part-time and casual basis who teach and mentor students across all the courses.

NIDA would like to acknowledge and thank all the mentors and members of staff who have shared their expertise with the 2023 students.

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PRACTICE, PROFESSION & PREMIERES

These four productions are created at a lively nexus. It’s where NIDA students, studying many disciplines, meet leading professional artists to create under industry conditions. It’s where deep training meets concentrated practice. It’s where idea meets reality.

Remarkably, three of the four productions are premieres.

Kindness is a world premiere, the first outing for Matthew Whittet’s big hearted, finely observed story of five young people negotiating grief and friendship. Matt is a NIDA Acting graduate and has shaped a terrific career as actor and writer across stage and screen. He’s lately been writing for Netflix’s Heartbreak High. It’s been a joy to have Matt back at NIDA, teaming up with director Jessica Arthur, fresh from her four-year stint as Resident Director at Sydney Theatre Company.

Scenes with Girls is the Australian premiere of UK writer Miriam Battye’s incisive look at millennial female friendship. Like Kindness, it reveals the challenges of negotiating friendship in a complex world, in this instance a world acutely aware of the politics of gender. Battye was Story Editor on Season 4 of HBO’s TV series Succession, and her 2020 play reflects the sharpness of that great TV writing. Imara Savage returns to NIDA to direct a production of elan and eloquence.

The Writer is the Australian premiere of a play that brutally lays bare the necessary reckonings that have shaken the theatre profession, and not just that profession. Patriarchy is put on trial. Ella Hickson’s play is an almost cubist construction, and director Zoë Hollyoak and her team have negotiated the terrain with courage and clarity.

And then Sweeney Todd! If The Writer puts patriarchy on trial, then this meaty masterpiece puts capitalism on trial – the demon barber’s chair is the literal instrument of social revolution. But this insanely brilliant work is always more than any one thing, and in the hands of Constantine Costi, a director in tune with the thrill of the epic, joined by music director Andrew Worboys and choreographer Shannon Burns, we are gifted a production that stretches the students in ways that will surely prime them for the profession.

It’s worth noting that all four of the directors in this season are graduates of NIDA’s directing course. That was not by design, but does demonstrate the deep impact of NIDA’s education and training on the development of Australian storytelling.

It’s a complete inspiration to witness these students step up to the challenges of these works. I hope you feel that buzz too. I also hope that you will return to see their work in October, when a new suite of productions will take us to the intersection of film and theatre, vaudevillian geopolitics, renovated opera, and to the vision of one of the world’s great directors.

David Berthold — NIDA Artistic Director in Residence

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SWEENEY TODD

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

A Musical Thriller

Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM

Book by HUGH WHEELER

Directed by Constantine Costi

Music Direction by Andrew Worboys

Choreography by Shannon Burns

Venue Playhouse

When 9th–10th, 13–17th, June 7.00pm 10th, 14th, June 1.00pm Open Day 17th, June 12.00pm

A Musical Thriller

“Alright! You sir, you sir, how about a shave?”

Here is one of the American musical theatre’s greatest achievements, produced in theatres and opera houses around the world – a theatrically bold work full of soaring beauty, pitch-black comedy and stunning terror.

Sweeney Todd, a victim of a gross injustice that robbed him of his wife and child, takes revenge by slitting the throats of the customers who visit his barbershop. As the piled-up bodies start causing suspicion, he hits upon a novel idea – he passes his ‘patrons’ to Mrs. Lovett’s struggling pie shop... meat pie, anyone?

Part melodrama, part Grand Guignol blood-fest, this work also tells a very human tale of revenge and lust, of yearning and love.

Constantine Costi is Co-Artistic Director of Red Line Productions and has directed for Pinchgut Opera and Victorian Opera. He recently directed Handa Opera’s La Traviata on Sydney Harbour for Opera Australia. In 2021, The Australian named him one of the country’s ‘21 hottest creative artists’. He is a graduate of NIDA Master of Fine Arts (Directing).

Andrew Worboys was recently music director of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along at the Hayes, and the new Australian musical The Lovers at Bell Shakespeare. He has also been music director of Little Shop of Horrors, Assassins, Rent, American Psycho, The Dismissal, A Chorus Line and many others.

Shannon Burns was most recently the movement director for Victorian Opera’s 2023 production of Melbourne, Cheremiski. She choregraphed Carmen on Cockatoo Island, Handa Opera’s La Traviata on Sydney Harbour, Opera For the People in and the New Years Eve Gala.

From an Adaptation by CHRISTOPHER BOND

Originally Directed by HAROLD PRINCE

Originally produced on Broadway by Richard Barr, Charles Woodward, Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards In Association with Dean and Judy Manos

Licensed exclusively by Music Theatre Interational (Australasia). All performance materials supplied by Hal Leonard Australia.

Content warning:

Sweeney Todd contains scenes including death, murder, physical violence, blood, depiction of cannibalism, drug use, e-cigarettes, sexual content, haze, loud music, and flickering (but not strobing) lighting effects.

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CAST (in order of appearance)

Anthony Hope Ariyan Sharma

Sweeney Todd Gabriel Sheehan

Beggar Woman Evie Korver

Mrs. Lovett Juliette Coleman

Judge Turpin Jackson Hurwood

The Beadle Toby Carey

Johanna Tessa Olsson

Tobias Ragg Owen Hasluck

Pirelli/ Jonas Fogg Harold Phipps

12 Ensemble

Elliot Aitken

Ginger Freudenstein

Lana Kuti

Shakinah Kyalo

Gabi Lanham

Sione Latu

Oliver Miskovich

Lauren Mitchell

Danijela Novakovic

Paloma Renouf

Montana Vincent Hamish Wells

Understudies Charlotte Lucas*

Brodie Masini*

BAND

Director Constantine Costi*

Musical Director Andrew Worboys*

Choreographer Shannon Burns*

Set/Props Designer Cosette Mangas

Costume Designer James Stibilj

Lighting Designer Daniel Story

Sound Designer Cameron Russell

Sound System Designer Amy Norton

Voice Coach Simon Masterton**

Assistant Directors Kurtis Laing

Rosa Campagnaro

Production Stage Manager Chris Milburn

Deputy Stage Manager Naomi O’Connor

Assistant Stage Managers Chaii Ki Chapman

Taylah Crouch

Construction Manager Maxime Armand

Costume Supervisors Delan Woods

Natalie De Palo

Properties Supervisor Gaia Stein

Head Electrician Topaz Marlay-Cole

Costume Makers Jaspa Frankish

Sam Hernandez

Kit Moore, Imahn Pholi

Danielle Schache

Properties Makers Ari Gilbert

Tanne Patterson

Musical Director Andrew Worboys*

Keyboard 1/

Woodwind Andrew Robinson*

Guitars/Mandolin Nick Drescher*

Drums Cypress Barlett*

Bass Konrad Ball*

Trumpet Arkie Moore*

Keyboard 2/Associate

Musical Director Dylan Pollard*

Sets Assistant Michael Fisher

Set/Props Asst. Designer Ella Wilkinson

Costume Asst. Designer Bronte Hunt

Costume Assistants Raphaela Kuhn

Siann Lau, Jessica Marshall

Properties Assistants Oliver Gregg

Connor Newman

Lauren Ward

Floor Electrician Emma Clulow

Microphone Technician Finlay Hogan

Microphone Technician Guinevere Fisher

Technical Assistants Thomas Howieson

Amelie McCarthy

Matt Phillips

Tung Son Tran Tat Thang

THE COMPANY * Guest ** Staff

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DIRECTOR’S NOTE MUSICAL DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Constantine Costi — Director’s Note

Sondheim gives very few conceptual directives to those embarking on a production of Sweeney Todd. In interviews, almost like a mantra, he repeatedly insists that a good Sweeney Todd needs to aspire no further than to terrify and make the audience laughand he’s not wrong. The story of Todd, rooted in the penny dreadfuls of 19th century England, has both amused and frightened audiences for hundreds of years. However, Sondheim’s rendition of the tale is too intricate and too psychologically complex to be merely experienced as a Victorian parlour game. Perhaps Sondheim didn’t want us to delve too deeply – don’t ask how the pies are made ... But Sondheim, famously a fan of cryptic games and puzzles, has left us clues to unravel.

Complicated artists are recurrent in his work. There is a direct connection between characters like George Seurat, Franklin Shepard, or even his John Wilkes Booth (“some say you killed your country because of bad reviews”). By many accounts, Sondheim himself, ambitious, methodical, and unrelenting in his exploration of the details of his work, may share more similarities with Mr. Todd than he would like us to see. It’s not surprising that one of the first things we learn about Todd is that he is “a proper artist with a knife,” and, like a composer, “Sweeney heard music that nobody heard.”

And let’s not forget the emotional core of this piece— it is fundamentally a series of loves gone wrong. Mrs. Lovett embodies the depths one can descend to in the throes of unrequited love. Judge Turpin deludedly sees himself as the noble protector of his ward, Johanna, claiming, “I loved you like a daughter.”

Of course, there’s an unseemly gossipy danger of scrounging around an artist’s love life – but it’s not hard to gather that Sondheim’s romantic history was unconventional. He lived in something resembling romantic seclusion, coming out of the closet in his

40s, and he didn’t live with a partner until he was 61. In Todd, the composer exhibits a deep cynicism towards romance. Even characters like Anthony and Joanna, often portrayed as innocents amidst a world of corruption and vice (a theatrical experience akin to drinking a glass of watered-down milk), require closer examination. What kind of life did a sailor like Anthony lead? He is hardly the product of a finishing school. What is the psychological state of the kept delicate bird, Joanna, under the perverse care of a magistrate? Even in their dialogue, it is Anthony’s wild and reckless obsession with Joanna that culminates in his vow to “steal” her. Is any escape worth it for Joanna? She doesn’t even know his name after multiple encounters. It’s hard to believe that Sondheim intended to portray naïve innamorati.

The music, the perpetual scene partner, accompanies, challenges, and betrays our downtrodden Londoners. It is as moving and intricate as any opera by Stravinsky or Britten and should be regarded as such. So, I am thrilled that NIDA have taken this on, and that the students involved have thrown themselves into it with the flair and daring required to bring a work of this scope to life.

Andrew Worboys — Musical Director’s Note

Our version of Sweeney Todd is set in the 1980s so we had to adjust the musical arrangements to reflect this.

We have added drums, electric guitar/accoustic guitar and mandolin and an electric bass. We have also added a 2nd keyboard part with orchestral sounds and a dx7 for the quintessential 80s sound.

These students have worked extremely hard on this very difficult score. We hope you enjoy this very unique version of Sondheim’s classic musical.

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REHEARSAL 10

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KINDNESS

By Matthew Whittet Directed by Jessica Arthur Venue Reg Grundy

When

8th–10th, 13–16th, June 7.30pm

10th, 15th, June 1.00pm

Open Day 17th, June 2.00pm

World Premiere

“I feel like I’ve got a hole in my chest... it’s getting bigger.”

Lukas isn’t in a good place. He hasn’t been for some time.

His friends Claude, Song and Dylan can’t sit by and watch anymore. Tenderly and patiently, they start to tell each other stories. Of the moments they all met. Of the times they were complete idiots. They tell these stories because they know their friend Lukas also needs to tell his. His life depends on it.

This group of 20-year-olds are there for each other in the only way they know how – with ridiculous stupidity, blunt honesty, and unconditional joy.

The simplest acts of kindness are sometimes the most important.

Content Warning:

Kindness contains themes of suicide, self-harm, substance abuse and addiction. This production includes the use of haze/fog, strobe lighting and strong language.

Matthew Whittet is an actor and writer who has worked extensively in theatre, film and television for 20 years. His plays include Silver, Fugitive, Harbinger, Old Man, Girl Asleep, School Dance, Big Bad Wolf, and Seventeen. His feature film adaptation of Girl Asleep won many awards and he has also written for Heartbreak High

Jessica Arthur was Resident Director of Sydney Theatre Company from 2019-2022. She has created work for STC, Belvoir, Griffin, Melbourne Theatre Company, Red Line Productions and Schauspiel Frankfurt. She is a graduate of NIDA Master of Fine Arts (Directing).

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THE COMPANY

CAST (in order of appearance)

Lukas JK Kazzi

Claude Lillianne Lord

Song Madeline Li

Dylan Lập Nguyễn

Oliver Jack Patten

Understudies Caitlin Green

Finn Gough

Director Jessica Arthur*

Set/Props Designer Madaleine Cooper

Costume Designer Taylah Miller

Lighting Designer India Lively

Sound Designer Jordan Magnus-McCarthy

Voice Coach Jack Starkey-Gill*

Assistant Director Mehhma Malhi

Production Stage Manager Bernadett Lorincz

Deputy Stage Manager Arwen Davidson

Assistant Stage Managers Archer Dametto

Jasmine Power

Construction Manager Tommaso Patelli

Costume Supervisor Michiru Encinas

Costume Maker Delan Woods

Properties Supervisor Tanne Patterson

Head Electrician Sam Scott

Set/Props Assistant Designer Alice Vance

Costume Assistant Designer Isaac Valentine

Costume Assistant Katrina Mark

Properties Assistant Oliver Gregg

Technical Assistants Emma Clulow

Guinevere Fisher

Finlay Hogan

Thomas Howieson

Matt Phillips

Tung Son Tran Tat Thang

Thomas Howieson

Holding On Means Letting Go Composed by JK Kazzi

* Guest

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Matthew Whittet — Playwright

I love new plays. You never quite know where they’re going to take you, but you know the journey is always going to be an entire universe. They may start as an idea for a character, or a scene, or an historical event or even a place. Whatever that first spark is, it sets you off on a journey. A journey where you bring everything you’ve got as an artist and a human being to the table.

A couple of characters and a couple of scenes start to grow. You feel the pull towards something you can’t quite name yet - what David Lynch describes as the big fish on the end of the line.

You don’t know what it is yet, but by god you know it’s there. You keep venturing, keep trusting until you have what feels like a first act, then a second and then a third. All the while digging deeper into yourself and your experiences, and the experiences of those all around you. You feed curiosity and you nurture something that’s trying to find its way out into the world. An idea. A feeling. A struggle. A question. And with Kindness I’ve found myself asking many questions, some of which are confronting. About what it is to feel deeply and with intensity and not knowing what to do with it. Of young men who know they should talk, but don’t. Of the glorious and indispensable nature of friendship. Of the pain of grief, in its vast and varied forms. Of what it means to love with everything you’ve got. And of the gentleness, honesty and generosity that holds people together.

I’m beyond thrilled that this play is having its world premiere at NIDA, my old stomping ground, and that it gets its first steps into the world with such a brilliant cohort of artists – both students and professionals alike, under the fearless and inspiring leadership of Jess Arthur. I can’t wait for you all to meet this new work for its very first outing, and see these exciting young artists rise to the challenge.

Jessica Arthur - Director

In exploring Matt’s beautiful text we talked about connections, the universe, mortality, love and grief. Everyone in the room shared a little observation or part of themselves that has woven its way into the collective understanding we have of this play. I continuously found myself circling back to Nick Cave’s writing in ‘The Red Hand Files’; in which grief is distilled in bond with its essence - love.

“It seems to me, that if we love, we grieve. That’s the deal. That’s the pact. Grief and love are forever intertwined. Grief is the terrible reminder of the depths of our love and, like love, grief is non-negotiable. There is a vastness to grief that overwhelms our minuscule selves. We are tiny, trembling clusters of atoms subsumed within grief’s awesome presence. It occupies the core of our being and extends through our fingers to the limits of the universe”.

WRITER’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S NOTE

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REHEARSAL 16

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SCENES WITH GIRLS

By Miriam Battye Directed by Imara Savage

Venue Space

8th–10th, 13–16th, June 7.15pm

When

9th, 14th & 16th June 1.00pm

Open Day 17th, June 11.30am

Australian Premiere

“What happened in your early life that made you so want the shitty version of love that they give you?”

Tosh and Lou have each other. Other friends have come, got boyfriends, and gone. So what? Tosh and Lou are not interested in becoming clichés. They’ll never be like other girls. They won’t sit in a narrative someone else thought up.

This is love. This is enough.

With gob-smacking vitality and originality, this laser-sharp unfolding of millennial sexual politics premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in January 2020.

Content Warning:

Scenes with Girls contains strong sexual themes. Scenes also contains coarse language, and the use of haze and strobe lighting.

Miriam Battye is a writer from Manchester, UK. She was the first writer-in-residence at Sister Pictures, the recipient of the 2020 Harold Pinter Commission, and was Story Editor on Season 4 of the HBO’s TV series Succession.

Imara Savage is a theatre and opera director who has directed award-winning productions for Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir Theatre, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Sydney Chamber Opera and the Holland Festival. She is a graduate of NIDA Master of Fine Arts (Directing).

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THE COMPANY

CAST (in order of appearance)

Lou Ena Zamiric

Tosh Holly Matthews

Fran Kaitlyn Elliott

Understudies Lucy Xingwang Dunning

Tiahna McBride

Director Imara Savage*

Set/Props Designer Rebecca Howarth

Costume Designer Rebecca Howarth

Lighting Designer Ethan Coombes

Sound Designer Claire Edmonds-Wilson

Voice Coach Laura Farrell*

Assistant Directors Jo Bradley

Rebecca McNamee

Production Stage Manager Izzy Morrissey

Deputy Stage Manager Yasmin Breeze

Assistant Stage Managers Thomas Hamilton

Harry Smyth

Head Electrician Jemima Owen

Construction Manager Eryn Douglas

Costume Supervisor Nina Price

Properties Supervisor Connor Palmer

Set/Props Assistant Designer Adelie Gahan-Hannibal

Costume Assistant Designer Amelie Brown

Costume Assistant Sophy Simson

Properties Assistants Liam Bate

Microphone Technician Amelie McCarthy

Technical Assistants Emma Clulow

Guinevere Fisher

Finlay Hogan

Thomas Howieson

Matt Phillips

Tung Son Tran Tat Thang

* Guest

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DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Imara Savage — Director

In 1936, Clare Boothe Luce wrote The Women, a comedy-of-manners with an all-female cast, where all they talk about is men. In Miriam Battye’s 2020 spiritual successor, Battye offers a tongue-in-cheek answer to the Bechdel test, in a play which explores the modern sexual politics and patriarchal pressures faced by millennial and gen z women, and the importance of female friendships.

There’s a scene in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, where Jo (Saoirse Ronan) wonders if anyone would be interested in reading a book about her sister’s domestic lives. Amy (Florence Pugh) replies “Maybe we don’t see those things as important because people don’t write about them… Perhaps writing will make them more important.” This is the perfect analogy for what makes Scenes with Girls a valuable play to stage today.

Battye questions the “Typical Narrative” in storytelling, what we prioritise and what we honour as ‘important’. It interrogates the value society places on romantic (often heteronormative) relationships and re-focuses the lense on female friendship (usually relagated to the subplot).

The installation artworks of Tracey Emin (My Bed 1998) and Tamara Santibañez (I was thinking about everything, but then again, I was thinking about nothing 2018) achieved the same thing as Battye’s play: by putting their own bedrooms in an art gallery, it validated the importance of intimate stories about the minutiae of women’s lives. Their work has served as inspiration for the design world and helped us find a middle ground between a realistic messy sharehouse, and a stylised gallery space.

Through conversations with the creatives, we have explored how to create an intimate voyeuristic experience for the audience. Battye wrote on Succession season 4, and her interest in televisual writing is clear from format of this playtext: which totals at 29 episodic-style scenes.

Miriam Battye wrote this in her late twenties as part of the Royal Court’s Writers Group. While the play’s content appears relatable to that twenties demographic (hookup culture, dating apps, friendship), that doesn’t make it a simple text.

Battye was inspired by a modern movement of political, post-dramatic female British playwrights who are radically challenging form. Battye was mentored by Alice Birch (Anatomy of a Suicide, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.) whose peers include the indomitable Caryl Churchill and Ella Hickson (whose play The Writer joins us in the June season). In their defiance of traditional Aristotelian form, these women investigate how new forms can speak to the female experience.

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REHEARSAL 22

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THE WRITER

By Ella Hickson Directed by Zoë Hollyoak Venue Studio

When 8th–10th, 13–16th, June 7.00pm 13th, 15th, June 1.00pm Open Day 17th, June 11.00am

Australian Premiere

“Does it scare you that the future might speak a language that you can’t understand?”

A young female playwright and an older male director find themselves alone in an empty theatre. She wants a new form of theatre that dismantles capitalism and overturns the patriarchy. He’s turned on by the commercial potential of her rage.

He flirts. She stares him down. She wants to do things her way. She wants to change the shape of the world. And without warning it does, revealing stories nested within stories like Russian dolls, each more brilliant and daring than the last.

The Writer premiered at the Almeida Theatre in 2018 and takes aim at the business of making art – the compromises it demands, the people it chews up, and the endless ways in which patriarchal power can infect . It rocks the very foundations upon which theatre is built.

Content Warning:

The Writer contains sexual themes including partial nudity and depictions of sex. Scenes also contain course language, gendered violence, and the use of haze, low fog and flashing lights. Recommended only for audiences 18 and above.

Ella Hickson is one of the UK’s most exciting awardwinning young playwrights whose work has been performed throughout the world. Her plays include Boys, Wendy & Peter Pan, and Oil.

Zoë Hollyoak is a director and creative producer. She is the Artistic Director of essential workers, a Sydneybased theatre company that presents and produces new works. Her recent works include Collapsible (Red Line Productions), Antigonick (NIDA), Slutdrop (Multiple Fringe World Winner) and Cotton Wool Kid (State Theatre Centre of WA). Zoë is the Program Producer for Performance Space at Carriageworks, and has worked in producing roles for Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA and Belvoir St Theatre. She is a graduate of NIDA Master of Fine Arts (Directing).

Projection image: Guernica, Pablo Picasso © Succession Picasso/Copyright Agency, 2023 Photo credit Art resource, NY

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THE COMPANY

CAST (in order of appearance)

Female Actor/ Girlfriend Yasna Delo

Male Actor/ Boyfriend Chris Turner

Writer Teodora Matović

Director Hadrian Le Goff

Understudies Amy Goedecke

Caleb Jamieson

Director Zoë Hollyoak*

Set Designer Paris Burrows

Costume Designer Jessi Seymour

Lighting Designer Madeleine Picard

Sound Designer Julianna Stankiewicz

Voice Coach Eleanor Stankiewicz*

Movement Coach Emma Maye*

Intimacy Coordinator Shondelle Pratt*

Assistant Directors Fernando De Miguel Fuertes

Temuulen Jargalsaikhan

Production Stage Manager Grace Sackman

Deputy Stage Manager Sherydan Simson

Assistant Stage Managers Niamh Nolland

Thomas Shepherd

Poppy Townsend

Construction Managers Lynsey Brown**

Nicholas Day**

Costume Supervisor Maverick Durkin

Properties Supervisor Jess McIntosh

Head Electrician Carol Gonzales

Costume Makers Nina Price

Giulia Zanardo

Set/Props Assistant Designer Mia MacCormick

Costume Assistant Designer Daisy Hughes

Construction Assistants Evangelina Doosey Shaw

Michael Fisher

Zoe Howard

Costume Assistant Imahn Pholi

Properties Assistant Emily Lilley

Mechanists Matt Phillips

Tung Son Tran Tat Thang

Floor LX

Thomas Howieson

Technical Assistants Emma Clulow

Guinevere Fisher

Finlay Hogan

Amelie McCarthy

* Guest ** Staff

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DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Zoë Hollyoak — Director

At its core, Ella Hickson’s brilliant and furious new work is a play about women in theatre. We follow the journey of a young female playwright trying to remain faithful to her authentic voice. As we strip through layers of her life, we explore personal and professional relationships that inhibit or propel her, and her greater relationship to form, desire and creativity.

When I first read this play, I was deeply struck by how relatable it is as a young woman working in the theatre industry. It’s been challenging and exposing to create this work as it uncovers the choices we have and the cost of those choices. The theatre, as we know it, acts as space that allows stories to be amplified. This production questions how we tell stories and who gets to tell them. It also explicitly reminds us that this cultural industry remains firmly rooted under patriarchal capitalism.

I am deeply grateful to all the women that came before me, for their guidance, support and rage, including Ele, Shondelle and Emma, who I had the joy of working with on this production. There is a sadness inside this work, but I have found hope in the students creating it. I am constantly reminded that there is room to be unapologetically authentic and great power in coming together. Hickson says it best: if the centre is moving, what takes its place?

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REHEARSAL 28

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GRADUATING STUDENTS

Toby Carey Paris Burrows JK Kazzi Tessa Olsson Maverick Durkin Juliette Coleman Madaleine Cooper Evie Marie Korver Jack Patten Michiru Encinas Yasna Delo Rebecca Howarth Madeline Li Harold Phipps Natalie De Palo Kaitlyn Elliott Cosette Mangas Lillianne Lord Ariyan Sharma Nina Price Hadrian Le Goff Taylah Miller Teodora Matović Gabriel Sheehan Chris Turner Delan Woods Owen Hasluck Jessi Seymour Holly Matthews Jackson Hurwood James Stibilj Lập Nguyễn Bachelor of Fine Arts — Acting Bachelor of Fine Arts — Design for Performance Bachelor of Fine Arts — Costume

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Ena Zamiric

Bachelor of Fine Arts — Properties and Objects

Bachelor of Fine Arts — Scenic

Bachelor of Fine Arts — Technical

Master of Fine Arts — Directing

Maddison Craven Amy Norton Joel Montgomery Ari Gilbert Maxime Armand Keelan Ellis Madeleine Picard Zali Kassi Eryn Douglas India Lively Jimi Rawlings Jess McIntosh Tommaso Patelli Bernadett Lorincz Cameron Russell Connor Palmer Jordan MagnusMcCarthy Grace Sackman Tanne Patterson Chris Milburn Daniel Story Gaia Stein Izzy Morrissey Theatre and Stage Management Construction and Technologies Jo Bradley Rosa Campagnaro Fernando De Miguel Fuertes Temuulen Jargalsaikhan Kurtis Laing Mehhma Malhi Rebecca McNamee

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Diploma— Musical Theatre (appearing in Sweeney Todd)

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Lana Kuti Ginger Freudenstein Elliot Aitkin Lauren MItchell Hamish Wells Paloma Renouf Oliver Miskovich Shakina Kyalo Montana Vincent Danijela Novakovic Sione Latu Gabi Lanham