Backstage

Margaret Thanos director of A Very Expensive Poison

Margaret joins Regina to explore this award winning play based on true events.

 

Margaret Thanos is an award-winning Cypriot-Australian director and actor for theatre and film, based in London. 

THE PLAY:- London, 2006. A brazen political assassination is carried out in broad daylight. Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, drinks green tea laced with radioactive poison.
Subsequent investigations uncover a conspiracy generated from the very heart of the Russian government, and a murder probably approved by President Vladimir Putin.

In this award-winning play, based on the facts as laid out by the investigative journalist Luke Harding in his book of the same name, acclaimed writer Lucy Prebble tells a complex story of espionage and mystery.

Playing at the NEW THEATRE till 16th September.

 

 

Debra Oswald

Debra Oswald joins Regina to talk about tow shows playing at the Ensemble Theatre, plus how she came to writing from a young age.

Debra Oswald is screenwriter, playwright and fiction author.

She was the co-creator and head writer for series 1-5 of the award-winning Channel Ten series Offspring. Debra won the 2011 NSW Premier’s Literary Award for the Offspring telemovie script and won the 2014 AACTA for Best Television Screenplay for an episode in series 4.

 Her other television credits include award-winning episodes of Police Rescue, Palace of Dreams, The Secret Life of Us, Sweet and Sour and Bananas in Pyjamas.

Debra’s stage plays have been produced around Australia. Gary’s House, Sweet Road and The Peach Season were all shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Award, and her play Dags has had many Australian productions. Gary’s House has been performed in translation in Denmark and Japan. Mr Bailey’s Minder broke the Griffin Theatre’s box office record in 2004, toured nationally in 2006, and was produced in Philadelphia in 2008 and is back with the gorgeous John Gaden, as well as Rachel Gordon and Albert Mwangi and Claudia Ware…

She’s also bringing back

Is there something wrong with that Lady—sold out in APRIL….at griffin and it is playing at ensemble from 18^th September.

Her  plays are published by Currency Press. 

 

Gareth Davies

Gareth joins Regina to talk about his life from wanting to be a philosopher to the stage and his current production performing in Benefactors at Ensemble Theatre.

Gareth Davies is an actor and playwright based in Sydney. He has written and performed for the Black Lung Theatre (of which he’s a member), Belvoir St Theatre, the Malthouse and many more.

Gareth’s theatre credits include The Cherry Orchard (Melbourne Theatre Company); The Government Inspector (Malthouse Theatre/Belvoir); The Rover, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Peter Pan, As You Like It, And They Called Him Mr Glamour (which he also wrote) and The Seagull (Belvoir); As You Like It (Bell Shakespeare); and The Literati (Griffin/Bell Shakespeare). He has also performed at Belvoir for B Sharp in The Only Child, The Suicide and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

He co-wrote and performed in Masterclass and Masterclass 2 – Flames of the Forge (Redline Productions at the Old Fitz), and is a member of Melbourne’s Black Lung Theatre, collaborating on Avast and Avast II – The Welshman Cometh (Black Lung Theatre/Malthouse Theatre), Rubeville, Sugar, Pimms, I Feel Awful (Black Lung Theatre/Queensland Theatre Company), and Doku Rai (Black Lung Theatre/Darwin Festival), a show devised and performed in collaboration with artists from East Timor.

His film and TV credits include The Daughter (Screen NSW/Fate Films), The Letdown (Giant Dwarf/ABC), Hunters (Universal Cable/Valhalla) and the upcoming Peter Rabbit (Animal Logic).

Erica Brennan and The Hero Leaves One Tooth

Erica joins Regina to talk about her play The Hero Leaves One Tooth described as a ferocious new satire set in a world where women have developed vagina dentata as a means of protection against sexual assault. 

 

Erica is a director, writer, & producer of live performance.

She believes that making art is a compulsion. She is passionate about holding space for artists to develop their practice and find sustainable ways to make work in an ever-changing environment.

She is a champion of experimental and collaborative processes and for innovative storytelling having directed live works in and around Sydney for the past 10 years. In 2018 she began working as the SQUEAKING TRIBE and WOODFORD FOLK FESTIVAL as Creative Director on their multi-year site-specific large scale puppet show EYELAND (2018/19) and EYELAND II (2019/20.)

Erica is a founding member and lead devising artists for NINEFOLD –a physical theatre ensemble. As a creative producer, she has collaborated with artistic Director Shy Magsalin with to build an company that centres actor development and process led performance making. She has also and has performed with the company since it was established in 2012.

She has written dozens of short, and one act plays for young people and had numerous full-length works produced for the Old 505 Theatre. She has also had work developed by Elbow Room Theatre and in June 2020, she was awarded an ABC Fresh Start Grant to develop a new animated series entitled PREGNANT DETECTIVE.

Bass Fam

Bass Fam talks with Regina about his show Oracle and his life as a theatre maker.

Originally from a fine arts background, Bass is a passionate story teller at heart, a dreamer and an all-round creative with a colourful career spanning over a decade, with his work showcased around the world.

With sell-out Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide seasons, ORACLE returns to Sydney following its first Sydney season in August 2022 at Sydney Opera House, and will bring more intoxicating magic to Roslyn Packer Theatre.

It is a fusion of circus, burlesque, dance & contemporary storytelling, one for the gods!  Word class circus acts, mesmerizing aerials, steamy burlesque numbers, interlaced with ballet, contemporary and commercial dance.

With a diverse and talented cast of 18 performers, including Jazmin Varlet former contestant in The Voice and The X Factor who narrates the Oracle with her epic voice.

James Evans from Bell Shakespeare

 

James joins Regina to talk about Bell Shakespeare's lates production Romeo & Juliet in the new space and his role as Juliet's father.

James Evans is Associate Director at Bell Shakespeare. He is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art and holds a Master of Arts from the University of Sydney. He has directed a production of Much Ado About Nothing, the Julius Caesar national tour, previously directing productions of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

He has performed on many stages around town and is Capulet in Romeo and Juliet at Bell Shakespeare’s new home Pier 2/3.

 

Photo: Rose Riley, James Evans and Monica Sayers in BellShakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Photo Brett Boardman

Anchuli Felicia King and The Poison of Polygamy

Anchuli joins Regina Botros backstage to talk about her motivation for bringing this story to the stage and how her career has developed as a playwright, screenwriter and multidisciplinary artist of Thai-Australian descent.

As a playwright, King is interested in linguistic hybrids, digital cultures and globalization.

The Royal Court Theatre’s mainstage production of King’s play White Pearl marked her professional debut in May 2019, directed by Nana Dakin. White Pearl was subsequently produced by Sydney Theatre Company / National Theatre of Parramatta in Sydney in 2019 and the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC in the United States. Her play Golden Shield was commissioned through Melbourne Theatre Company’s Next Stage program and made its Off-Broadway debut at Manhattan Theatre Club in 2022.

King has worked as a screenwriter on HBO's "The Baby," a dark horror comedy produced by Sister Pictures, and HBO's "The Sympathizer," the TV adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer winning novel. She also has writing credits on Australian shows including "The Twelve," "Deadloch," and "Class of 07." 

Awards, Commissions & Residencies: 
Sydney Theatre Company Patrick White Fellowship, 2020; Mona Brand Emerging Writer Award, 2020; Royal Court Theatre Commission, 2019; Manhattan Theatre Club Commission. 2019; Melbourne Theatre Company Next Stage Commission, 2019; Ars Nova Play Group 2018/19; Ensemble Studio Theatre Youngblood Member 2017-2024 ; Roundabout Theater, Space Jam Program (ongoing); Space on Ryder Farm Finalist, 2018 ; Playwriting Australia National Play Initiative Winner, 2017 ; Yellow Earth “Typhoon” Reading Series, 2017 “Liberation” Video Commission, B.W. Powe Poetry Project, 2017 ; Roundabout Columbia Initiative Winner, 2017 ; Bridge Initiative Playwriting Award Finalist, 2016 ; Red Bull Theatre Short Play Finalist, 2016.

Abbie-Lee Lewis & Harriet Gordon-Anderson

Two of the cast from Scenes From a Climate Era (Belvoir) join Regina Botros to talk about the state of our world and bringing the issues of today to the stage in this theatrical telling.

• Harriet Gordon-Anderson (Bell Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ensemble Theatre’s Boxing Day BBQ)
• Abbie-Lee Lewis (Belvoir’s Wayside Bride, Counting and Cracking)

This aired on Wednesday 31st May, 2023 on 2SER - the opening night of the production.

A collective of more than 50 scenes written by the acclaimed climate playwright David Finnigan, Scenes from the Climate Era is an immersive and thought-provoking production.  Set against the backdrop of a changing climate, the cast will capture the exhilaration, frustration, and fascination of living in interesting times. 

 

 

Eloise Snape

Eloise joins Regina Botros to share with us the birth of this new production.

Eloise is an award-winning writer, actor, producer and voice artist. She completed a Bachelor of Media in Writing at Macquarie University and received a scholarship to study in London. She has worked extensively as an actor in theatre and she works consistently on screen, most recently in Colin from Accounts.

She has worked with her own independent theatre company, MopHead Productions, as well as Ensemble Theatre and Griffin Theatre Company. She is currently a Creative Producer with Critical Stages.

This production PONY on at griffin at the moment is her debut and was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award 2022/23, the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award 2021, the Patrick White Playwright’s Award 2022 and the Griffin Award 2022.

Vashti Hughes

Vashti goes backstage with Regina Botros to talk about her life as a writer and performer.

Vashti Hughes is a writer / actor and originally trained at UWS Nepean, graduating with a BA in Performance.
Vashti has written and self produced works that are based in Sydney’s local history.
Currently Vashti is performing in Kate’s final home, a site specific piece “Dinner with Kate Leigh the Gangster Queen” at 212 Devonshire St, Surry Hills, now the Jazzy Café Bar .
“Dinner with Kate Leigh the Gangster Queen” is a spin off of work that she wrote and performed ten years ago - “Mum’s In : Stories from Razorhurst”.
Mum’s In was a dark cabaret about five of Sydney’s most notorious underworld characters in the 1920’s –Kate Leigh, Tilly Devine, Nellie Cameron, Frank Green and Guido Calleti, with Vashti playing all of them. This played at the Bordello Theatre, Kings Cross Hotel every Sunday for a year in 2011-12.
Mum’s In : Stories from Razorhurst : https://youtu.be/lSjn9BbBbOU
Vashti also wrote “Piccolo Tales’ which played for 6 months at the Piccolo Bar, where she played the part of Vittorio the 80 year old owner of this famous Sydney café. It was a rollercoaster ride through 50 years of the Kings Cross as told by Vittorio, played by Vashti. 80 year old Vittorio also ended up being in the show. It made it into the 2015 Sydney Morning Herald’s “10 Best Sydney Shows”, and was nominated for the 2016 GLUGS.
Vashti wrote and performed “Dictionary by a Bitch” about the infamous Bea Miles, Sydney eccentric and bohemian rebel, famous for reciting Shakespeare in the streets for money. This was performed at the State Library of NSW.
Vashti has created a lot of cabaret characters and shows, one being the all women comedy cabaret group “Six Quick Chicks”, which has been performed in various Sydney venues

 

Photo cr: Roz Sharpe