Backstage

Ari Maza Long and Alex Malone from AT WHAT COST

On this episode of Back stage Regina Botros is joined by Trisha Starrs to talk about:- 

At What Cost? Which has returned to Belvoir St Theatre, and is playing until the 21st May, before embarking on a national tour to Queensland, South Australia, and home to Tasmania.

To First Nation’s playwright Nathan Maynard’s home state of Lutrawita (Tasmania),

SET IN TASMANIA

 Boyd has been walking a tightrope – balancing responsibilities to Land and People with the simple business of making a living.

But something’s happening. Every year more and more folk are claiming to be Palawa too. Folk no-one’s heard of until now, who haven’t been ‘round before. Are they legit? Or are they ‘tick-a- box’? Who decides? And how?

Joining Back stage are two of the performers…

Alex Malone (Black Swan State Theatre Company’s The Lighthouse Girl) ---you might know her from Eurydice, Babes in the Woods and Threnody a the OLD FITZ Theatre – she’s done loads of TV and film as well as stage.

and Ari Maza Long –was raised in the performing arts and first performed at 5 years of age in The Bridge and after high school – performed in (Malthouse Theatre’s Gonzo). And recently Tracker a collaboration - for ADT/Ilbijerri.

Jess Fuchs Sydney Comedy Festival

jess Fuchs joins Regina Botros to talk comedy, improv and how to be chill!

Jess has traveled the world as an improviser and stand up comedian. She has graced the stages, clubs, theaters and dirtiest pubs around the globe, including Gotham Comedy Club in New York, Second City Toronto, The Comedy Store Sydney, to name a few.

Lisa Fa’alafi - Hot Brown Honey

Lisa Fa’alafi, joins Regina Botros to talk about Hot Brown Honey's return of THE REMIX>

Lisa is the fierce femme leader of the multi-award-winning collective of global First Nations women, Hot Brown Honey which will be returning to the Sydney Opera House after eight years in May as part of its UnWrapped season.

Hot Brown Honey – THE REMIX (4-13 May) it will dance the line between theatrical and social activism mashing up hip-hop, dance, cabaret, circus, poetry, and comedy will spin tradition on its head, challenge boundaries and embrace resilience.

Rachael Swain from Marrugeku

Rachael joins Regina Botros to share her beginnings as a creative to the current Marrugeku show at the Carriageworks.

Racheal grew up around activism and protests with her parents in New Zealand and has forged a career as a director and dramaturg of trans-disciplinary and intercultural dance theatre as well as a dance and performance scholar and researcher.

She specialises in creating platforms for Indigenous and intercultural choreographies and dramaturgies in dance and in facilitating these practice-led research projects to redefine contemporary arts practices.  Prior to Murrageku she was founding member and Co-Artistic Director of Stalker Theatre from 1989 to 2014. 

Burrbgaja Yalirra 2 features a trilogy of short works that trace histories of migration, relocation, cultural adaption and survival, and draws on the power of ancestral presence to remember the future and is on at the Carriageworks 21 - 29 April 2023.

 

 

 

Solomon Thomas and UFO at Griffin theatre

SOLOMON THOMAS joins Regina Botros BACKSTAGE.

He is a theatre maker and performer and is a core member of re:group performance collective,

He explores the intersection between the physical and digital in theatre, experimenting with how theatre and film can co-exist in a live context. He works as a performer, puppeteer, theatre maker and video designer and is driven by how these practices meet formally.

UFO by Kirby Medway and Solomon Thomas at the SBW Stables Theatre from 18^th to 29^th April 2023. Part of the Griffin Lookout program. Described as a blend of science fiction tropes, live cinema and exquisitely detailed 1:8 miniatures, it is 

mix of video, stop-motion animation and live theatre brings UFO’s to the stage!

 

 

Review of JULIA at Sydney Theatre Company

Regina Botros reviews Julia at the Sydney theatre Company at the Sydney Opera House.

 

 

JULIA

By Joanna Murray-Smith
Directed by Sarah Goodes

Not now, not ever

In 2012, Australia's first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, gave a speech that sent shockwaves around the world. 

Now, ten years later, one of Australia’s most esteemed and celebrated playwrights, Joanna Murray-Smith, brings the human story behind that speech to the stage.

Julia is an extraordinary new play that will see the glorious Justine Clarke (Children of the Sun) embody the life and career that led to the ‘misogyny speech’, in a phenomenal performance directed by Helpmann Award-winner Sarah Goodes (The Children). 

This is both an intimate and compelling insight into the person behind the public mask, and a reflection on the experience of women in contemporary politics. Combining genuine excerpts from Gillard’s speech with Murray-Smith’s incredible dramatic imagination this play is also a thrilling coming together of history and art.

Around the world, we are seeing the most profound rollbacks to women’s rights legislation in two generations. At the same time, there have been encouraging strides forward in the representation of women in positions of power, both at home and abroad. In this climate, Julia is a rousing and energising reminder of where we’ve come from and an empowering imagining of the challenges we’ve yet to face.

Julia is the proud recipient of the Blake Beckett Trust Female Playwrights' and Female Directors' Award.

Metropolis with Julia Robertson and Zara Stanton

Two directors from this new musical Metropolis - wow - join Regina Botros to talk theatre.

Julia Robertson is an actor, director, and musician. She is the current Artistic Director of the award winning devising group, the Little Eggs Collective.

Acting credits include Jess and Joe Forever (25A Belvoir, 2019 dir. Shaun Rennie), The Astral Plane (25A Belvoir, 2019 dir. Charlie Garber), The Real Thing (STC, 2019 dir. Simon Phillips), The Oyster (Critical Stages, 2021 dir. Scarlet McGlynn) and Wherever She Wanders (Griffin, 2021 dir. Tessa Leong). Julia also stars in the film Hot Mess (Emerald Productions) that is currently airing on Netflix Aus/NZ and voiced the audiobook Don’t Fall by Sophie Smith (Amazon). Julia has studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute (Method Acting Intensive, New York 2017) and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Acting Shakespeare Intensive, London 2022).

 

Zara Stanton is an accomplished Music Director, Composer, Performer, Arranger, Vocal Coach and Music Educator. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she studied classical voice and music education, and has her A.Mus.A. qualification in both voice and piano.

Zara's recent credits as Music Director include Bonnie & Clyde (Joshua Robson Productions) at the Hayes Theatre, Every Musical Ever (One Eyed Man Productions) at Adelaide Cabaret Festival & Wyong Art House, The Deb (Australian Theatre for Young People) and The Boomkak Panto (Belvoir St Theatre). Zara was also Associate Music Director for A Chorus Line (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), playing at the Sydney Opera House and Riverside Theatres.

Zoe Hollyoak

Zoe joins Regina Botros to talk about her life in the arts and in particular, Collapsible, playing at the Old Fitz.

Zoë Hollyoak is a director and creative producer with nearly 10 years of experience working across a range of organisations including Belvoir, Performing Lines, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) and Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA.

Zoë is currently the Program Producer for Performance Space,

SHE has worked across theatre, film and mixed media projects for PICA, triple J Unearthed, Belvoir, The Blue Room Theatre and the State Theatre Centre of WA. When she’s not working at Performance Space, Zoë runs essential workers – a Sydney based theatre company that present and produce new works.

https://www.redlineproductions.com.au/collapsible

 

Justin Smith

Justin Smith joins Regina Botros to talk all things theatrical. His life in the theatre and how he's come to be thrilling audiences in the role of the Baker in Into the Woods, with music by mastermind Stephen Sondheim.

Justin has starred in numerous stage productions, most recently Hayes Theatre’s Dubbo Championship Wrestling and Bangarra’s, Wudjang: Not The Past, with some of his other theatre credits including Billy Elliot The Musical, and National Theatre of Parramatta’s Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam.

Tom Dawson and Meg Hyeronimus in Cherry Smoke

Tom Dawson and Meg Hyeronimus join Regina Botros to talk Cherry Smoke and theatre!

Cherry Smoke follows four young kids trying to grow in to the adults that the society that neglected them will accept. We can try to build the dream, but at what cost? When you're not taught to use your words but your fists can you ever truly change, or are you destined to repeat the past?