Backstage

Rachel Healy

Rachel Healy joins Regina Botros Backstage.

Rachel is the Interim Director of The Pavilion Arts Centre, Sutherland, which has just opened with its first show, Bangarra’s ---Waru.

Rachel has been working in the arts and cultural sector for more than twenty years including Director of Performing Arts for Sydney Opera House and ten years as General Manager of Belvoir St Theatre. Adelaide festival and so much more.

We delve into the new space and what theatre looks like after a pandemic.

Melanie Tait talks A Broadcast Coup

Trisha Starrs talks with Melanie about her new work.

Ensemble Theatre is thrilled to stage the long-awaited world premiere of writer and broadcaster,
Melanie Tait’s (The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race) thought-provoking, sharp comedy, A BROADCAST
COUP, from 26th January to 4th March 2023.
A major highlight of the 2023 Sydney Festival, A BROADCAST COUP incisively delves into the abuse of power and lack of accountability from controversial public figures.
Cut-throat journalist Jez Connell is out for her next sting. It’s been a year since she brought down one of TV’s most lauded stars for behaving badly and now she’s got Michael King, the top-rated darling of public radio, in her sights. This time, it’s personal.
With the loyalty of his longstanding radio show producer wavering, and a charting ex-media podcaster eager to take the mic off Mike, has the plug been pulled on Michael King’s career?

Sydney Festival Show 11th January 2023

Sydney Festival fills our Backstage podcast this week.

 

Tracker with Artistic Director of ADT -Daniel Riley.

Neighbours with Albanian contemporary dancer, and choreographer Brigel Gjoka. 

Werk It with  fierce-as-hell director Malia Walsh.

Antarctica composer Mary Finisterer.

S Shakthidharan

Shakthi joins Regina to talk about The Jungle and The Sea and the power of theatre. On at Belvoir Theatre at the moment.

Shakthi is a Western Sydney storyteller with Sri Lankan heritage and Tamil ancestry. He’s a writer, director and producer of film and theatre, as well as a composer and performer of original music.

Shakthi’s debut play Counting and Cracking had a sell-out season at Sydney Festival 2019, followed by the Adelaide Festival, with rave reviews and a profound impact on the Sri Lankan community. The script won the Victorian Premier’s overall Literature Prize and the NSW Premier’s Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting. The production has gone on to win 7 Helpmann Awards including 2 for Shakthi – Best New Australian Work and Best Direction of a Play. It also won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best New Australian Work and was nominated for Best Direction of the Mainstage Production. The play toured the UK in August 2022 including a run at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Iain Sinclair

Iain Sinclair joins Regina Botros to talk about life, theatre and Pinter.

Iain Sinclair is well recognised as one of Australia’s finest directors of actors in performance consistently helping them generate empowered, sophisticated and dignified work.

After graduating from The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and King’s College London where he specialised in directing actors and developmental dramaturgy Iain has had a rich and successful career alternating between bold new plays and the classics, he has directed celebrated major productions for state companies at STC, Belvoir, MTC and Queensland Theatre, he has directed for numerous mid level professional companies and also consistently works outside of the mainstream paradigm creating top level independent productions.

 

Bert LaBonte

Bert LaBonte joins Regina Botros to talk about life in the theatre and A Raisin in The Sun. 
Sydney Theatre company.

 

One of Australia’s leading men, Bert’s Melbourne Theatre Company credits include: The Truth, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Lungs, Rupert, Birdland, The Mountaintop, Elling, A Behanding in Spokane, Clybourne Park, Richard III and others. For Sydney Theatre Company, he has performed in A Raisin in the Sun, All My Sons, The Grenade and Spelling Bee, and his Malthouse Theatre credits include: Cloudstreet, I am A Miracle, Time Share. 

Musical theatre credits include: The Book of Mormon (Watchtower Productions), Helpmann Award Winner An Officer and a Gentleman (Gordon Frost Organisation), Chess (The Production Company), Grey Gardens (The Production Company), Pippin (Kookaburra Theatre), Full Monty (IMG / David Atkins), Jesus Christ Superstar (Really Useful Group), Showboat (Livent/Marriner Productions), Guys and Dolls (Ambassador Group). 

Screen credits include FISK (ABC), The Newsreader (ABC), Surviving Summer (Netflix/Werner Film Productions), Literary Lethargy (Baby Banksia), Jack Irish (ABC), With Intent (Freemantle Media), a recurring role on Wentworth (Foxtel), Playing for Keeps (Network Ten), Upper Middle Bogan (ABC), Tomorrow When The War Began (ABC), Lowdown (ABC), Wilfred (ABC), The Let Down (ABC/Netflix), and Squinters (SBS). Film credits including Animal Kingdom (Porchlight Films) and The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee (Kathy Morgan International). 

Katie Pollock

Katie is an award-winning writer for stage, radio and screen.

She joins Regina to talk about her play ROUGH TRADE playing as part of Sydney Festival

 

Her plays for theatre are Normal ; The Becoming ; The Hansard Monologues—Age of Entitlement ; Blue Italian/Nil by Sea ; The Hansard Monologues—A Matter of Public Importance ); The Blue Angel Hotel; A Quiet Night in Rangoon ; A Girl Called Red ; and numerous short works, including Contact  and as part of The Curve an so much more...

Ryuichi Fujimura

Ryuichi Fujimura is an independent dance artist and joins Regina to talk about this trilogy of shows based on his life. 

Two, How Did I Get Here and How Do I Practice My Religion have toured internationally and the final part (Fall! Falter!! Dance!!!) is his premier performance, taken from his experience at a story telling event where he came second and tells the tale of a dance improv performance that failed.

 "I really want to show this work to people in all walks of life. Even though I tell my stories as a dancer, I believe that my stories of failures and disappointment are relatable and hope that my dance is enjoyable to my audience."

Samah Sabawi and Bagryana Popov

Writer, Samah Sabawi and Director, Bagryana Popov, both award winning theatre makers join Regina to talk about their production THEM. 

This story about a young family facing the decision whether to flea their war-torn city.  

Them is playing at the Riverside theatre before going to Casula Powerhouse.

 

Michelle Law

Michelle Law joins Regina Botros to talk about her Sydney Theatre Company production Top Coat playing at the moment.

Michelle Law is a writer working in print, screen and stage. She wrote the highly acclaimed play Single Asian Female – commissioned by La Boite Theatre Company – which earned 5-star reviews before transferring to a sold-out season at Belvoir St Theatre in 2018. 

In 2016, she won the Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Award. She has written for many magazines, journals, and broadsheet newspapers including Frankie magazine, The Griffith Review, and The Saturday Paper. Her stories and essays have been anthologised in books such as After Australia, Best Australian Comedy Writing, Destroying the Joint, Women of Letters, Growing up Asian in Australia, and more.

In 2014, she co-wrote a comedy book called Sh*t Asian Mothers Say with her brother Benjamin Law.