Backstage

Leeanna Walsman

Leeanna Walsman talked with Regina during her run of Opening Night at Belvoir Theatre.

Leeanna Walsman has enjoyed an extensive career in film, theatre and television. Leeanna previously performed at Belvoir in the production of Peribanez. Selected stage productions include Solaris, Melancholia (Malthouse Theatre),Stockholm, Saturn’s Return, The Shape of Things and La Dispute (Sydney Theatre Company), Speaking in Tongues (State Theatre Company of South Australia), Othello (Bell Shakespeare) and so many more.

Leeanna is perhaps best known for her role as Zam Wesell in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), for playing Carly Bishop in the Australian film Looking for Alibrandi (2000), for her role as Erica Davidson in the Australian television series Wentworth, and for her starring role in the mini-series Jessica. Walsman also starred in Home and Away: An Eye for an Eye (2015).

 

Amber McMahon

Amber is starring in North By Northwest, playing at the Lyric Theatre.

Here she talks with Regina about how she came to the stage and how to take this classic Hitchcock film to the stage. She's playing the femme fatale Eve Kendall with all her complexities.

Best known for her work in theatre, Amber boasts an extensive list of credits. Recent credits include; Stop Girl for Belvoir and Rules for Living for Sydney Theatre Company. Other theatre credits include; Dance Nation, Bliss, Atlantis, Twelfth Night, Angels in America, and The Power of Yes for Belvoir; Banging Denmark, Accidental Death of an Anarchist and The Popular Mechanicals for Sydney Theatre Company; Girl Asleep and School Dance for Windmill; Tribes and The Appleton Ladies Potato Race for Ensemble, Small Mouth Sounds for Darlinghurst; North by Northwest for Kay & McLean Productions and Optimism and Picnic at Hanging Rock for Malthouse, which included two seasons at Royal Lyceum Edinburgh and Barbican London. Amber was also a member of the Sydney Theatre Company Actors Ensemble, appearing in War of the Roses, The Season at Sarsaparilla, The Lost Echo, Gallipoli, and The Art of War. Amber’s screen credits include the feature film Girl Asleep, and the SBS mini-series The Hunting. She has received two Helpmann Awards for Best Female in a Supporting Role one for Girl Asleep for Belvoir/Windmill and School Dance one for Windmill

Glace Chase

Glace Chase joins Regina Botros to dive into the world of theatre through Glace’s new work Triple X, playing at Sydney Theatre Company.

Glace is a multiple award winning multi-disciplinary “trans-queen” / performer / playwright / comedienne / screenwriter / tour guide / bon vivant.

As a playwright Glace has won two Griffin Awards and the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award, and has been shortlisted for almost every playwriting award in Australia. Glace’s play Triple X, which she created, wrote and stars in, ran at the Queensland Theatre and has subsequently moved to Sydney Theatre Company. Glace was a finalist for the 2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Award for Triple X, which was additionally shortlisted for the Nick Enright Prize for playwriting.

Described as “delightfully satanic” by Time Out NY, Glace’s work defies easy categorisation. Glace created the world’s first Drag Queen Tour Guide business – Dream Queen Tours – named “Best Alternative Tour” by the International Travel & Hospitality Awards.

She also has a limited television series in development entitled Falleni. Other plays include Whore, A Hoax, Oranges & Lemons, GULL or the lamentable comedy called love (hereto known as the Trannies’ Revenge) and Nobody’s Girl. Her plays have appeared at Griffin Theatre, Belvoir St Theatre, La Boite, The Public Theatre NYC and NJ Rep.

Kate Gaul

Director Kate Gaul joins me, Regina Botros, to talk about her show The End of Winter at Griffin Theatre.

Kate Gaul is a theatre and opera director, creative producer, festival director, and designer based in Sydney, NSW. She is a graduate of NIDA (Directing 1996) and Artistic Director of Siren Theatre Co. Kate undertook a residency with SITI Company (NYC) and was Associate Director at Ensemble Theatre.

 

 

Bernadette Fam

Regina Botros talks with director Bernadette Fam and her show Chewing Gum dreams on at the Old Fitz theatre.

Bernadette Fam is a multidisciplinary artist working across Dramaturge, Directing, Writing and Creative Producing. Her recent directing credits include: directing the Young Artist Ensemble for Q Theatre and assistant director for Young Frankenstein (Hayes Theatre), and Lady Tabouli (National Theatre of Parramatta/Sydney Festival).

Bernadette is a past Create NSW Young Creative Leaders Fellow, current Creative Producer of Green Door Theatre Company and Critical Stages Touring and Artist in Residence at PYT, Fairfield.

Sydney Festival 2022 special with Olivia Ansell

Olivia joins Regina to talk all things Sydney Festival.
Catch up on what's hot.

Olivia Ansell is the Sydney Festival Director and comes from a family of performers. She is a curator an artist and the woman at the helm of Sydney Festival 2022.

Julian Meyrick

Regina speaks with theatre historian and cultural policy analyst Julian Meyrick.

Julian is an award-winning theatre director having directed over sixty theatre shows, and is winner of the Helpmann Award for Best New Work in 2012 and is Professor of Creative Arts at Griffiths  University.

He was AD of his theatre co---Kickhouse theatre which ran from 1989-98.

Previously he was Associate Director and Literary Advisor at Melbourne Theatre Company, and was founding member and Deputy Chair of Play Writing Australia 2004-09.

He has been published widely on the Australian theatre, culture, and cultural policy.

He is a member of the Currency House editorial committee, General Editor of the PLATFORM PAPERS for Currency House ----the brain child of Katherine Brisbane after currency press and they have released their latest papers.

Rajan Velu

Regina Botros talks with Rajan about his life and his role in Norm & Ahmed.

Rajan Velu is a graduate of Actors Centre Australia and has worked extensively across Theatre, Television, and Film in Australia and the United States.

His credits on stage include Counting and Cracking (Belvoir), Life of Galileo (Belvoir), The Last Highway (Urban Theatre Projects), The Drum (Sydney Opera House),

Friends in Transient Places (Fresh Produced LA), The Changeling (Independent Shakespeare Company LA ), Henry V (Independent Shakespeare Company LA).

His  screen credits include All Saints, Doctor Doctor, RFDS, Diary of an Uber Driver, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Scandal, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Criminal Minds-Beyond Borders.

Lex Marinos

Actor Lex Marinos has worked across all areas of the entertainment industry as an actor, director, writer, radio commentator, producer and festival director.

Awarded an OAM for his services to the performing arts.

Presented by Regina Botros

Geraldine Hakewill

The gorgeous Geraldine Hakewill joins Regina in this episode of Backstage.

You may have seen her on the stage of Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir, Darlinghurst Theatre and Bell Shakespeare in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Peter Pan, Dangerous Liaisons, The Real Thins, Macbeth, Chimerica, Platanov, Tartufee and Baal to name just a few.

You may have seen her on television or in many films. She was in a live reading of Homebody Kabul by Tony Kushner raising funds for Afghanistan. 

We talk about all that and more in this episode.