TN Directors Announced!

Mercury's Wings' Twelfth Night will be directed by acclaimed theatre professional, Jennifer Flowers, who will be ably assisted by MWTC Artistic Director Claudine Stephen-Smith. Now these are two impressive ladies! Check out these CVs!

Jennifer Flowers - Director

Jennifer Flowers is an actor/director/teacher.

Directing Credits:

Molly Sweeney; Top Dogs; Antigone; Broken Glass; Oz Shorts; Replays; Dancing at Lughnasa for the Queensland Theatre Company. Morning Sacrifice.

The Glass Menagerie; Amigos (&National Tour ) Associate to Cate Blanchett’s production of the Year of Magical Thinking for the Sydney Theatre Company.(Touring Director National Tour 2008/2009.

There Goes the Neighbourhood; The Kiss of the Spiderwoman; The Idiot; Burn This; Sex: Cubed for La Boite Theatre. Dream Hunters; The Frozen Toes of Ignatius Rose; Prince Cinders; Virtually Richard; Score; Co-directed for Expressions Dance Company.

Dangerous Liasons; The Winter's Tale; Shakespeare Unzipped;The Arabian Nights for QUT

The Man from Mukinupin for USQ.

As You Like It for Harvest Rain Theatre Company.

The Soldier's Tale for QPAC.

Acting Credits :

Doubt (& National Tour);The Lady in the Van ; The Crucible STC.

Mrs Warren's Profession; The Skin of our Teeth; Honour; After the Ball (& National Tour);The Tempest; The Marriage of Figaro; Julius Caesar; Arcadia;Simpatico;The Gift of the Gorgon; The Shaughraun; Romeo and Juliet; Mrs Klein; The Crucible; The Cherry Orchard; Season's Greetings The Glass Menagerie; Hotel Sorrento A Cheery Soul(& Adelaide Festival) Ghosts; Dinkum Assorted for the Queensland Theatre Company.

Georgia; Supermarket Pavane; The Homecoming; Traitors; Mary Barnes for La Boite.

Othello; Antony and Cleopatra ; As You Like It for Grin & Tonic Theatre Company.

The Removalists; Bartholomew Fair; Private Lives; Hedda Gabler; Design For Living; Trumpets and Rasberries; Tartuffe; Summer; Europe; The Old Selection; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf for TN! Theatre Company.

The Misanthrope; Macbeth; Madam's Late Mother; The Chairs; The Proposal; The Human Voice for the Brisbane Actor's Company.

The Soldier's Tale; Summer of the Aliens; Legends; for QPAC

Awards:

Matilda Awards for Excellence in Acting/Directing;1988;1992;1996;2000.Nomination Helpmann Award Best Actress Doubt STC 2007.

Peer Assessment Panel Arts Queensland 1990

Board Member TN! Theatre Company 1988-1991

Board Member QTC 1996-2003.

Churchill Fellowship 2005

Claudine Stephen-Smith – Co-Director (MWTC Artistic Director)

Claudine had a 10 yr career in Europe as a professional ballet & contemporary dancer, performing lead roles in musical theatre including Anita in West Side Story and Peggy Sue in Buddy Holly, before turning her energies to directing.

Claudine has completed LAMDA’s Shakespeare course and NIDA’s post-graduate program. Since then, she has directed most MWTC productions, to critical acclaim.

These include: Much Ado About Nothing with 8 Gold Coast Area Theatre Awards nominations, Sweet Phoebe by Michael Gow, R U Hmlt? devised by James Anderson & Claudine, Endgame by Samuel Beckett and Art by Yasmina Reza.

Commissions/partnerships include Gold Coast Dancers Company A Balancing Act, The Selfish Giant, Queensland Theatre of Puppetry Bedtime Stories, and GCCC Ugly Duckling to commemorate the sculpture by Donna Marcus in Musgrave Park. Claudine will direct the upcoming production of Carbon Dating by Ron Elisha for the IGNITION project with the Arts Centre Gold Coast, touring to the Judith Wright Centre Brisbane, and regional Queensland.

Design Sketches

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night re-imagined with a Beach Boys feel?? That's what we're going for and we've been very lucky to have designer, Marysia Aves on board to help us pull it off.

Marysia joins us fresh from working on Opera Queensland's Aida. We are thrilled with what she's come up with so far! Take a look at these preliminary sketches for set and costume designs!

Cast Announced!

The auditions were all of a very high quality and it was great to see a mix of familiar and new faces.

Director Jennifer Flowers took an agonizing 3 days to notify the successful cast, but finally here they are!

James Anderson - Orsino

James has an extensive list of credits to his name. He has performed many lead roles in theatre including 'Joining The Club,' Chekhov's 'The Night Before The Trial,' Moliere's 'Tartuffe' and 'Picasso at the Lapin Agile' for which he garnered a Best Actor nomination at the Dolphin Awards. Appearances in Melbourne included 'The John Wayne Principle,' 'A Few Good Men' - nominated for Best Supporting Actor Lyre Bird Awards, 'Laughter on the 23rd Floor' and Judge Brack in 'Hedda Gabler.' James' most recent performances include 'Hamlet', for which he won the Dolphin Award for Best Actor, 'Macbeth', Marc in Yazmina Reza's 'ART' at the Gold Coast City Art Gallery, the servant Clov, in Beckett's 'Endgame' and Benedick in Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing'.

His film and television performances incorporate: 'On The Beach,' 'Blue Heelers,' and 'Stingers.' James is a Member of Frank Theatre in Brisbane, performing at the Powerhouse.

He has trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; studied Improvisation and Mask with Brin Pritchard of Le Coq School Paris; Meisner Technique at the Actors Playhouse in Melbourne; and Suzuki Method with the Frank Theatre, Brisbane. He recently returned from the Toga International Theatre Festival where he performed the lead role with Frank Theatre at the invitation of renowned theatre director Tadashi Suzuki.

Carmen Trevino – Viola (MWTC Youth Ambassador)

Carmen is very keen on Shakespeare. She was introduced to his charms by Grin ‘n’ Tonic Theatre Troupe in high school. She then performed in their productions of Romeo & Juliet (directed by Bryan Nason and Niki-J Witt) and A Midsummer Nights Dream as an actor and musician. Since then Carmen has played Hero in Much Ado About Nothing and Ophelia in Hamlet and has been schooled in the finer points of Shakespeare performance and scholarship by Jennifer Flowers. Most recently, Carmen performed the Handler monologue from Jane Martin’s “Talking With” at the Gold Coast Little Theatre’s 2010 One Act Play season. Carmen is delighted to play Viola and thanks MWTC for the experience.

Sarah McLeod – Olivia

This is Sarah’s debut performance with Mercury’s Wings. Other theatre credits include Sophie Is…, Twelfth Night, Tame It!, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Woe Is Me and Midsummer Mechanicals (Soapbox Theatre Productions), Epiphany: SWELL Closing Ceremony (Fireworx Youth Ensemble), Trails of Light (Woodford Theatre Company), The Trojan Women (Griffith University), Surface Paradiso (Gold Coast Comix), Uni-Reach School Tour (Griffith University Drama Outreach Program), Not I (GUTT), A Spurt of Blood (GUTT), Fall of the House of Usher (GUTT), Macbeth (Woodford Theatre Company), Jumping Mouse Puppet Show (Woodford Theatre Company) Y (Gold Coast Youth Arts).

Sarah has recently completed her apprenticeship with The Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble and is a graduate of Griffith University’s Bachelor of Arts in Applied Theatre.

John Rees-Osborne - Malvolio

In Melbourne John played leads in Breaker Morant; Living Together; Twelfth Night; The Ghost Train; Don's Party; and Private Lives. Roles on the Coast include, for GCLT: A Christmas Carol (Scrooge); The Three Musketeers (Richelieu); An Ideal Husband (Caversham); Our Country’s Good (Captain Collins, Robert Sideway); Murdered to Death (Colonel Craddock); The Importance of Being Earnest (the two butlers); and two roles in the 2009 one act plays; for the Arts Centre Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. He directed 84 Charing Cross Road, Ring Round the Moon, The Wind in the Willows and Arsenic & Old Lace for GCLT.

Brin Pritchard - Feste

With a Bachelor of Education in Drama and Post Graduate Diploma in Film already under his belt, in 1997-98 Brin went to Paris to study with the great theatre teacher and practitionerJacques Lecoq.

Brin has a long list of credits as an actor, theatre writer, director and teacher in Australia and the UK. Recent performances include: Café Floriani and Spirit of the Mask, two very popular Commedia dell’arte shows for secondary schools. He has also performed for companies such as Emerge, Underground and Evocations in shows such as Callisthesia at the Brisbane Powerhouse, Batavia at the Judith Wright Centre and A Man with 5 Children by Nick Enright.

With Mercury’s Wings on the Gold Coast he played Horatio in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamm in Becket’s Endgame and Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing, and with La Mama in Melbourne played a very innovative Clown in The Show Must Go On.

Brin has extensive teaching experience. He was a tutor/director at the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE – Performing Arts Department from 1990-98 and for Inner London Education Authority at the Fleet Community Education Centre in 1986-87. Since then he has been employed by various organizations including Backbone Youth Arts and Lightwire Theatre Company as a specialist tutor in Improvisation, Mime, Clown and Commedia dell’arte.

Tara Page - Maria

Tara Page is playing the role of Maria in Mercury's Wings production of Twelfth Night. She is really looking forward to working with a bunch of such talented people, not to mention a whole lot of fun! Tara relocated to the Gold Coast 'temporarily' from Sydney, and two and a half years later, finds herself still here and loving it. While on the GC, Tara has thrown herself into the local theatre scene, participating in productions with Gold Coast Little Theatre, Spotlight Theatre and even venturing up to Brisbane to work with That Production Company.

Andrew Trump - Sir Toby Belch

Andrew has over thirty years experience in professional and community theatre as an actor, director, teacher and administrator.

Recent Gold Coast roles include Boracchio in “Much Ado About Nothing” for Mercury’s Wings, Tony in “Dial M for Murder” for Gold Coast Little Theatre, and Serge in "Art" for Javeenbah Theatre. Other roles have included Peer in "Peer Gynt" for the New England Theatre Company, Macduff in "Macbeth" for University of New England Productions and Starkweder in "An Unexpected Guest" for Sydney's Genesian Theatre.

Directing credits include “One for the Pot” for Kaniva Drama Group, "The Country Wife" for the Armidale Playhouse, "The Bear" for Genesian Theatre, "Art" for Javeenbah Theatre and "Deathtrap" for the Gold Coast Little Theatre.

In the 90s, Andrew was General Manager of the New England Theatre Company, based in Armidale NSW, and then Q Theatre in Penrith NSW. Between 1978 and 1992 Andrew taught drama in high schools in NSW and Victoria.

Michael Thomas - Antonio

Over the past ten years Michael has undertaken principal and supporting roles in a diverse range of community and professional productions on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane, including “Under Milk Wood”, “No Sex Please, We’re British”, “Cabaret”, “Gypsy”, “Kiss Me, Kate”, “42^nd Street”, “West Side Story”, “Annie Get Your Gun”, “Funny Girl In Concert”, “Oliver!” and “Singin’ In The Rain”. He played Antonio in the 2008 Mercury’s Wings’ production of “Much Ado About Nothing” and recently appeared at Brisbane’s Powerhouse Arts Centre as the Rev. ‘Harry’ Harrington in the critically acclaimed production of “Shadowlands”.

Jack Harbour - Sebastian

Studying drama since he was ten years old, Jack has been involved in musicals and stage plays for many years. This year has been the most exciting for him. Jack played the lead role of Troy Bolton in Art Centre Gold Coast’s production of High School Musical 2, then a supporting role in Guys and Dolls, followed by a solo act in Oh the Humanity and the role of ‘Steve’ in ‘Has Alice Frikken a Ghost of a Chance’ at Javeenbah Theatre. Jack is really excited about doing a Shakespeare role and feels honoured to be given the opportunity to work under director Jennifer Flowers.

Samantha Colwell – Valentine

This is Samantha’s second collaboration with Mercury’s Wings Theatre Company, having previously appeared in The Bear during their season of play readings. Other theatre credits include An Ideal Husband, Hamlet, The Vagina Monologues, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Marriage Proposal, and The One Day of the Year. Samantha has trained in Practical Aesthetics with Andrea Moor, Linklater with the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble, singing with James Dobinson, voice with Flloyd Kennedy and improvisation with Impromafia. She has attended workshops run by Jennifer Flowers, Michael Futcher and David Berthold for La Boite Theatre Company; Jan Russ for Film and Television School International and by NIDA’s Open Program. Samantha is a graduate of the University of Queensland with a degree in English Literature and History.

Noel Thompson - Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Captain

Noel is looking forward to working with MW and JF again. His last role with MW was Don John in "Much Ado". His prior role with JF as director was Major Ross/Ketch Freeman in "our Country's Good". It will be a challenge for him to play a character that is not hated.

The Ruski's are Back!

Hi All,

Great play readings on Tuesday, thanks to all performers and directors! Here is a link to a short video of the night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DlH0W5FJVk

Enjoy!

Back from Melbourne

Well, here I am at the airport after 3 days in Melbourne at the Long Paddock conference. What a week! Cold! Cold! Cold! (for a Gold Coaster!) Producers of work pitching their shows to venue managers etc… Pretty full on and it was great for MWTC to see the level of the shows that were being presented. Very high quality. There was so much good stuff that we were wondering why the GC has never seen any of it?! That’s for another blog, you know what I’m like, do not get me started!

We met lots of great people and of course we had a great time with the gang from The Arts Centre Gold Coast. Many thanks to Destry, Cheryl and Brad for taking us along and showing us the ropes. Also thanks to Sue-Anne and Jayne from marketing and box office, it was great to get to know them a little better. Building these relationships is what will make the GC a strong and legitimate artistic voice in the region.

On a personal note it was also great to get back to Melbourne, the place where I spent my university days and my formative theatre days. Also nice to be there with Claudine and to show her that part of my life. We went to the Victoria Markets and got sore feet walking around the city. We went to my favourite coffee shop in the world, Pellegini’s on Bourke St. Some of you may know this coffee bar, very Italian and very Melbourne.

The trip has planted the seeds of a new work, based on King Lear and a legend of our family…more on that as it comes to hand. We have a title and a concept and that's all I’m saying for now.

When we get back we are getting reading to get stuck into the Twelfth Night rehearsals. I have been reading sonnets in preparation, boning up on my iambics and my punctuation in readiness for Jennifer. I love Shakespeare, but you can’t be complacent with him, ‘cause just when you think you have him, he manages to slip through your fingers…

There is a little video of the trip, so check it out and I will see you all soon!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dame1StNn8E

James

APACA

Hi All,

Claudine and I are off to Melbourne for the APACA conference (it's for touring groups to sell shows etc..) We will be meeting lots of people and handing over business cards and generally promoting arts on the Gold Coast.

I will have the camera, so stay tune for some footage from the trip!

Cheers,

James

Who do we think we are?

I often tell students in workshops that they have no reason to be ashamed of living on the Gold Coast. That they must find their voice first, before they can become any sort of 'character'. Part of that voice is that they are from the Gold Coast!

I recently read in the GC bulletin an article about a new local theatre company who said that their project was "a Gold Coast product from start to finish", which may be true...They then went to say they could not see why the Gold Coast could not be more like Sydney or Brisbane. I think that this is why we are perceived as a lesser artistic city. If this company wants to be more like Brisbane or Sydney then maybe they should move there and do theatre! I am very serious about this!

Why should we feel we have to compare and import people from outside the Gold Coast when it comes to the arts? I know that Harvest Rain is a good company, but is there no other organisation or person on the Gold Coast to run the summer school? Yes, yes it's a business decision, but what about the local community? Now, I'm not say Mercury's Wings should or could do it, that’s not what we do, I'm merely asking why we always feel the need to get groups from outside the Gold Coast? Instead of building on the talent and wealth of knowledge that is already here.

I once read a book by Sir Antony Sher, who wrote about the cultural boycott of South Africa in the 90s, and he said that South Africans had not had anything for so long they felt they didn’t need it. Maybe the Gold Coast suffers from a form of this…? We have not had touring shows or professional theatre very often and as such we are forced to go to Brisbane or Sydney/Melbourne, and as such we start to think that what they have is ‘real’ culture. We have this perception that what we have is not ‘real’ culture because we are forced to see it through the eyes of another city. As petrol prices get higher and money gets tighter, then we go less to the ‘culture’ of Brisbane or Sydney or even the Gold Coast and thus we forget what it professional theatre looks like and so feel we no longer need it, as “we are doing fine without it”.

Anyway that’s all I’m going to write on that at the moment. Please comment, please argue, agree, disagree, whatever, but don’t be passive, be active. I keep saying that if you want to be taken seriously, then you have to be serious and do something.

Video from Play Readings

Here is some play footage of our Chekhov night at The Basement at the Arts Centre Gold Coast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTq7Q-ZCbxg

Footage of the Shakespeare night to come...

Cheers,

James

...And we're off!

Mercury’s Wings recently held auditions for Twelfth Night to be directed by Jennifer Flowers and being very capably assisted by Claudine Stephen-Smith. The standard on the day was high and we found some real gems.

Jennifer was extremely generous with all who auditioned, offering direction and textual advice, so that all could be their best in the day. Auditions are hard at the best of times, so we are grateful for her understanding spirit. I personally remember an horrific experience with Bell Shakespeare some years ago, I was a little ‘greener’ then, but was made to feel like an ant.

It became apparent to me on the day that there is a large gap in the teaching of Shakespeare. As an actor and a teacher I am stunned to walk into a year 12 English class only to find that not one of the students in the room knows the difference between verse and prose! Something, along with iambic pentameter, that I assume is vital to any understanding of the plays. Without knowledge of these elements the actor is lost, on the Atlantic Ocean without a compass. Once this knowledge has been gleaned, then the ocean of Shakespeare become easier to navigate, although no less vast.

Shakespeare offers the actor so many rich gifts, however he is brutal with those who would enter his world unprepared.

Last weekend Jennifer, Claudine and our designer Maryisa, went shopping for costumes on the Gold Coast. It is looking like the show will have a Gold Coast feel about it. Mercury’s Wings wants the production to be a product of its surroundings and its community. We are a company that has evolved out the fabric of the Gold Coast, local people, producing local artistic product for the benefit of all on the Gold Coast.

Stay tuned for more on this blog as we progress. Look out for video on the website and youtube.

www.mercuryswings.com.au

James Anderson

Artistic Director