04/09/2023
So here we are! And unbelievably, it’s our final week for the beautiful double bill of Caryl Churchill plays at Melbourne Theatre Company Escaped Alone + What If If Only. This has come around so quickly!It has been an incredible ride. Such very difficult stuff to do – but also such magnificent stuff to do…A big fat shout out to everyone (actors and creatives, every one of them wonderful!) I’ve had the privilege of working with both back stage and on stage – and crew of course.Too many names to mention everyone, but here are some: Pippa Wright, Helen Morse, Deidre Rubinstein, Debra Lawrance, Alison Bell, Steve Mouzakis, Lucy Ansell, Anna Francesca Armenia, Paul Jackson, Jethro Woodward, Marg Horwell…But I’ve got to say this:Anne-Louise Sarks has put her money where her mouth is in creating/directing a show which is not the ‘usual’ MTC fodder. As the new Artistic Director of Melbourne Theatre Company, she has taken the very courageous risk of changing it up so that a new audience is attracted to the material, and people who have not been to a show for years are coming back (some of these are my friends). Under her watch, Melbourne Theatre Company has begun a new era - making a new style of work which will almost certainly alienate those whose expectations are limited to the mundane and safe. It is also just chock-a-block with diversity! As a disabled actor, I am seriously excited about this…and I am not the only ‘othered’ artist in the company – we have POC, transgender, disability, LGBTIQ, older women, children, artists with They/Them pronouns, artists from different ethnic backgrounds represented.I feel extraordinarily lucky to have been a part of this change.Onward and Upward!!
