Funny Babe Fest

I'm babin' it up at Funny Babe Fest this Thursday 9pm at The Butterfly Club, which is a showcase of some of Melbourne's funniest women. I'll be doing a set of improvised comedy with three of my fellow The Big Hoo-Haa babes, and all funds raised from the gig will go towards Equality Now. It'll be like "Babe: Pig in the City" but with babes plural and no pigs.

                                              Myself, Sarah Reuben, Michelle Nussey & Bri Williams.

Welcoming 2015 with Workshops

I love to kick off any new year with workshops that will inspire me for the year ahead. I've been lucky enough to do an Improvisation Masterclass with Patti Stiles - a globally respected teacher of improvisation, as well as her more experimental Gender/Genre class and her Scenes That Matter class. I've also gone back to my old stomping ground Meisner Melbourne and been working with Clare Dea. And if all that isn't enough, I'm also in the thick of a 5-week ActionTheater course with Dani Cresp, looking at Physical Improvisation. It feels like a wonderfully creative start to 2015!

6-hour Chekhov Improvisation

Today I had an amazing time living and breathing the character of Simeonov-Pishchik from Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard for 6 hours straight of improvisation. This was an interactive theatrical experience run by Pop Up Playground called New Life In This House. Set in the hauntingly beautiful Abbotsford Convent, we improvised according to the whims of our audience and re-wrote the story of the doomed Ranyevsky estate. 

Coles TVC Shoot

This week was one of those weeks where things move fast. You wake up Monday morning with a TVC casting and within 48 hours, you're shooting it! I love this unpredictable side to the industry where suddenly work lands in your lap out of nowhere. It sure makes up for all the down time. I had a great shoot on a great set with a big crew who ran like clockwork. Looking forward to seeing the ad when it comes out.

Improvised Comedy Xmas Show!

Deck the Halls with wit and folly! This Thursday night I'll be performing with my professional impro group The Big Hoo-Haa Melbourne in our XMAS MEGA SHOW! Everything will be totally improvised and LOLtastic! It's our last show of 2014 and also our last ever show at The Portland Hotel - which has been our home for the past 4 years. We will be announcing our exciting new venue at the show! Details here.

Q&A Hosting - La Mama Theatre

On Tuesday 9th December at 9.30pm I will be hosting a Q&A Forum at La Mama Theatre, Carlton, following a performance of Dog Day Trio as part of the Explorations season. I've done Q&A hosting before and love engaging with the audience and creatives in a way that is so different to what I'm used to as an actor. 


Festival Entertainment

Another job I do regularly is Roving Characters at Festivals and this weekend is no exception. Today, my duo "The Litter Sisters" (who are experts in talking rubbish) roved the Johnston Street Festival in Fitzroy. We had a hoot bantering with everyone and anyone and introducing our pooch puppet to the crowd. We also wore a lot of ridiculous things.

Lotta and Lolly Litter AKA The Litter Sisters. I'm on the right looking particularly silly.

MC Gig

I've done quite a bit of MCing in my time from music festival stages to large-scale corporate functions to cabaret nights and now, I can add to my list book launches. Last night, I MCed the launch of "The One Breast Goddess" - an inspirational book written by life coach and acting teacher, Clare Elizabeth Dea. It was a fantastic evening with live music and speeches and plenty of bad puns from me!

Corporate Video Shoot

This week I shot a corporate video playing the lead role for Westpac. I got to play a Restaurant Owner transitioning to a new EFTPOS system. I love doing Corporate Videos!

Monologue for a Murderer

I'm currently in rehearsal for an intriguing new play called "Monologue for a Murderer" by Kate Rice and directed by Jeremy Rice of Always Working Artists. It's an intense play which delves into the dark depths of a high school shooting that took place in Germany in 2002. Our season at La Mama Courthouse runs from Wed 29th Oct - Sun 9th Nov. Further info and tix here.

Virginia Woolf Radio Play Recording

Yesterday, we spent the day in the Studio at 3MBS Radio recording our beloved Radio Play on Virginia Woolf. Such an interesting, ongoing project which began its life at La Mama theatre's Explorations Season last year as a Play with Songs, now it's a Radio Play. Who knows what it will become next? It's our own creation, which gives us the power and pleasure to develop it into whatever we want. We have the highly experienced Faye Bendrups as Composer and Musical Director and the inimitable Peter Green as Producer. Stay tuned - literally!

Claire Nicholls & Andi Snelling recording Virginia Woolf Radio Play, September 2014 (Open Cage Photography)

#TrueRomansAll - my next project

Here is a thing what I find myself in...

It's a special collaboration between Bell Shakespeare and Pop Up Playground and is based on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. #TrueRomansAll will pull together site-specific performance, improvisation and Shakespeare, all under the umbrella of 'Choose-Your-Own-Adventure.' I will be performing the role of Calpurnia - Caesar's wife - and cannot wait to hit the rehearsal room.


The Lion's Bride Q&A Hosting

There's a nifty little show on next week at the Northcote Town Hall called The Lion's Bride by innatum theatre. It's got all those ingredients which I love - physical theatre, mask work and poetry. I'm excited to have been asked by the company's artistic director Tammie Kite, to host the post-show Q&A Session next Thursday 28th August. In preparation, I'll be reading Gwen Harwood's poetry, which isn't bad homework to have now, is it?

Short Film Shoot

Last weekend, I shot a dark, grotesque short film called Boots, written and directed by Greg Carroll. I have worked with Greg in theatre before, so it was a fun experience working with him in a film context - such a different medium. It was also inspiring working with Andre de Vanny, an actor whose work I admire and who I recently saw star in a very slick production of Glory Dazed at Red Stitch. I can't wait to see the final cut of the film.

Feature in the Melbourne Observer

I have never observed the Melbourne Observer, but obviously they have observed me! Below is their feature on Quills by Mockingbird Theatre, playing at the Arts House Meat Market until August 15th.

Interview on SBS Radio

I've just had the pleasure of being interviewed in French by Jean-Noel Ducasse on SBS 1 Radio as part of their French Arts segment today. He chatted to me about my role in Mockingbird Theatre's production of Quills (opening tomorrow) and my career so far as a Melbourne-based actor who has spent a lot of time in the industry in Europe. You can listen to the interview here.

Quills Trailer

I dare you to look away. You won't be able to.

The trailer for the upcoming production of "Quills" by Mockingbird Theatre, in which I play the roles of Madame Royer-Collard and Lunatic. It's wonderfully debauched and macabre.