When I returned to Australia in 1997, after an absence of 30 years, the first acting job I was offered came from a Brisbane based company, Trocadero Productions. I had been impressed by their previous production, Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, performed in an abandoned gaol on Boggo Road. This was notorious as a darkly dreary complex of stone buildings, with tiny cold cells and dodgy staircases, around a central courtyard. Now, of course, it is being converted into luxury apartments. Who wouldn’t want to live in a renovated, haunted gaol?
The Life and Death of King John, also by Shakespeare, was to be directed by the wonderful, sadly missed Paul Sherman, and I was invited to play Queen Elinor. What. A. Blast! It was also performed at the Boggo Road Gaol, with intimate scenes played out on the internal gallery and in cells, with the more grand and physical scenes outside.
This is where I met Allana Noyes (our Georgina and Flora in the podcast) who played Constance, and John Warner (producer of Trocadero Productions) as The Bastard. John and I collaborated on several productions over the next 15 years, including David Mamet’s gorgeous two-hander A Life in the Theatre, with the also sadly missed John Dommet, and the musical political satire Brave New World Order, written by and starring John Warner, both of which I directed.
And now, Hallelejuh! John has joined the Thunder’s Mouth Company of Actors to take on the role of Jonathan, Janey’s Aussie husband, in Am I Old Yet? The Podcast.
I’ve finished the editing, just need to upload the show notes, and set it to go live at midnight tonight. Enjoy.
