Life Can Change In A Heartbeat, 2023

Directed by Kristine Landon-Smith

April 2023 I was invited to make a headphone show for The Australian Film Theatre and Television School, recently merged with JMC Academy. 

At the last minute I had to postpone my trip to Sydney but the Head of Acting, Glen Hamilton asked if it would still be possible to make the show without me there. This is the beauty of headphone - I jumped at the chance. I knew I could co-create the content with my friend and colleague in Australia Linda Nicholls-Gidley and the student group and generate and curate the work entirely online. So the first month we made the show using a google drive and performance practice rehearsals were all done on Zoom. The student group was very diverse and gathered a range of stories from their networks and the final content was surprising, funny and poignant. With a cohort of seventeen students there was equity between all of them in the group - every student went through the whole process learning interview, edit and performance technique and they all had the same stage time . This is normally very difficult to achieve with an extant play for a graduating student body of seventeen students! 

Linda rehearsed the show and it played at Belvoir Street Theatre downstairs and audiences were enthralled by many stories that would not normally be heard on the Australian stage.