Scotch College
Amadeus – SALIERI
Acting and Direction

I am interpreting Salieri from Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus written in 1979, a fictional psychological play where the composer recounts his jealousy of Mozart. Convinced that Mozart’s genius is divinely granted rather than earned, Salieri’s envy corrodes his morality and faith, exposing themes of jealousy, human frailty, and the shadow of genius. The Act 1 monologue shows his emotional breakdown, propelling him towards a vendetta against Mozart and culminating in his confession of mediocrity.

Stylistically, Amadeus blends psychological realism, storytelling theatre, and presentational conventions which I am keeping. The action, set in the late 18th century, uses realistic characters and period interactions to establish time and place, while Salieri’s direct address positions the audience as confidants in his story. In Enlightenment Europe, his despair reflects on debates around faith, morality and genius; for a contemporary audience, less defined by religion, the play resonates as a universal exploration of ambition, envy and inadequacy. Although the narrative structure shifts between present and memory, the sequence of events unfolds largely linearly, heightening the storytelling theatre style and engaging audiences as both witnesses and judges of Salieri’s downfall.

As a director, I apply emphasis to foreground Salieri’s spiritual conflict. The white shrine representing his faith is placed upstage centre, with the prayer cushion downstage, forcing Salieri’s eyeline upwards when addressing God. The shrine is given prominence both with its central position and the contrast between white and the other black set pieces, with props that symbolise jealousy and sin. This positioning entraps Salieri in his faith and envy, and highlights his internal conflict around temptation; this is also referenced through the green and red costuming, linking to his envy and fury. The piano stool signifies Mozart – both his music and Salieri’s early belief in equality – interacted with at first, then as its importance diminishes, Salieri can no longer sit there. For audiences, this staging externalises his inner turmoil; an 18th-century audience might read defiance against God, while a modern audience interprets it as entrapment by obsession and comparison. Music also contributes during the ‘musical interlude’, as he scatters pages chaotically before arranging them over the crucifixes to spell CODA, a musical term for ‘finale’, signalling inevitability and downfall.

As an actor, I use variation in vocal and physical expression to communicate Salieri’s shifting states of jealousy, faith and defiance. The older Salieri speaks with a raspier tone, slower tempo, and measured, hunched movements supported by his cane, while the younger displays higher pitch, frantic pace, nervous smiles, and restless gestures in awe of Mozart. At the climax, renouncing God, I heighten intensity with a louder, angrier tone, sharper gestures, and a break from circular pathways into direct, grounded movement.

Mount Rowan Secondary College
The Venetian Twins – ARLECCHINO
Acting and Direction

Today I will be interpreting the character of Arlecchino from The Venetian Twins in the production role of actor and director. My interpretation of Arlecchino’s monologue presents him as servant and trickster towards his master Zanetto, drawing on commedia dell’arte conventions alongside the mocking tone of Enright’s 1979 adaptation. As director, I’ve planned blocking to emphasise his playful manipulation of social status. For example, when Arlecchino shouts, ‘Signor Zanetto!’ he will slam the trunk shut, freeze centre-stage, open his mouth in outrage towards the audience, mocking his master's tardiness before resuming. As an actor, when Arlecchino exclaims, ‘Use it on myself’, I will dart downstage, using sudden stops to heighten comedic tension while playing my master’s dowry. Direct address involves the audience in Arlecchino’s mischief. I transform Arlecchino’s two handkerchiefs into twins, symbolising the confusion and playful trickery. The monologue foreshadows the wider themes of mistaken identity and love.

Dramaturgical research into commedia dell’arte identifies Arlecchino as a Zanni archetype: mischievous, opportunistic and physically agile. Goldoni’s Venetian Twins belongs to a transitional period in Italian theatre, where improvised commedia traditions were being reshaped into scripted comedies. The play centres on mistaken identity between contrasting twin brothers, Zanetto and Tonino. Goldoni’s intended meaning was to satirise human foolishness and expose social structures while entertaining with façade and wit. Enright’s Australian adaptation involves these themes through Whitlam-era satire and larrikin humour, using informal language to challenge social hierarchies. This makes the comedy accessible to contemporary audiences while retaining original themes.

Planning as the director, I’ve researched the world of the play, stock characters and lazzi. I’ve blocked Arlecchino downstage for direct address, creating humour, and upstage of the trunk for moments of deception. As an actor, improvising with props ensured slapstick was rehearsed to be safe. Experimenting with a traditional Arlecchino mask during development amplified physicality and exaggerated gestures. Costumes retain the traditional diamond-patterned tunic with knee pads, and practical shoes to support exaggerated lazzi. As an actor, experimenting with vocal projection, articulation and pauses shapes comic rhythm.

For example, emphasising the pause after ‘till I find him’ builds anticipation for the reveal. During presentation, as an actor, I will perform expressive gestures and vocal variations, and as director, I will give notes on the performance to maintain energy.

My interpretation blends commedia dell’arte and musical theatre conventions. From commedia, I’ve incorporated slapstick, lazzi and direct address; from musical theatre, I use song to reveal inner thoughts. As director, I’ve applied the element of theatre composition contrast by blocking chaotic movement against stillness. Using electric theatre technology of the Procreate app, I’ve recorded blocking and digitally drawn costumes. As an actor, I use rhythm in Arlecchino’s rapid gestures and singing. Recycled fabric and materials were used to create ethical and sustainable costumes and props.

The intended audience is contemporary Australians aged 20–50, urban theatre-goers who appreciate satire, larrikin humour and physical comedy. The scene mirrors the wider play’s exploration of mistaken identity, allowing audiences to recognise the absurdity of deception while laughing at the chaos. The expected reaction is amusement at Arlecchino’s antics. For example, when Arlecchino gestures to the trunk as if it carries the master’s burdens, the audience is invited to laugh at the physical comedy but also reflect on servant–master hierarchies.

Eltham College
The Venetian Twins – ARLECCHINO
Design

In my interpretation of The Venetian Twins, the costume and properties are designed to be actively used during the monologue, ensuring that Arlecchino’s dual function is visible in performance This design is specifically intended for a live theatre audience of secondary and tertiary students, as well as adults with an appreciation for physical comedy. The clear use of visual humour, interactive design elements, and exaggerated physicality makes the performance accessible and engaging for audiences who may be learning about theatrical styles such as commedia dell’arte, or who enjoy physical and character-driven comedy. The audience is encouraged to follow the comedy of mistaken identity, recognise character motivations, and engage with the overlapping worlds of the twins through clear visual storytelling and interactive design elements.

Costume: The costume reimagines the traditional Arlecchino costume, using brown and grey fabric patches rather than bright colours. This choice reflects his lower social status and lived hardship, while also echoing his narrative role: piecing together scraps of material mirrors how he pieces together solutions for his masters. Through dramaturgical research into the traditions of commedia dell’arte, Arlecchino is understood to be a servant who survives through wit and adaptability, and this is reflected in the costume’s patchwork construction, which visually communicates to the audience his cleverness and resourcefulness. During the monologue, Arlecchino interacts with the costume by manipulating detachable patches, using them to emphasise moments of humour, highlight confusion, or symbolically represent his problem-solving. This reflects the 1970s context when Australian theatre was exploring its own identity and often satirising social class. Understanding this helped to shape how I approached the monologue, ensuring that design connected both with commedia’s history and the playful tone of the adaptation. Cohesion was used, through making sure that the character, movement and costume all work together to communicate the narrative clearly.

Properties: The properties centre on a wooden cart that can be rotated and tilted, reflecting Arlecchino’s labour while enabling fluid movement between Zanetto’s orderly rural world and Tonino’s chaotic Venetian one. Having it functional as both a prop and a set piece also reflects the theme of duality. Dramaturgical research highlights this contrast within the wider play. Zanetto’s world is calm, structured, and defined by his naivety and wealth; whereas Tonino’s world is fast-paced and erratic, filled with impulsive choices, deception, and social confusion. A single mask on the cart can be lifted or worn as a costume, to signal moments of theatrical awareness or disguise, connecting directly to the costume and character, while also allowing the director to decide if they want to implement traditional commedia dell’arte conventions, or play with the modern aspects of the adaptation. Emphasis is used through props to highlight key moments of comedy and confusion, guiding the audience’s attention while reinforcing Arlecchino’s mediating role. These choices link the monologue to the wider play, showing how Arlecchino navigates and exposes the chaos of mistaken identity, and how his cleverness and agility move the story forward.

Scotch College
boy girl wall – NARRATOR and ALETHEA and ALAN and DAVE
Acting and Direction

I shaped my piece through two key dramaturgical influences. Firstly, Lucas Stibbard – one of the playwrights – was a stand-up comedian, and secondly, he and Matthew Ryan created caricatures that exaggerate and at times ridicule familiar experiences. These influences guided my approach: they allow me to connect the audience to moments such as sympathising with Alethea’s chaos, laughing at Alan Rack’s oddness, and recognising the all-too-familiar image of being attacked by a magpie while riding a bike.

The original production uses modern theatre styles with aspects of Poor Theatre – particularly transformation of time, place and character – as the narrator embodies multiple roles to tell the story, as well as a storytelling style, with the narrator both directly addressing the audience and enacting the action. Mostly though, it was the comic characters that resonated with me and they have influenced my interpretation. I intend to use the theatrical style of comedy, blending slapstick, deliberately bad gags, and above all caricature. This is most evident in my comic magpie sequence, and my Gothic take on Alan Rack. My costume and makeup choices extend this connection to a modern audience: cargo shorts ground the character as the ‘everyman Aussie’, while Stibbard’s original Converse shoes and makeup inspired by Roderick Heffley (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) and Tim Minchin create a quirky, heightened edge. My jacket is decorated with days-of-the-week stickers, in a full production these would light up when the narrator personifies them.

The wider play explores relationships in the modern world, focusing on isolation and connection. Thom (the Boy) and Alethea (the Girl) live side by side in apartments separated by a wall. The selected monologue draws from Section 9 – WEDNESDAY and the beginning of Section 12 – THE LAST STAND – Part 2, which takes place on THURSDAY, centring on Alethea’s story.

As an actor, I shape characters through variation in energy and intensity. The Narrator drives the action with engaging pacing, bouncy movement, and direct address, holding focus and intensity while guiding the audience. Alan Rack contrasts this with pauses, stillness and a nasally voice. His intense delivery towards the implied children shows his misplaced self-assurance, creating comic conflict and unsettling eccentricity. Alethea, by contrast, is shaped with frantic energy, slapstick stumbles, and awkward use of space to convey instability and loss of control. These choices heighten the comedy while drawing empathy for her struggle.

As a director, I use motion to support episodic storytelling. The block on wheels is a central set piece, with its repositioning marking shifts in place. The Narrator interacts with it playfully, improvising transitions that reinforce narrative and comedy. Character is also shaped through movement: Alethea’s frantic rush suggests lateness and chaos, while Alan’s heavy, anchored strides slow the rhythm and focus attention.

Braybrook College
The Picture of Dorian Gray – DORIAN GRAY and JAMES VANE and SIR THOMAS
Acting and Direction

My Interpretation of the picture of Dorian Gray remained true to its original late Victorian context, demonstrated through the accurate period hunting costume and British accent.

I applied conventions of multidisciplinary theatre by fusing cinematic elements with direct address and heightened characterisations. Interacting with the pre-recorded characters on the TV screen and using techno music drawn from the Sydney Theatre Company’s theatrical score, embodies multidisciplinary theatre, and creates a cinematic atmosphere while maintaining the immediacy of live theatre.

As an actor I employed contrast when transforming characters. For Dorian I was anxious, often trembling and frantically looking around, juxtaposed with James Vane who is gruff and gazes around vengefully. Since Sir Thomas is described as a radical Member of Parliament, I employed an upright confident posture, and an arrogant and assertive vocal tone.

As a director, I wanted to emphasise Dorian's interaction with the hare. Dorian's focus and intense gaze on the hare serves as a symbol of his desire to reclaim his purity and past identity; the innocence of the hare is later juxtaposed with Dorian’s tortured portrait that reflects his sins.

I was inspired by Kip William’s directorial vision to create a virtuosic solo performance for one actor, accentuating the actor’s acting skills. As a director, I also emphasise the actor playing every role through character transformations, and pre-recorded footage. To contextualise why James seeks revenge, I made a directorial decision to include haunting pre-recorded footage of James’s deceased sister Sibyl Vane. My research showed that Oscar Wilde purposefully created parallels between Sibyl and Ophelia from Hamlet. In Wilde’s original novel, Sibyl commits suicide by poisoning. To strengthen the allusion to Ophelia, I chose to show that Sibyl had drowned herself, portraying Sibyl’s ghost as drenched and pale in my pre-recorded footage.

I chose a portrait orientation for my TV screen and masked the TV with a gold frame to create the illusion of Dorian’s portrait. My blocking choices enable me to interact with the screen, while simultaneously inviting the contemporary audience to engage with the performance.

My dramaturgical research revealed that Williams applied Snapchat filters to distort the actor’s image, hence I utilised an old-age filter over Dorian's portrait to illustrate his mental, physical and moral decay.

Newhaven College
Once – GIRL
Acting and Direction

Directorially, I interpret Girl’s monologue from the modern, semi-autobiographical musical Once through a contemporary mix of naturalism and minimalism, focusing on cohesion to link the two excerpts into a seamless journey tracing Girl and Guy’s growth over a single week. My guitar, a Yamaha acoustic – mid-market, good value, serious in tone – anchors this cohesion: first symbolising Guy’s discarded self-worth, later his silent presence in The Hill. Its quality reflects his care for music and identity. Girl’s act of lifting it with care, then returning it to the ground, creates a bookending gesture capturing the bittersweet theme that love can transform without lasting. My vacuum cleaner (Henry) introduces understated European humour, echoing the musical’s natural wit, while mirroring Guy’s brokenness. Its battered, dated design reflects Girl’s immigrant reality – making do with what is worn but still worthwhile. Within a 5 x 5-metre space, props shift fluidly between street, shop and reflection, providing balance and embodying the minimalist ethos that truth emerges from simplicity. My costume – a thick blazer, scarf, Doc Martens and floral skirt – roots Girl in early-2000s Dublin, suggesting financial restraint. My sound design layers motifs from The Hill to foreshadow her inner conflict and unify the two excerpts. For a 2025 audience, the simplicity and sincerity of Once resonate deeply in a world shaped by transience and digital disconnection – its focus on authentic human connection and emotional honesty feels both nostalgic and profoundly current. Together, these choices create a cohesive symbolic through-line reinforcing Hansard and Irglova’s intended meaning that love’s power lies not in permanence, but in transformation.

As an actor, I use emphasis to deepen the audience’s empathy, admiration and connection to Girl. In the opening, I draw focus to her quirky determination through brisk humour and blunt practicality – dragging the vacuum across the stage with upright posture, economical steps, and direct gestures that convey confidence and purpose. In The Hill, I assign importance to silence, stillness, and the symbolic weight of the guitar: once Guy’s discarded self-worth, it now embodies Girl’s father, her love of music, and Guy himself – all things she must sacrifice. Long pauses, softened gestures, and a vulnerable tone reveal her isolation – maturity and responsibility that alienate her from others, bound by motherhood, marriage and migration. Linking the excerpts through ‘Girl smiles at Guy – it is wonderful,’ I show her restoring his belief but confronting her truth. Through the prominence of humour, silence and symbolism, she is revealed as both strong and tender – choosing duty over desire.

Virtual School Victoria/Emmanuel College
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – TITANIA
Acting and Direction

As an actor, I will optimise variation, using melodramatic, presentational acting to convey Titania’s emotional fluctuation throughout the monologue. I intend to present all different facets of Titania’s disposition to my audience. I will do this by using dramatic facial expression and voice, proving (her) displeasure to Oberon’s taunts and illustrating her powerful, commanding demeanour, representative of her prestigious status as the supernatural Fairy Queen. I will use presentational direct address to bring attention to Titania’s more compassionate moments, which represent to the audience her fierce devotion to the environment’s upkeep and her nurturing character, evoking feelings of empathy and understanding. Furthermore, I will include a subtle touch of the supernatural through fluid, varying movements symbolic of her fairy mannerisms, further accentuating Titania’s magical identity and drawing in my audience with my unpredictability.

In my directorial role, I emphasised the previously outlined ideas through my blocking choices and design ideas. Presenting Titania in a long floaty skirt and cloak draws attention to and accentuates her graceful movements, and the earthy colour palette of the costume affirms her connection with nature. Having Titania in full costume pays homage to traditional Shakespearian stagecraft of extravagant costumes. I emphasise said stagecraft through the use of isolated, individual set pieces that encourage audiences to envision many of that thing, a single tree representing a forest was a common example seen in Elizabethan times. Additionally, the set piece helps emphasise Titania’s worry of the seasons blending together, by having a visual reinforcement of sparsely placed flowers and orange and green leaves on the one tree. The spherical light helps communicate Titania’s supernatural powers, as she seemingly changes the light colour all on her own, emphasising to the audience her leverage on the natural world. Heavy eye makeup draws attention to my eyes, emphasising Titania’s dramatic expressions. Finally, the inclusion of a soundscape subtly reinforces the idea that Titania is in the forest, and helps audiences properly immerse themselves in her world. The soundscape also helps and shifts in the monologue, atmospherically emphasising mood and location changes.

Caulfield Grammar School – Caulfield Campus
Watermark – NARRATOR
Design

Watermark, written by Australian playwright and director Alanah Valentine, is a verbatim and poetic theatre piece that pays tribute to the devastating and significant historic events of 26 January 1998, the day a devastating flood swept through the town of Katherine in the Northern Territory of Australia. This entire region was officially declared a national disaster zone, with an estimated 1,000 square kilometres submerged, over 1,000 homes damaged, and three lives tragically lost. My interpretation aims to emphasise the profound impact on the Katherine community, all of whom were deeply affected. The vignettes throughout this script, both preparing for the flood and after the flood, demonstrate the visible and emotional scars as the trauma of sudden displacement ran deep, which I have honoured through my use of quotes in line with the verbatim theatre style.

My minimalist yet versatile set design allows for the script’s episodic exploration of a whole range of powerful themes that centre around survival, resilience and connection, exploring the emotional toll the flood’s impact had on the town and its people. Moreover, my soundscape utilises EOTC Rhythm and is designed to enhance the tension throughout the play alongside the theme of the environment and the power of nature, as well as the strength it takes to rebuild after devastation. 

Moreover, the episodic structure and broader world of the play call for a minimalist and highly adaptable set design, enabling seamless transitions across the many scenes and locations seen throughout the performance. Thus, the element of theatre composition, cohesion, is implemented through my set design as it provides a unified community meeting place in which all the vignettes take place throughout the script – before, during and after the scenes where this monologue has been taken from.

Watermark further integrates conventions of Verbatim theatre, offering an authentic portrayal of the real-life event through a script constructed from the testimonies and interviews of survivors. This theatrical style has directly influenced my sound design, which seeks to replicate the auditory experiences of Katherine civilians during the floods by implementing the build of dripping water and gushing river water that consumed the Katherine community and changed it forever. I have also emphasised the human response to this event through the addition of ticking clocks, heartbeats, breathing and gasps.

This monologue is performed by the character of the narrator, Dhurrunbin, who acts as the driving force and voice of the Katherine River, which overflowed and submerged the town; leading to my choices to emphasise this character through the Sound Design. The written script of the monologue sees the implementation of symbolic and descriptive language through the use of metaphors and heightened visual imagery that assist in capturing the significance of the event. These themes and ideas inspired me as a designer and I want the audience to gain an in-depth emotional and intellectual understanding regarding the significant impact that the Northern Territory floods had on their community.

Parkdale Secondary College
boy girl wall – NARRATOR and ALETHEA and ALAN and DAVE
Acting and Direction

Matthew Ryan and Lucas Stibbard’s contemporary Australian solo-play boy girl wall, intended for a contemporary young audience of theatregoers who appreciate humour, is set in the present, in west-end Brisbane and explores the intricate themes of navigating modern life, the power of imagination, and the unexpected connections between mundane and chaotic events.

As a director, I applied minimalistic and eclectic theatre by transforming set and prop items such as the chair, laptop Dave, helmet, and Alethea's red-satin skirt to evoke emphasis on the imaginative world of the play. Utilising dark green, ‘chalk-outlined’ set pieces that have the visual appearance of a blackboard, I place immediate focus on the eccentric, ‘dreaming’ mind of The Narrator by having the set and props serve as a symbolic ‘chalkboard’ of imagination – where thoughts and creativity can be sketched, erased, and redrawn at will. 

This expression of imagination is created through Alethea’s red-satin skirt, the design of Alethea’s laptop Dave coupling as her book, and overhead projector. The skirt is ripped off and transformed into a ‘plume of flame’ that engulfs the magpie, creating prominence in its transformation of object. The transparent vinyl slides of the projector direct focus through The Narrator’s imagination, while the sliding screen of Dave is utilised to heighten tension to subsequently scare the children he is reading to in the library. 

The Narrator’s base costume – a 'chalk-outlined' black shirt, pants and shoes – acts as an ambiguous ‘blank slate’, allowing additions such as the green padded jacket or red satin skirt to emphasise his creative escapes as he transforms and manipulates his posture, accent and mannerisms to mimic that of his other characters.

boy girl wall is a play designed to thrive on audience response, attitudes and humour, with its meta-theatrical elements fostering a highly engaged and participatory audience culture. This importance of audience involvement strongly informed my performance choices. 

As such, as an actor I employed variation in fast-paced moments to create shifts in energy, intensity and timing. Inspired by silent film stars of the 20th century, such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, I used comic exaggeration and physical, choreographed precision. For example, when Alethea ‘tried to catch the bus’ or ‘slowed time down’, I dropped into a slow-motion state, drawling my vocal tone and movement to provide a descent in intensity and a comic break in the chaos.

In moments such as ‘the notebook was still safe’, I utilise a sudden snap in energy as the magpie ‘leapt from its nest’, mimicking its swoop with sweeping arms. Verbally, my character transformations were clarified through beats before and after a transformation to provide a distinct shift in the timing and energy between characters. 

This is thus portrayed through Alan, hunched with a broad Australian accent, Dave twitchy with a west-American accent inspired by Silicon Valley where Dave was likely created, The Narrator upright with a general Australian accent, and Alethea, refined with a cultivated Australian accent to reinforce her perfectionist nature.

Virtual School Victoria/Kings College
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – BOTTOM
Acting and Direction

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an early comedy written by William Shakespeare in the mid-1590s. It was written in the style of Elizabethan theatre, with conventions including presentational acting, direct address and heightened use of acting skills, all of which I will apply in my interpretation of Nick Bottom the Weaver. Shakespeare's intention for the play was to challenge attitudes to social class, creating manual labourers who have a great passion for theatre. Shakespeare’s audiences included a wide cross-section of the population. I have recontextualised the play to contemporary Australia, with Bottom and the Mechanicals conveyed as ‘tradies’ in Far North Queensland with the forest being the Daintree. My intention is to create accessible and popular entertainment for a contemporary audience, which was Shakespeare’s original intention for the play.

As an actor I will apply EMPHASIS to highlight Bottom’s egotistical character, and his strong belief that he is a GREAT theatre performer. I will use my vocal skills to give Bottom a broad Australian accent, raising my voice during moments of excitement and lowering it during moments of awkwardness. I will apply presentational acting with exaggerated gestures to emphasise Bottom’s exuberant nature and excitement when performing. Following the transformation into a donkey, I will apply direct address to enhance the actor–audience relationship as Bottom confides his fear and confusion. 

As a director I will apply MOTION through the arrangement of the implied characters. I will position Bottom centre stage with Peter Quince and the other Mechanicals directly in front, to enhance the use of presentational acting, and strengthen the actor–audience relationship. I will communicate this implied placement by directly gesturing towards these characters, particularly when speaking to Peter Quince. I have also blocked Bottom to move downstage during moments of excitement, to convey his confidence as the leading actor.  My set design includes a rotating set piece: on one side is the lush green trees that represent the Daintree rainforest. On the other side is a wooden frame-like structure that represents Quince’s house, referencing the Mechanicals’ work in trade and construction. I wear a ‘tradie’ costume with a high-vis vest, tool-belt and shorts as well as a donkey head to represent Bottom’s transformation. During the section where Bottom sings, I use the Bunnings theme tune, to reinforce my directorial vision of Bottom as a contemporary Australian ‘tradie’.

Thornbury High School
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – TITANIA
Design

I have designed sound and props for Titania in ‘A Mid - SUMMER - Night’s Dream’.

Shakespeare’s intentions for the play were to present Titania as a woman with a strong sense of independence and authority, someone who would defy her husband. Inspired by this and the foreshadowed abuse and manipulation that Titania endures later in the play, my design aligns with the feminist theatre movement to critique these unchallenged immoralities of the original context and the Elizabethan style and stage.

My dramaturgical research into Elizabethan England informed my understanding that audiences accepted Oberon’s dominance as natural, even with Queen Elizabeth on the throne. There was a reason she never took a husband – single, she kept her power. 

My intended audiences, however, are contemporary, progressive and feminist. They disapprove of male dominance and instead celebrate Titania’s leadership and defiance.
My designs are influenced by the original Elizabethan theatre style’s conventions of ‘descriptive dialogue’ and ‘heightened emotion’. My Props and Sound convey both setting and mood for a modern audience unfamiliar with the original language. 

This convention and the element of theatre composition EMPHASIS inspired me to use props that make prominent the natural and emotional imagery in Titania’s speech, such as flowers and objects that reflect her memories and the environmental chaos described. The descriptive dialogue also influenced how I draw focus to Titania’s personal connections and nostalgia, allowing the audience to engage with her character’s inner world.

I employ the element of rhythm in my sound design. The disjointed pacing conveys the disagreement between husband and wife, and shows nature being affected by their fighting. While my sound design is one unbroken score, today I play you three key segments.

By drawing from these Elizabethan conventions, I make Shakespeare’s poetic imagery tangible and immersive for a contemporary Australian audience, while maintaining the integrity of the original text.

In this monologue, I interpret Titania as a figure who holds immense natural and social power. However, in my interpretation, I focus on the presence of patriarchy as a constraint to even the most powerful female figures.

My designs invite empathy and support for Titania. I aim for the audience to leave unsettled by the unresolved patriarchal resolution of the play and worried for the sleeping Titania as the monologue closes.

Geelong Grammar
The 7 Stages of Grieving – WOMAN
Acting and Direction

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the Wadawurrung people, the first custodians of this land. I also acknowledge the people of Ukraine, whose land is currently under threat, where my extended family is facing forced displacement, the separation of children from their families, and a profound loss of culture and identity.

These parallels between Aboriginal histories and my Ukrainian heritage form the foundation of my personal and cultural connection to this performance. My interpretation of The 7 Stages of Grieving (2003) by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman explores shared experiences of grief, loss and cultural disconnection. In a one-on-one workshop, Enoch reflected on international productions of the play in Japan and Korea, emphasising his vision for this play as a universal story, with the character of Woman representing the ‘every man’. In honouring this intention, I weave in symbolic references to my Ukrainian heritage.

As the director, I chose to use Suitcases to frame the stage. This use of theatrical emphasis highlights themes of dispossession, displacement and separation from family.

As the director, I embodied this idea through the character of Aunty Grace. Visually, this is symbolised by Woman wearing the colours of the Ukrainian flag, which become concealed beneath the heavy, restrictive layers of Aunty Grace’s Western clothing. As the actor, her later breakdown and tearing off of these layers cathartically symbolises and emphasises her yearning to reconnect with her culture.

As the actor I use variation of body language and voice to contrast each character. As Woman I shrink my body frame, with fidgeting hands, tucked elbows, and pulling up my shoulders when slightly unsure. This contrasts with Aunty Grace, who has controlled and upright body language, combined with a lower vocal octave to age her. My vocal octave is then lowered again when I transform into Nana, becoming a raspy growl, with hunched body language to emphasise her age.

The second half shifts to explore Aboriginal marital systems. As the director, I chose to interpret Woman as a young girl, embodying innocence, curiosity and a childlike attempt to make sense of complex adult expectations. This framing mirrors the confusion of young Ukrainians witnessing war and questioning why ‘bad things happen’.

As the actor, I embody this interpretation through naïve delivery of the question ‘Are you with me?’ as Woman grapples with the social and cultural expectations placed on her. These ineffable social nuances spoken by a child emphasises the pressures placed on women within these systems and evokes a deeper emotional response from the audience.

Sand in the script represents Country. In my interpretation, I use piles of photographs of sunflowers, which are the Ukrainian national symbol of identity. As the actor, I use these photographs to explain the complex marital systems; however, as the scene progresses, these photographs come together to form a mosaic of my Ukrainian Nana, concluding the piece with the central theme of family, and affirming both cultural survival and intergenerational connection.
 

Melbourne High School
The Picture of Dorian Gray – DORIAN GRAY and JAMES VANE and SIR THOMAS
Acting and Direction

Kip Williams’s play uses extensive audio-visual technology to acknowledge the parallels between social media obsession and Oscar Wilde’s preoccupation with vanity and hubris. In my interpretation, I foreground this with the use of the ring light and the social media notification sound effects, and a costume reminiscent of a typical teenager of the 2020 lockdown era.

I have recontextualised the portrait as Dorian’s decaying social media presence, revealing to him the true rot and horror of his being just as the portrait does in the original text. Like the portrait which, upon viewing, shatters Dorian’s delusional false youth, my physicality moves from a self-indulgent dance to harrowed stillness. Drawing upon expressionistic acting, I claw at my face upon seeing my true reflection without the social media validation.

I use the theatre style of expressionism to unify ideas surrounding vanity, overindulgence and consumerism. Where Kip Williams’s Dorian Gray made extensive use of flowers to portray his obsession with beauty, I have chosen to use Monster Energy cans as a symbol of the more artificial, consumerist notion of beauty in our modern culture. Using the element of cohesion by incorporating these cans into my set and prop design, I give the whole scene an oversaturated eclectic colour scheme. Collecting these cans was a trend among youth on social media in 2020 and it modernises the rampant consumerism in the original text for a contemporary youth audience.

For the hare, which in the original text serves as a symbol of true, natural, non-artificial beauty, I chose to convey this intended meaning by switching the ring light to a warm sunlight colour, representing in my interpretation a peek into the outside world that Dorian has been so deprived of.

I replaced the use of guns with a spray bottle of cleaning product, highlighting James Vane’s function in the original text as a karmic force, literally trying to cleanse Dorian of his sins.

As an actor I employed expressionistic conventions to show variation between characters. When performing as Dorian my body language is more closed, my widened eyes and jittery movement portray his mental instability and lack of moral grounding. Conversely, as James Vane I utilise broad-chested, open physicality and a deeper voice to portray his strength and moral fibre against Dorian. As Sir Thomas, I use a much stiffer posture and shrill voice, communicating to the audience his upper-class snobbish status.

Kingswood College
The Picture of Dorian Gray – DORIAN GRAY and JAMES VANE and SIR THOMAS
Design

In my interpretation of The Picture of Dorian Gray, I aim to symbolise the unravelling soul of Dorian Gray through set and costume design. My design vision is to evoke a sense of unease and create a confronting actor–audience relationship. I also want the audience to be prompted to self-reflect and question societal standards of beauty, warning through the displayed effect of vanity on Dorian.

In this monologue, I focus on the central message of depicting the corrupted soul of Dorian, and I emphasise and explore this. I have chosen to focus on an eclectic theatre style with a focus on Expressionist Theatre and Gothic Theatre, as evident in my design choices. I have employed the conventions of physical portrayals of psychological state and the gothic convention of elements of death and darkness in both my set design and costume design.

Through my dramaturgical research, I learnt of William’s use of Cine-theatre, which was used by the playwright to comment on the encasing presence of performative images. In my set design, I have explored these themes through embedding design aspects such as mirrors and frames, instead of live video projection, to symbolise the surrounding, watchful feeling of surveillance and feelings of suffocation that Williams created. 

Through my set and costume design, I have chosen to focus on the themes of duality, influence and corruption, and obsession with beauty.

Duality is seen through the use of contrast in my costume design, consisting of features including pristine, ornate Victorian elements juxtaposed with dark, decayed rips and tears. This symbolises the dual sides of Dorian Gray in this monologue.

Emphasis, my focus in my set design, is seen through the gothic colour palette, and the fragmented style of the forest landscape. Electrical theatre technologies work to further emphasise the distorted face that appears when James Vane enters. This enhances the physical portrayal of the inside of Dorian to the audience, symbolising his battle with good versus evil, his constant fear of being watched, and his desire to remain perfect.

Overall, my design vision aims to display the corrupted, fearful mind of Dorian at this moment in the play, through the untamed wild set design, and contrasting high society costume that is fractured and torn to represent Dorian's soul.

Ballarat Clarendon College
The Venetian Twins – ARLECCHINO
Acting and Direction

As director, I chose Nick Enright’s vaudeville commedia dell’arte The Venetian Twins. In a time of cancel culture, and meticulously created online media, we rarely find unperfect art made for the sheer sake of enjoyment. I have recontextualised the play from mid-18th century Verona to 2020 Australia to help connect the contemporary audience to the themes of social satire, and expendable relationships. The intended meaning is to entertain the audience with Australian spirit through farce, physical comedy, colourful costumes, and catchy songs, all conventions of the original commedia style. I also use lazzi and direct address from this style.

My character is inspired by the Australian larrikin, a stereotype of a boisterous and badly behaved individual recognised by Australian audiences. Physically, the traditional Arlecchino will be shown through energetic movements, a fluid posture led by his pelvis, and non-naturalistic facial expressions. The moment where the scarf covers my head alludes to the use of mask as a convention of commedia, forcing the audience to focus on mannerisms and physicality.

I traded the traditional diamond-patterned jumpsuit for contemporary diamond patterned boardshorts, and a Bintang singlet. The VB cans, soda cans, Tim-tams and esky are easily recognisable and quintessential to the stereotypical Australian larrikin. The misfitting and low quality of the clothes indicates Arlecchino’s lower status. As the opening of the play, easy contextual clues will set the audience up for effortless enjoyment and understanding.

Traditionally male, I have chosen to cast Arlecchino as gender fluid since contemporary theatre is becoming less fixed on appearance, and more on storytelling. It enhances the comedy within the stereotypical larrikin through the exaggeration of masculinity.

Motion is central to Arlecchino, who conveys his boisterous energy by crossing the stage with energy, using his body for contextual clues – like the presence of flies. Arlecchino’s downstage positioning is symbolic of his openness and connection to the audience, as he wants to win their hearts and get their food. This changes when his master Zanetto appears, and he moves upstage right to finish, depicting his natural compliance to a low status position.

Utilising rhythm for musical elements, I keep a different tempo for each thought while singing and stumming my guitar, therefore keeping the audience fascinated with unconventional pace. As the comedic relief in the performance, the timing of farce, lazzi, and speech will be intertwined with my soundscape to surprise the audience and make them laugh.

I illustrate satire through my matter-of-fact tone and excited facial expressions towards events – like sending a twin away forever, or getting married to a maid he hasn’t met – to emphasise the ridiculousness of accepted social behaviour and expectations.