I've Just Worked On...
The Room Below - Feature Film
Nick Curnow with actor Alyssa Sutherland on the set of The Room Below (2024)
After losing her son to cancer, a grieving mother befriends another boy, but things begin to unravel when a retired detective starts searching for a missing child, and something sinister arrives in her house...
The producer of this independent feature was originally a coaching client of mine over 10 years ago. Since then he's moved into feature film production with numerous successes to his name. Lunar Pictures' The Room Below stars Alyssa Sutherland (Evil Dead Rise, Vikings) and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors, The Twelfth Man, Vikings), but also a young Australian actor on the rise named Gilbert Bradman (The Twelve, Transfusion, Queen of Oz) and his younger brother Alistair Bradman (Ten Pound Poms, The Twelve, Population: 11). I was brought in to keep an ear on his American accent on set. I also worked with cast member Luke Cussen (Les Norton, Intersection) on a powerful scene early in the film. .
As an added bonus, said producer friend offered me a small role in the film as a greasy diner owner. So for one day of the five-week shoot I got to swap my dialect coach hat for my old actor hat and step on the other side of the camera. The location was amazingly set-up to resemble a classic American diner in winter - fake snow, red fire hydrant, muscle cars, a yellow cab, the works!
Post-production is in full swing!
The producer of this independent feature was originally a coaching client of mine over 10 years ago. Since then he's moved into feature film production with numerous successes to his name. Lunar Pictures' The Room Below stars Alyssa Sutherland (Evil Dead Rise, Vikings) and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors, The Twelfth Man, Vikings), but also a young Australian actor on the rise named Gilbert Bradman (The Twelve, Transfusion, Queen of Oz) and his younger brother Alistair Bradman (Ten Pound Poms, The Twelve, Population: 11). I was brought in to keep an ear on his American accent on set. I also worked with cast member Luke Cussen (Les Norton, Intersection) on a powerful scene early in the film. .
As an added bonus, said producer friend offered me a small role in the film as a greasy diner owner. So for one day of the five-week shoot I got to swap my dialect coach hat for my old actor hat and step on the other side of the camera. The location was amazingly set-up to resemble a classic American diner in winter - fake snow, red fire hydrant, muscle cars, a yellow cab, the works!
Post-production is in full swing!
INK - Sydney Premiere (2024)
Jane Wallace, Nick Curnow, William Baltyn, Emily Weare, Emmanuel Nicolaou, Jack Elliot Mitchell, Daniel Tompson: Photo: Chris Lundie 2024
Mariah Stock & Sophie Highmore. Photo by Chris Lundie 2024
Simon Bolton & Nick Curnow;
photo by Chris Lundie 2024
Adrian Adam; photo by Chris Lundie 2024
Nick Curnow, Jack Elliot Mitchell, Daniel Tompson; photo by Chris Lundie 2024
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“I want to tell you a story. And it’s true. That’s what makes it a good fucking story, right, ‘cause all the best stories are true.”
My long-time colleague Louise Fischer sent me the script of James Graham's amazing play Ink in April and asked me to look at the role of Larry Lamb, warning me that if I said yes, I'd probably be onstage the entire show. I read the script and was hooked from the get-go by the incredible story and the dense but brilliantly crafted dialogue, and naturally said yes. Little did I know then how big a bite I had just taken of the proverbial theatrical pie. While this is the story of how Rupert Murdoch destroyed the fourth estate, and Murdoch is the instigator and the character who looms large over the action of the play, Lamb is the ostensible "lead" in this show; just as in real life it was Lamb who took Murdoch's directives and encouragement, and ran and ran and ran to achieve one of history's truly spectacular pyrrhic victories. Lamb is unlike many of the roles I have found myself playing over the years - so often the carer, the helper, the genuinely nice guy: Burt in Grain in the Blood (2024), Joe in Jumpers for Goalposts (2023), or the loveable funny guy Mason Marzac in "Take Me Out" (2009). Being an emotional centre of a narrative/play is not new to me. Lamb on the other hand is a charismatic proto-alpha male, driven by deeply held convictions heavily seasoned by class consciousness and years of being overlooked for his genuine talents (whether in fact or in his own perception). Briefly reflecting now, perhaps by being accustomed to playing the emotional centre of a story has helped me keep Larry's humanity firmly in my view - and hopefully in the audience's view as well. Graham is not known for painting with broad strokes, and while we the audience (and history) may judge, there are neither heroes nor villains in Ink. I'm writing this mid-season (which has been entirely sold out, bar a wet Thursday and Friday), and have been relishing the chance to take our audiences on the ride Graham has crafted in this wonderful script. It helps that I've got an amazing, supportive, professional ensemble sharing the stage with me. Sometimes an actor has a shit-load of lines to learn, and sometimes they have lines as well as a shit-load of entrances, exits, set movements, prop placements and technical cues to hit. Many hands, light, etc. 
Nick Curnow; photo by Chris Lundie 2024
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Primitive Warwww.imdb.com/title/tt18312380/ - Feature Film
An actor is cast as a evil genius Russian villain in a high-profile feature film. Two weeks before they are due to shoot, an accident renders them unable to take on the role. Another actor is cast but they have barely a week to nail a flawless Russian accent. Cue my long-term client Aaron Glenane who had worked with this new actor, one Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor, on another highly successful feature film (which I had coach Aaron for - see his generous testimonial on my Testimonials page!) - he connected me and the new actor and the rest is history.
I had two online sessions with this actor to prep them for their shoot days, followed by back and forth audio recordings, plus ad hoc audio/voice memos during the shoot when new dialogue was added. Unfortunately time didn't allow me to deliver the wonderful list of Russian expletives I researched!
I had two online sessions with this actor to prep them for their shoot days, followed by back and forth audio recordings, plus ad hoc audio/voice memos during the shoot when new dialogue was added. Unfortunately time didn't allow me to deliver the wonderful list of Russian expletives I researched!
THE FRONT PAGE
I was delighted to be asked by frequent colleague and collaborator Nicholas Papademetriou (most recently coaching his Yorkshire dialect in for LOOT) to coach the dialects on this new adaptation of a classic American play. Originally written by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur, then adapted for film as "His Girl Friday", here we find a new adaptation of the original with elements inspired by the film.
“A journalist is a cross between a bootlegger and a whore.”
Late at night, in the crowded press room at Chicago’s Criminal Court, a group of reporters is waiting to cover a controversial execution the next morning. Then an unexpected event breaks through the banter and bravura, and suddenly a scoop is on the cards.
This landmark comedy from 1928 introduced the now-familiar character of the hard-living, wise-cracking reporter chasing the big story, no matter what.
In this fresh adaptation, complete with some gender swapping, the satire on corruption, manipulation and scandal in politics, journalism and justice still hits a nerve.
Though mobile phones and laptops have replaced notepads and typewriters, and the internet has changed the way news is reported, the essence of the newshound is the same. The plot twists and turns as much as its ethically elastic characters, and the laugh-a-minute, rapid-fire script will get the adrenaline rushing.
CREATIVE TEAM
Director & Adaptation Nicholas Papademetriou
Designer Paris Burrows
Lighting/Sound Designer Michael Schell
Assistant Director Kathy Petrakis
Dialect Coach Nick Curnow
Stage Manager Rosane McNamara
Assistant Stage Manager Genevieve Viljoen
CAST
David Allsopp, Luca Berreta, Cassady Maddox Booth, Alison Chambers, Barry French, Barret Griffin, Megan Heferen, Braydon May,
Gerry Mullaly, Georgia Nicholas, Nathan Porteus, Diego Retamales, Michael Smith, Reuben Solomon, Callum Stephen, Rose Treloar,
Andrew Waldin, James Yeargain
“A journalist is a cross between a bootlegger and a whore.”
Late at night, in the crowded press room at Chicago’s Criminal Court, a group of reporters is waiting to cover a controversial execution the next morning. Then an unexpected event breaks through the banter and bravura, and suddenly a scoop is on the cards.
This landmark comedy from 1928 introduced the now-familiar character of the hard-living, wise-cracking reporter chasing the big story, no matter what.
In this fresh adaptation, complete with some gender swapping, the satire on corruption, manipulation and scandal in politics, journalism and justice still hits a nerve.
Though mobile phones and laptops have replaced notepads and typewriters, and the internet has changed the way news is reported, the essence of the newshound is the same. The plot twists and turns as much as its ethically elastic characters, and the laugh-a-minute, rapid-fire script will get the adrenaline rushing.
CREATIVE TEAM
Director & Adaptation Nicholas Papademetriou
Designer Paris Burrows
Lighting/Sound Designer Michael Schell
Assistant Director Kathy Petrakis
Dialect Coach Nick Curnow
Stage Manager Rosane McNamara
Assistant Stage Manager Genevieve Viljoen
CAST
David Allsopp, Luca Berreta, Cassady Maddox Booth, Alison Chambers, Barry French, Barret Griffin, Megan Heferen, Braydon May,
Gerry Mullaly, Georgia Nicholas, Nathan Porteus, Diego Retamales, Michael Smith, Reuben Solomon, Callum Stephen, Rose Treloar,
Andrew Waldin, James Yeargain
The Cripple of Inishmaan
I was invited last year to coach the Irish dialects for this phenomenal play by renowned Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. the Campbelltown Theatre Group is classified as either independent or amateur by Australian standards, but their work and scope speaks for itself. In Sydney, regional theatre companies such as CTGI do and have been doing vital work for decades, bringing stories with so much to offer to regional Sydney.
Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland in 1934, this is a strange comic tale in the great tradition of Irish storytelling. As word arrives on Inishmaan that the Hollywood director Robert Flaherty is coming to the neighbouring island of Inishmore to film Man of Aran, the one person who wants to be in the film more than anybody is young Billy Claven, if only to break away from the bitter cruelty and tedium of his daily life.
Town Hall Theatre Campbelltown
PRODUCTION TEAM
Director - Kirsten Jowsey
CAST
Joshua Paterson, Keelan Judge, Felicity Burke, Nicki James, Tenielle Thompson,
Mark Merco, John Michael Burdon, Sandra Mineeff, Trevor Burdon, Lee Copp
Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland in 1934, this is a strange comic tale in the great tradition of Irish storytelling. As word arrives on Inishmaan that the Hollywood director Robert Flaherty is coming to the neighbouring island of Inishmore to film Man of Aran, the one person who wants to be in the film more than anybody is young Billy Claven, if only to break away from the bitter cruelty and tedium of his daily life.
Town Hall Theatre Campbelltown
PRODUCTION TEAM
Director - Kirsten Jowsey
CAST
Joshua Paterson, Keelan Judge, Felicity Burke, Nicki James, Tenielle Thompson,
Mark Merco, John Michael Burdon, Sandra Mineeff, Trevor Burdon, Lee Copp
THE CORRESPONDENT (Feature Film)
"Award-winning journalist Peter Greste reports on the Arab Spring uprising, becoming entangled in a deadly game of rivalries. Imprisoned for seven years despite his innocence, he survives on wits alone before release in 2015."
This feature film is a dramatisation of the life (thus far) of journalist Peter Greste. A long-term regular client of mine is playing a real-life South African journalist colleague of Greste.
Now, a natural, authentic white South African accent is a tricky thing to master. Many accents and dialects of English carry stigma due to their being perceived as "less" - less intelligent, less capable, less valuable, less worthy. But the white South African accent, thanks to the history of colonisation and apartheid, carries the stigma of the oppressor. To find the human being in any sound system is my goal and indeed my job as a dialect coach for actors. My client and I were lucky to have a few key primary resources of this real-life person speaking to be able to place their humanity front and centre, thus, we hope, climbing out of the pool of stereotype and stigma.
I can't wait to see my client's amazing work on screen soon!
This feature film is a dramatisation of the life (thus far) of journalist Peter Greste. A long-term regular client of mine is playing a real-life South African journalist colleague of Greste.
Now, a natural, authentic white South African accent is a tricky thing to master. Many accents and dialects of English carry stigma due to their being perceived as "less" - less intelligent, less capable, less valuable, less worthy. But the white South African accent, thanks to the history of colonisation and apartheid, carries the stigma of the oppressor. To find the human being in any sound system is my goal and indeed my job as a dialect coach for actors. My client and I were lucky to have a few key primary resources of this real-life person speaking to be able to place their humanity front and centre, thus, we hope, climbing out of the pool of stereotype and stigma.
I can't wait to see my client's amazing work on screen soon!
Grain in the Blood
Image by Clare Hawley / Asparay Photographics 2024
"...and so long as the blood flowed in the grain, and the grain flowed in the blood, all would be just so in the valley..."
For the first time in a long time I was offered a role based on my recent work. Victor saw me in Jumpers for Goalposts last year and on the strength of this offered me the role of Burt in this amazing work of a gothic folk thriller in Grain in the Blood by Rob Drummond. I'm a huge fan of the folk-horror genre (The Wicker Man, Kill List, Midsommar, the recent Lord of Misrule...) and there are significant elements of folk religion, horror and strangeness in Drummond's work which explores deeply the tension between hope, faith, and truth.
Isaac, a prisoner released on compassionate furlough, returns to his home in a remote farming community – a place steeped in folklore and superstition. He is there for his daughter, Autumn’s twelfth birthday, and unless a kidney donor can be found, it will be her last. As the Harvest Moon rises, Isaac must make a terrible choice that could offer redemption for a crime that robbed Autumn of a mother and father. One way or another, blood will flow and a sacrifice must be made.
The Australian premiere of Rob Drummond’s folk-noir thriller dares the audience to answer the question “what would you do to save the person you love?” - and do the ends ever justify the means?
Director: Victor Kalka
Cast: Kim Clifton, Nick Curnow, Genevieve Muratore, Siobhan Lawless, Ciarán O’Riordan
Set Designer: Victor Kalka
Lighting Designer Jasmin Borsovszky
Sound Designer/Composer: Madeleine Picard
Costume Designer: Lily Mateljan
Dialect Coach: Linda Nicholls-Gidley
Intimacy Coordinator: Shondelle Pratt
Stage Manager: Maya Soni
ASM: Sasha Byk Giroux
Producer: Victor Kalka
For the first time in a long time I was offered a role based on my recent work. Victor saw me in Jumpers for Goalposts last year and on the strength of this offered me the role of Burt in this amazing work of a gothic folk thriller in Grain in the Blood by Rob Drummond. I'm a huge fan of the folk-horror genre (The Wicker Man, Kill List, Midsommar, the recent Lord of Misrule...) and there are significant elements of folk religion, horror and strangeness in Drummond's work which explores deeply the tension between hope, faith, and truth.
Isaac, a prisoner released on compassionate furlough, returns to his home in a remote farming community – a place steeped in folklore and superstition. He is there for his daughter, Autumn’s twelfth birthday, and unless a kidney donor can be found, it will be her last. As the Harvest Moon rises, Isaac must make a terrible choice that could offer redemption for a crime that robbed Autumn of a mother and father. One way or another, blood will flow and a sacrifice must be made.
The Australian premiere of Rob Drummond’s folk-noir thriller dares the audience to answer the question “what would you do to save the person you love?” - and do the ends ever justify the means?
Director: Victor Kalka
Cast: Kim Clifton, Nick Curnow, Genevieve Muratore, Siobhan Lawless, Ciarán O’Riordan
Set Designer: Victor Kalka
Lighting Designer Jasmin Borsovszky
Sound Designer/Composer: Madeleine Picard
Costume Designer: Lily Mateljan
Dialect Coach: Linda Nicholls-Gidley
Intimacy Coordinator: Shondelle Pratt
Stage Manager: Maya Soni
ASM: Sasha Byk Giroux
Producer: Victor Kalka
Kim Clifton as Autumn ;
Photo by Clare Hawley / Asparay Photographics 2024
LOOT
Photo: Bob Seary. Set Design: David Marshall Martin. Lighting Deign: Paris Bell
“Euthanasia is against my religion so I decided to murder her.”
Young thieves (and lovers) Hal and Dennis need a place to stash the cash from a bank robbery. The coffin of Hal’s recently-deceased mother, currently at home awaiting burial by her bereaved husband Mr McLeavy, is the perfect solution. There’s only one hitch: where can they hide the body?
The arrival on the scene of Inspector Truscott, a corrupt and nosy policeman investigating the heist, puts a spanner in the works. To get out of the jam, the boys are forced to trust Fay, the late Mrs McLeavy’s much-married nurse, and enlist her help in return for a share of the loot.
This blistering queer black comedy eviscerates the hypocrisies of church, state and social niceties, the farce bouncing wildly between the ordinary and the outrageous. Coming after the success of Entertaining Mr Sloane, it confirmed Orton as one of the most daring and original voices of his generation.
What a delight to work on this amazingly witty and muscular text. How can a text be "muscular"? Schedule a session with me and we can find out! We had to deal with class, time period, identify concealment, and all sorts of fabulous names and places and phrases in this piece. Lots of fun!
CAST: Ali Davies,, Saro Lepejian, Oliver MacFadyen, Nicholas Papademetriou, Shannon Ryan, Alexander Spinks, Andrew Waldin
CREATIVE TEAM
Director Johann Walraven
Set Designer David Marshall Martin
Lighting Designer Paris Bell
Costume Designer Kathleen Kershaw
Sound Designer Glenn Braithwaite
Dialect Coach Nick Curnow
Fight Director Tim Dashwood
Stage Manager Rosane McNamara
Operators Atlas Andrews,
Sarah Djurichkovic, Ricci Costa
Young thieves (and lovers) Hal and Dennis need a place to stash the cash from a bank robbery. The coffin of Hal’s recently-deceased mother, currently at home awaiting burial by her bereaved husband Mr McLeavy, is the perfect solution. There’s only one hitch: where can they hide the body?
The arrival on the scene of Inspector Truscott, a corrupt and nosy policeman investigating the heist, puts a spanner in the works. To get out of the jam, the boys are forced to trust Fay, the late Mrs McLeavy’s much-married nurse, and enlist her help in return for a share of the loot.
This blistering queer black comedy eviscerates the hypocrisies of church, state and social niceties, the farce bouncing wildly between the ordinary and the outrageous. Coming after the success of Entertaining Mr Sloane, it confirmed Orton as one of the most daring and original voices of his generation.
What a delight to work on this amazingly witty and muscular text. How can a text be "muscular"? Schedule a session with me and we can find out! We had to deal with class, time period, identify concealment, and all sorts of fabulous names and places and phrases in this piece. Lots of fun!
CAST: Ali Davies,, Saro Lepejian, Oliver MacFadyen, Nicholas Papademetriou, Shannon Ryan, Alexander Spinks, Andrew Waldin
CREATIVE TEAM
Director Johann Walraven
Set Designer David Marshall Martin
Lighting Designer Paris Bell
Costume Designer Kathleen Kershaw
Sound Designer Glenn Braithwaite
Dialect Coach Nick Curnow
Fight Director Tim Dashwood
Stage Manager Rosane McNamara
Operators Atlas Andrews,
Sarah Djurichkovic, Ricci Costa
The Actors Centre Australia - Teaching
I was invited to teach the final trimester of the 2023 graduating class 3rd years) at the Actors Centre Australia, based in Leichardt, Sydney. This is such a privilege as I have not only worked directly with so many ACA graduates, but I watched their current home being built during my high school years (over 20 years ago now!)
Actors Centre Australia is a private, dramatic arts and acting school offering both certificate and degree level qualifications, based in Leichhardt, with its credentials officially underpinned by Torrens University. It's an amazing place with decades of fabulous graduates and work to support its name.
I am currently teaching the graduating class accent and dialect, and acting for camera with a view to nailing their own showreel and showcase. They are a deeply dedicated, talented, and invested group of students who are an absolute delight to teach.
I look forward to boasting about their achievements in the months and years to come.
Actors Centre Australia is a private, dramatic arts and acting school offering both certificate and degree level qualifications, based in Leichhardt, with its credentials officially underpinned by Torrens University. It's an amazing place with decades of fabulous graduates and work to support its name.
I am currently teaching the graduating class accent and dialect, and acting for camera with a view to nailing their own showreel and showcase. They are a deeply dedicated, talented, and invested group of students who are an absolute delight to teach.
I look forward to boasting about their achievements in the months and years to come.
The Turn of The Screw
Image by Emily Elise, Fifty One Watts Graphic Design
"There are some demons even Hell won't shelter..."
A young woman is sent to an isolated country estate to care for two children. A boy and a girl, Miles and Flora. The children are charming, if perhaps a little too precocious. And for a while everything seems perfect. But something is gathering, waiting. There is a figure in the darkness. And there are sins that don't die with the sinner.
A brand-new adaptation of one of the most celebrated horror stories ever written, The Turn of the Screw is a creeping and malevolent exploration of the way the crimes of the past poison long into the future. Based on the classic novella by Henry James and written and directed by Tooth and Sinew's Richard Hilliar (U.B.U: A Cautionary Tale of Catastrophe), this psychological thriller will leave you questioning your senses and checking every shadow.
I was happy to be invited by my friends at Tooth & Sinew to act as voice and dialect coach on their production of an original new adaptation of the classic gothic ghost story by Henry James The Turn of the Screw. Envisioned as a taught, claustrophobic, yet expansively realised production of theatrical trickery and atmospheric dread, Richard Hilliar and his team created a fascinating theatrical experience and conundrum, worthy of the source text.
Reviews were resoundingly glowing, and the cast acquitted themselves brilliantly. I coached the majority of the cast in Received Pronunciation while the housekeeper Mrs Grose was decided to be a Northerner - Yorkshire specifically. Even so, variations and fascinating factors had to be accounted for, especially in the character of the Governess in this particular version, and ESPECIALLY in the characters of the children, Miles and Flora, both played by adult actors. When are children not children? When are we as the audience to notice this? How decisive must this change be? James' classic story hinges on ambiguity, and this was the delightful challenge we all worked towards.
A young woman is sent to an isolated country estate to care for two children. A boy and a girl, Miles and Flora. The children are charming, if perhaps a little too precocious. And for a while everything seems perfect. But something is gathering, waiting. There is a figure in the darkness. And there are sins that don't die with the sinner.
A brand-new adaptation of one of the most celebrated horror stories ever written, The Turn of the Screw is a creeping and malevolent exploration of the way the crimes of the past poison long into the future. Based on the classic novella by Henry James and written and directed by Tooth and Sinew's Richard Hilliar (U.B.U: A Cautionary Tale of Catastrophe), this psychological thriller will leave you questioning your senses and checking every shadow.
I was happy to be invited by my friends at Tooth & Sinew to act as voice and dialect coach on their production of an original new adaptation of the classic gothic ghost story by Henry James The Turn of the Screw. Envisioned as a taught, claustrophobic, yet expansively realised production of theatrical trickery and atmospheric dread, Richard Hilliar and his team created a fascinating theatrical experience and conundrum, worthy of the source text.
Reviews were resoundingly glowing, and the cast acquitted themselves brilliantly. I coached the majority of the cast in Received Pronunciation while the housekeeper Mrs Grose was decided to be a Northerner - Yorkshire specifically. Even so, variations and fascinating factors had to be accounted for, especially in the character of the Governess in this particular version, and ESPECIALLY in the characters of the children, Miles and Flora, both played by adult actors. When are children not children? When are we as the audience to notice this? How decisive must this change be? James' classic story hinges on ambiguity, and this was the delightful challenge we all worked towards.
The Turn of the Screw, Photo by Phil Erbacher 2023
Equity Foundation / MEAA Workshops
Over the last two weeks I was invited to present two workshops to hundreds of Actor's Equity members from across Australia and New Zealand. While I have been teaching Miller Voice Method work here since encountering it in the USA nearly 6 years ago, not just privately but at NIDA, Screenwise, STC, and ECMT, this was arguably the first mass introduction of the mVm approach to an Oceania audience.
The first workshop focused on what mVm is, and introduced the idea of the Active Breath. The second continued to expand upon the AB and then finished with a short exploration of mVm Mask work - Cranio-facial release in namely the Neck, Jaw and Tongue.
SOME FEEDBACK:
"Super practical. Well planned. I want to know more and will definitely work with Nick sometime. Thanks."
"The clear and informative introduction to Miller Voice Method and active breathing, and how it can be used in performance and life."
"I was initially concerned with the slow start but found Nick to be super organised with a specific approach that revealed itself beautifully as the hour progressed. This is without a doubt one of the most practical online sessions I've experienced..."
"Nick was great, new concepts (to me) and a really interesting approach to teaching over Zoom."
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?
https://www.millervoicemethod.com/
The first workshop focused on what mVm is, and introduced the idea of the Active Breath. The second continued to expand upon the AB and then finished with a short exploration of mVm Mask work - Cranio-facial release in namely the Neck, Jaw and Tongue.
SOME FEEDBACK:
"Super practical. Well planned. I want to know more and will definitely work with Nick sometime. Thanks."
"The clear and informative introduction to Miller Voice Method and active breathing, and how it can be used in performance and life."
"I was initially concerned with the slow start but found Nick to be super organised with a specific approach that revealed itself beautifully as the hour progressed. This is without a doubt one of the most practical online sessions I've experienced..."
"Nick was great, new concepts (to me) and a really interesting approach to teaching over Zoom."
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?
https://www.millervoicemethod.com/
Jumpers for Goalposts -
World PRide & Sydney Mardi Gras, New Theatre
Photography by Bob Seary.
"Honestly it should not be this hard to win a very small trophy, it really shouldn't."
For my first time back on stage in 4 years, I was gifted to take on a role in Tom Wells' gentle, heart-warming, heartfelt and hilarious play about football, belonging, and being f$%#ing good losers.
To sweeten the whole experience it was perfectly timed for my return to Sydney after three intense and rewarding years in Adelaide. It also marked my return to the New Theatre, which holds a very special place in my heart and is big part of my community in Sydney. In many ways they are a major part of my theatrical family.
The New Theatre, which is Australia's longest continuously running theatre company, has been dedicated to presenting queer works as part of Sydney's world-famous Mardi Gras for 25 years, and this year we finally got to be an official part of World Pride! I have been proud to be involved in the New's Mardi Gras seasons since playing Mason Marzac in Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out in 2009. This was also a reunion of sorts for my dear colleagues Alice Livingstone and Emma Louise, both of whom I directed in Jonathan Harvey's Canary in 2011. But this time Alice directed me, and Emma and I played brother and sister - our first time acting together. To say this reunion, along with the amazing younger cast of Isaac Broadbent, Sam Martin, and Jared Stephenson, was special, is a massive understatement.
The icing on the cake was getting to act in the fabulously arcane and specific Hull accent. Full credit must go to my friend and colleague Benjamin Purser for his stellar work with our cast as dialect coach.
See some of the fabulous reviews here!
LEAVING ADELAIDE
So it was time. After three years designing the curriculum for the nascent Elder Conservatorium's Bachelor of Music Theatre (ECMT), including the Voice stream (three years of moveable feasts, with lockdowns and absences and all of it!), the 2nd year Accent & Dialect intensive (12 weeks of joyous and investigative insanity) and the 1st year Script Analysis intensive (16 weeks of blowing the minds of 1st years), I've decided to move on. Adelaide was always a "side" step (never a "back " step), and the humans and artists and passionate people I was gifted to be able to work with will never leave my heart.
I got to see a Cabaret, a Mamma Mia, a Urinetown, an In Pieces, a Les Miserables, a Legally Blonde, and a 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, as well as "songs and scenes", and individual cabarets, all of which were unmitigated triumphs for those individuals, and undeniable "personal bests" which are really only benchmarks to be smashed.
I arrived in Adelaide to take up my position in March 2020 - so it was never going to be easy. But three years later, all of the beautiful students I was lucky enough to teach are moving forward and growing in their own ways.
My eternal gratitude goes out to George Torbay and Greg Balcombe (photography below), to Joseph Simons, to Erin James, and to all my students who got me through.
I got to see a Cabaret, a Mamma Mia, a Urinetown, an In Pieces, a Les Miserables, a Legally Blonde, and a 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, as well as "songs and scenes", and individual cabarets, all of which were unmitigated triumphs for those individuals, and undeniable "personal bests" which are really only benchmarks to be smashed.
I arrived in Adelaide to take up my position in March 2020 - so it was never going to be easy. But three years later, all of the beautiful students I was lucky enough to teach are moving forward and growing in their own ways.
My eternal gratitude goes out to George Torbay and Greg Balcombe (photography below), to Joseph Simons, to Erin James, and to all my students who got me through.
"Legally Blonde," 2022
Simone Williams, Eve Kelley, April Beak, Shanee Osborne, Mackenzie Garcia.
"The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee", 2023. Josie Stanger-Jones.
"Mamma Mia" 2021. Georgia Broomhall, Mitre Khammash, Brooklyn Twelftree, Amy Roff, Eliza O'Connel
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"Les Miserable." 2022. Joshua Ridge.
"Les Miserable" 2022. Jeremy Thomas, Zarek Wentzell, Harley Dasey, Lachlan Moss, Daniel Maley, Sasha Simic
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"Cabaret" 2021. Sally Ostrowski.
"In Pieces," 2021. Meagan Wills.
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The cast of Urinetown, 2021.
"In Pieces," 2021. Nikki Long
The cast of "Urinetown", featuring Barbra Toparis, 2021.
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The ENFORCER (Feature Film)
Nikos Arampatzis Photography - Insta: @nikos_ar_photo
"An enforcer has to sacrifice everything to save a young girl he has befriended from his femme fatale boss who is involved in cybersex trafficking."
I did some highly detailed work with cast member and Heath Ledger Scholarship recipient Mojean Aria (See, The Last Manhunt, Reminiscence, The Bronx Bull, Danger Close) on his voice and dialect for his role as Stray in this film. He's an incredibly hard working actor with an incredible focus on detail and nuance, making our work together very fruitful. I can't wait to see his work opposite the likes of Antonio Banderas and Kate Bosworth on the big screen.
Watch the official trailer here now!
Director - Richard Hughes
Writers - W. Peter Illif (screenplay)
Starring - Kate Bosworth, Antonio Banderas, Natalie Burn
I did some highly detailed work with cast member and Heath Ledger Scholarship recipient Mojean Aria (See, The Last Manhunt, Reminiscence, The Bronx Bull, Danger Close) on his voice and dialect for his role as Stray in this film. He's an incredibly hard working actor with an incredible focus on detail and nuance, making our work together very fruitful. I can't wait to see his work opposite the likes of Antonio Banderas and Kate Bosworth on the big screen.
Watch the official trailer here now!
Director - Richard Hughes
Writers - W. Peter Illif (screenplay)
Starring - Kate Bosworth, Antonio Banderas, Natalie Burn
Miller Voice Method Certification
For the past year I've been engaged in the online component of Miller Voice Method's (mVm) Teacher Certification program, which just culminated in about two weeks of intense, amazing, raw, challenging, inspiring, liberating, difficult, and powerful face to face work in New York City. Along with nine other teachers in training we constantly shifted between the roles of student, teacher, colleague, and equal.
mVm aims to eliminate the concept of status in the teaching space as much as possible, which is in many ways antithetical to the prevailing cultural model those of us in the West grew up with. Without that, an amazing kind of emancipation and liberation occurs for everyone in the room.
To learn more about mVm, head here: https://www.millervoicemethod.com/
You won't regret it!
mVm aims to eliminate the concept of status in the teaching space as much as possible, which is in many ways antithetical to the prevailing cultural model those of us in the West grew up with. Without that, an amazing kind of emancipation and liberation occurs for everyone in the room.
To learn more about mVm, head here: https://www.millervoicemethod.com/
You won't regret it!
INTERCEPTOR (Feature Film)
"One Army captain must use her years of tactical training and military expertise when a simultaneous coordinated attack threatens the remote missile interceptor station she is in command of."
I worked closely with cast member Aaron Glenane (Snowpiercer, Shantaram, 2067, Picnic at Hanging Rock) on the voice and dialect for his character "Beaver" in this action / espionage / thriller for Netflix.
Director - Matthew Reilly
Writers - Stuart Beattie, Matthew Reilly
Starring - Elsa Pataky, Luke Bracey, Aaron Glenane
I worked closely with cast member Aaron Glenane (Snowpiercer, Shantaram, 2067, Picnic at Hanging Rock) on the voice and dialect for his character "Beaver" in this action / espionage / thriller for Netflix.
Director - Matthew Reilly
Writers - Stuart Beattie, Matthew Reilly
Starring - Elsa Pataky, Luke Bracey, Aaron Glenane
TRIPLE X - Sydney Theatre Company
I was invited by the Sydney Theatre Company to work on the final two weeks of Triple X's triumphant return to Sydney after the lockdowns of 2020 stopped this beautiful show in its tracks. They were able to secure and perform a Brisbane season earlier this year, but tragically, during rehearsal for their Sydney debut, the Delta variant outbreak of COVID-19 overwhelmed Sydney and forced a shut down. This play is stunning and powerful and not only deserves to be shown, but deserves to be heard, experienced, and embodied for many, many audiences. I am thankful to the cast for welcoming me into their space, and to the creatives, especially Paige Rattray, for allowing me the scope that I had to help make this show the best it can be.
Twenty-first century love
Scotty is living the dream. A successful Wall Street banker, he has just bought a Tribeca loft for a cool three and a half million and is about to marry his beautiful and loaded girlfriend Kymberley. But Scotty has a secret that will outrage both his conservative mother Deb and progressive sister Claire: his ongoing affair with charismatic trans drag performer Dexie. This is a hysterically funny and wildly provocative love story.
NYC-based, two-time Griffin Award-winner Glace Chase is both the writer and star of Triple X, a deep dive into the unknowable contours of attraction. Sydney Theatre Company’s Associate Director Paige Rattray (The Beauty Queen of Leenane) helms a brilliant ensemble cast of Josh McConville (Cloud Nine), Christen O’Leary, Contessa Treffone (The Harp in the South) and Elijah Williams.
Recently announced as a finalist for the prestigious international playwriting award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, this tender and brilliantly comic look at social taboos and love out of bounds is not to be missed.
Approx. duration 2hrs 30mins (including interval).
Content Adult themes including domestic violence and suicide, frequent strong language, drug use, sexual references, sex scenes, nudity, and herbal cigarettes. Subject to change.
We understand the themes may be triggering for some transgender and gender diverse people. If you have concerns about the content of the play we encourage you to contact our Box Office.
If you or someone you know needs information or support, these organisations are there to help; Beyond Blue, Lifeline and Headspace.
UPDATE: EVENT CANCELLED Due to the impact of COVID-19 and current stay-at-home orders, our season of Triple X has been cancelled.
All ticket holders will be contacted via email with ticket return options. Our Box Office is extremely busy fielding a high volume of requests, please await our contact. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Triple X will return as part of our 2022 season.
TRAILER: https://youtu.be/YLDjdjw3r0g
Twenty-first century love
Scotty is living the dream. A successful Wall Street banker, he has just bought a Tribeca loft for a cool three and a half million and is about to marry his beautiful and loaded girlfriend Kymberley. But Scotty has a secret that will outrage both his conservative mother Deb and progressive sister Claire: his ongoing affair with charismatic trans drag performer Dexie. This is a hysterically funny and wildly provocative love story.
NYC-based, two-time Griffin Award-winner Glace Chase is both the writer and star of Triple X, a deep dive into the unknowable contours of attraction. Sydney Theatre Company’s Associate Director Paige Rattray (The Beauty Queen of Leenane) helms a brilliant ensemble cast of Josh McConville (Cloud Nine), Christen O’Leary, Contessa Treffone (The Harp in the South) and Elijah Williams.
Recently announced as a finalist for the prestigious international playwriting award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, this tender and brilliantly comic look at social taboos and love out of bounds is not to be missed.
Approx. duration 2hrs 30mins (including interval).
Content Adult themes including domestic violence and suicide, frequent strong language, drug use, sexual references, sex scenes, nudity, and herbal cigarettes. Subject to change.
We understand the themes may be triggering for some transgender and gender diverse people. If you have concerns about the content of the play we encourage you to contact our Box Office.
If you or someone you know needs information or support, these organisations are there to help; Beyond Blue, Lifeline and Headspace.
UPDATE: EVENT CANCELLED Due to the impact of COVID-19 and current stay-at-home orders, our season of Triple X has been cancelled.
All ticket holders will be contacted via email with ticket return options. Our Box Office is extremely busy fielding a high volume of requests, please await our contact. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Triple X will return as part of our 2022 season.
TRAILER: https://youtu.be/YLDjdjw3r0g
MARE OF EASTTOWN - INTERVIEW for ABC Arts
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I was approached by ABC Arts in my capacity as a voice and dialect coach to comment on the much-commented-upon dialect work of Kate Winslet in the new HBO drama Mare of Easttown. At the time I hadn't yet had a chance to watch the program, despite having read numerous articles on the subject of Winslet's accent work.
Much like my experience on the Schitt's Creek article (see below) this led me to watch the show and become hooked. READ THE INTERVIEW HERE The Philadelphia dialect is fascinating - one of the most academically studied dialects (thank you William Labov), but also one of the hardest to find true representations of in media. In my experience coaching it for "Orphans" for Red Line Productions, it's a beautiful conundrum. Mare of Easttown is highly recommended - available on Binge in Australia. |
CABARET - ECMT
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The first graduating class of the Elder Conservatorium's Bachelor of Music Theatre performed in their first graduating production in April this year. Through the brilliant direction of Erin James and the whole team (Peter Johns, Music director & Production Manager; Zoe Komazec, Choreographer, etc, etc), they brought to the stage a riveting production of "Cabaret."
I was delighted to be on board to coach the accents of German, French, English and American with my 3rd year students. I even made an audio "appearance" as a German train announcer. Sometimes coaching foreign languages is even more of a joy because it brings in some unique and challenging sounds which may be perceived as "harsh" or "ugly" to we native English speakers, but in the context of another language they may be beautiful. I was very proud of my students' work in this production "In a Berlin nightclub, as the 1920's draw to a close, a garish Master of Ceremonies welcomes the audience and assures them they will forget all their troubles at the Cabaret. With the Emcee's bawdy songs as wry commentary, Cabaret explores the dark, heady, and tumultuous life of Berlin's natives and expatriates as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich. Cliff, a young American writer newly arrived in Berlin, is immediately taken with English singer Sally Bowles. Meanwhile, Fräulein Schneider, proprietor of Cliff and Sally's boarding house, tentatively begins a romance with Herr Schultz, a mild-mannered fruit seller who happens to be Jewish. Musical numbers include "Willkommen," "Cabaret," "Don't Tell Mama" and "Two Ladies." " |
Sally Ostrowski as Sally Bowles. Photography by Greg Balcombe, 2021
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Restarting 2021 in South Australia
So as we move on from the mess that was 2020, I'm back in South Australia from a much needed break back on home turf in Sydney with my family, and now that I'm back I'm ready to work here in Adelaide.
So I'm here designing the first ever 3rd year curriculum for the Elder Conservatorium's Bachelor of Music Theatre. I'm also refining and co-ordinating an Accent & Dialect Intensive for our 2nd years, and welcoming a new cohort into the world of voice and Miller Voice Method for their 1st year of study - it's going to be a fascinating and diverse year! I'm also excited to be welcoming a new colleague, Roel Voorbij, who will be giving the now-second years a necessary breath of fresh air and new voice in both physical theatre and embodied voice work.
2020 stifled so many plans for me, and for everyone else, so I'm determined that in 2021 all the doors to success, joy and prosperity will be open for me and for all my clients, students and colleagues. We're so lucky in South Australia to not be in the grip of the pandemic as so many other parts of the world are - let's use it.
The sun is rising!
So I'm here designing the first ever 3rd year curriculum for the Elder Conservatorium's Bachelor of Music Theatre. I'm also refining and co-ordinating an Accent & Dialect Intensive for our 2nd years, and welcoming a new cohort into the world of voice and Miller Voice Method for their 1st year of study - it's going to be a fascinating and diverse year! I'm also excited to be welcoming a new colleague, Roel Voorbij, who will be giving the now-second years a necessary breath of fresh air and new voice in both physical theatre and embodied voice work.
2020 stifled so many plans for me, and for everyone else, so I'm determined that in 2021 all the doors to success, joy and prosperity will be open for me and for all my clients, students and colleagues. We're so lucky in South Australia to not be in the grip of the pandemic as so many other parts of the world are - let's use it.
The sun is rising!
MOVING STATES!
Spring Awakening
In late 2019 I was invited by the course director of the Bachelor of Music Theatre to come to the Elder Conservatorium at the University of Adelaide to take over the voice program for the course, still in its infancy. In 2020 it has just taken on its second cohort of students after a fantastically successful first year where their production of Spring Awakening received high praise from the industry.
I move into this role with a group of extremely talented teachers, building on the work of other extremely talented teachers in the first year of a brand new program.
I move into this role with a group of extremely talented teachers, building on the work of other extremely talented teachers in the first year of a brand new program.
THE ODD COUPLE
The Odd Couple by Neil Simon at the Ensemble Theatre
Oscar likes cards. Sports. Eating leftovers. Felix likes clean air. Polished surfaces. Cooking.
When recently divorced Oscar invites getting-divorced Felix to share his New York apartment, it might not improve their friendship. In fact, it might just ruin it. Will Felix survive late nights, TV dinners and yesterday’s towels? And will Oscar survive drink coasters, clean ashtrays and the recipe for London broil? And who threw that spaghetti at the wall?
Comedy masters Brian Meegan (The Norman Conquests, Two) and Steve Rodgers are the definitive odd couple in Neil Simon’s Tony Award winning comedy of divorce, friendship and (mis)understandings.
22 Nov 2019 - 30 Dec 2019
Director: Mark Kilmurry
Cast includes: Laurence Coy, Katie Fitchett, Robert Jago, James Lugton,
Brian Meegan, Nicholas Papademetriou, Olivia Pigeot, Steve Rodgers
Book tickets here.
Oscar likes cards. Sports. Eating leftovers. Felix likes clean air. Polished surfaces. Cooking.
When recently divorced Oscar invites getting-divorced Felix to share his New York apartment, it might not improve their friendship. In fact, it might just ruin it. Will Felix survive late nights, TV dinners and yesterday’s towels? And will Oscar survive drink coasters, clean ashtrays and the recipe for London broil? And who threw that spaghetti at the wall?
Comedy masters Brian Meegan (The Norman Conquests, Two) and Steve Rodgers are the definitive odd couple in Neil Simon’s Tony Award winning comedy of divorce, friendship and (mis)understandings.
22 Nov 2019 - 30 Dec 2019
Director: Mark Kilmurry
Cast includes: Laurence Coy, Katie Fitchett, Robert Jago, James Lugton,
Brian Meegan, Nicholas Papademetriou, Olivia Pigeot, Steve Rodgers
Book tickets here.
THE LAST WIFE
The Australian Premiere of The Last Wife by Kate Hennig
In a deadly game of power, intrigue and passion, Kate Parr must live by her wits if she wants to avoid becoming another statistic on Henry’s growing list of dead wives. With stepdaughters, step-sisters and the very crown at stake, it will take a woman of immense courage to initiate change.
Can Kate remain steadfast as she navigates the treacherous waters of gender politics, or will she succumb to the might of Henry’s increasing paranoia?
Kate Hennig’s stunning debut play re-imagines the dangerous sparring between Henry VIII and Katherine Parr through a richly provocative contemporary lens. Nikki Shiels (STC’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and Ben Wood (The Big Time) joins an accomplished ensemble cast in a tale that is at once funny, seductive and deliciously thrilling.
Director: Mark Kilmurry
Cast includes: Emma Chelsey, Emma Harvie, Simon London, Nikki Shiels, Bishanyia Vincent, Ben Wood
In a deadly game of power, intrigue and passion, Kate Parr must live by her wits if she wants to avoid becoming another statistic on Henry’s growing list of dead wives. With stepdaughters, step-sisters and the very crown at stake, it will take a woman of immense courage to initiate change.
Can Kate remain steadfast as she navigates the treacherous waters of gender politics, or will she succumb to the might of Henry’s increasing paranoia?
Kate Hennig’s stunning debut play re-imagines the dangerous sparring between Henry VIII and Katherine Parr through a richly provocative contemporary lens. Nikki Shiels (STC’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and Ben Wood (The Big Time) joins an accomplished ensemble cast in a tale that is at once funny, seductive and deliciously thrilling.
Director: Mark Kilmurry
Cast includes: Emma Chelsey, Emma Harvie, Simon London, Nikki Shiels, Bishanyia Vincent, Ben Wood
Schitt's Creek
I was approached by the Inimitable Patrick Lenton at Junkee about the curious uniqueness of Catherine O'Hara's character of Moira Rose on Schitt's Creek.
Prior to this approach I had never watched the show. I couldn't hold back, and unleashed my most technical and fascinating responses. Not all of them made it into the final article, but here we see how I as a director, balance the intensely technical with the deeply artistic.
Voice is acting, acting is voice.
All is artistry.
Prior to this approach I had never watched the show. I couldn't hold back, and unleashed my most technical and fascinating responses. Not all of them made it into the final article, but here we see how I as a director, balance the intensely technical with the deeply artistic.
Voice is acting, acting is voice.
All is artistry.
A View From the Bridge
Anthony Gooley & Zoe Terakes in 'A View from the Bridge.' Photography by Prudence Upton.
I've been the dialect coach on this critically acclaimed production through it's numerous incarnations since 2017. My first coaching session was via Skype with me in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the cast arranged around a long table upstairs at the Old Fitz in Sydney. I'm enormously proud of the cast, past and present and the hard work they've done. The Ensemble stage is a marvellous way to culminate the journey of this brilliant production deftly directed by Iain Sinclair.
Eddie Carbone is devoted to his wife Beatrice and his niece Catherine. When Beatrice’s cousins Marco and Rodolpho enter the US illegally, desperate to find work having fled the poverty of Sicily, the pair is welcomed into the Carbone home. But as Rodolpho and Catherine fall in love, Eddie’s adoration of his niece is no longer touching, but terrifying.
Simmering with jealousy and obsession, Italian-American immigrant life of 1950s Brooklyn colours Miller’s searing drama of tragic proportions. The universal story of family, immigration and justice cuts deeply in this gripping, award-winning independent production from the Old Fitz Theatre. Don’t miss it.
Winner of Best Independent Production, Best Male Actor, Best Supporting Female Actor & Best Newcomer, 2017 Sydney Theatre Awards.
“Grittily passionate… incredibly intense….a long, slow-burning fuse is lit and we watch the explosive result with fascinated horror.” The Australian
Originally produced by Red Line Productions at the Old Fitz Theatre in 2017.
At the Ensemble Theatre, July 18th to August 24th, 2019
Director: Iain Sinclair
Cast: Giles Gartrell-Mills, Anthony Gooley, Scott Lee, David Lynch, David Soncin, Zoe Terakes, Janine Watson.
Buy Tickets: https://boxoffice.ensemble.com.au/WEBPAGES/EntaWebShow/ShowDatesCombo.aspx
Eddie Carbone is devoted to his wife Beatrice and his niece Catherine. When Beatrice’s cousins Marco and Rodolpho enter the US illegally, desperate to find work having fled the poverty of Sicily, the pair is welcomed into the Carbone home. But as Rodolpho and Catherine fall in love, Eddie’s adoration of his niece is no longer touching, but terrifying.
Simmering with jealousy and obsession, Italian-American immigrant life of 1950s Brooklyn colours Miller’s searing drama of tragic proportions. The universal story of family, immigration and justice cuts deeply in this gripping, award-winning independent production from the Old Fitz Theatre. Don’t miss it.
Winner of Best Independent Production, Best Male Actor, Best Supporting Female Actor & Best Newcomer, 2017 Sydney Theatre Awards.
“Grittily passionate… incredibly intense….a long, slow-burning fuse is lit and we watch the explosive result with fascinated horror.” The Australian
Originally produced by Red Line Productions at the Old Fitz Theatre in 2017.
At the Ensemble Theatre, July 18th to August 24th, 2019
Director: Iain Sinclair
Cast: Giles Gartrell-Mills, Anthony Gooley, Scott Lee, David Lynch, David Soncin, Zoe Terakes, Janine Watson.
Buy Tickets: https://boxoffice.ensemble.com.au/WEBPAGES/EntaWebShow/ShowDatesCombo.aspx
Scott Lee, Janine Watson, David Soncin, Zoe Terakes, Anthony Gooley, in 'A View from the Bridge' at Ensemble Theatre. Photography by Prudence Upton.
Studying and Graduating
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Me with Katerina Moraitis, Head of Voice, NIDA, 2018
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I managed to organise, by the skin of my teeth to convert my Graduate Diploma in Dramatic Art (Voice Studies) to the brand new Masters of Fine Arts (Voice), now the only course of its kind in Australia (until VCA commences its Masters program in 2020)
My Grad Dip taught me a lot, but did not teach me to be a teacher. My MFA showed me so much more about how we as human beings learn and has made me an enormously better judge and guide of actors and performers in order to enable them to do their best work. My art is much clearer and more straightforward thanks to this study.
During this course I conducted formal research into the links between cognitive phonology and dialect pedagogy for performers, and also had mentoring from MVM Co-Founder, John Patrick, to integrate that work more into the challenges which the MFA program threw at me.
My Grad Dip taught me a lot, but did not teach me to be a teacher. My MFA showed me so much more about how we as human beings learn and has made me an enormously better judge and guide of actors and performers in order to enable them to do their best work. My art is much clearer and more straightforward thanks to this study.
During this course I conducted formal research into the links between cognitive phonology and dialect pedagogy for performers, and also had mentoring from MVM Co-Founder, John Patrick, to integrate that work more into the challenges which the MFA program threw at me.
An American Sabbatical
Cast members from Sense & Sensibility. Photo via Playmakers
I've just returned from working at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the United States. While there I was working with the Head of Voice and Speech at the Department of Dramatic Art, learning all about how they approach voice over there! I also did some work with the Head of Voice at the Graduate Program at NYU Tisch which was incredibly rewarding!
I was brought on as the Co-Vocal Coach for Playmakers Repertory Company's production of Sense & Sensibility, directed by Taibi Maghar. I worked hard with the cast,, comprised of graduate students, professional actors and company members helping them refine their Received Pronunciation to bring to life the world of Jane Austen on an American stage. See more information about the production on the Playmaker's website.
While I was Stateside I also directed the cast of Red Line's A View from the Bridge, directed overall by Iain Sinclair, on their New York dialects, and managed to help a number of my regular clients back home on the few occasions that the time difference allowed!
I am now in the process of reorganising my schedule to be able to accommodate private clients at home again - please bear with me!
I was brought on as the Co-Vocal Coach for Playmakers Repertory Company's production of Sense & Sensibility, directed by Taibi Maghar. I worked hard with the cast,, comprised of graduate students, professional actors and company members helping them refine their Received Pronunciation to bring to life the world of Jane Austen on an American stage. See more information about the production on the Playmaker's website.
While I was Stateside I also directed the cast of Red Line's A View from the Bridge, directed overall by Iain Sinclair, on their New York dialects, and managed to help a number of my regular clients back home on the few occasions that the time difference allowed!
I am now in the process of reorganising my schedule to be able to accommodate private clients at home again - please bear with me!
e-baby AT THE ENSEMBLE
SYDNEY PREMIERE
For Catherine, a wealthy Australian living in London, the missing piece in her perfect life is a baby. Across the Atlantic in Massachusetts, mother of two Nellie is willing to help her – for a price. Sharing the highs and lows of pregnancy via Skype, email and telephone, these two very different women will ultimately have to decide: who does this baby really belong to?
This funny and moving new Australian play explores the intricacies of the modern family and one of the century’s most emotionally charged dilemmas.
Mature themes. Recommended for ages 12+
Written and originally produced by Jane Cafarella.
Original season direction and dramaturgy by Anna McCrossin-Owen.
DOWNLOAD THE e-baby MEDIA RELEASE
PLAYWRIGHT: JANE CAFARELLA
DIRECTOR: NADIA TASS
DESIGNER: TOBHIYAH STONE FELLER
LIGHTING DESIGNER: NICHOLAS HIGGINS
STAGE MANAGER: DANIELLE IRONSIDE
WARDROBE: ALANA CANCERI
Book tickets here.
For Catherine, a wealthy Australian living in London, the missing piece in her perfect life is a baby. Across the Atlantic in Massachusetts, mother of two Nellie is willing to help her – for a price. Sharing the highs and lows of pregnancy via Skype, email and telephone, these two very different women will ultimately have to decide: who does this baby really belong to?
This funny and moving new Australian play explores the intricacies of the modern family and one of the century’s most emotionally charged dilemmas.
Mature themes. Recommended for ages 12+
Written and originally produced by Jane Cafarella.
Original season direction and dramaturgy by Anna McCrossin-Owen.
DOWNLOAD THE e-baby MEDIA RELEASE
PLAYWRIGHT: JANE CAFARELLA
DIRECTOR: NADIA TASS
DESIGNER: TOBHIYAH STONE FELLER
LIGHTING DESIGNER: NICHOLAS HIGGINS
STAGE MANAGER: DANIELLE IRONSIDE
WARDROBE: ALANA CANCERI
Book tickets here.
I Also Did...
A hiatus! You may have noticed that my updates have been very infrequent, and mostly non-existent for quite some time. I have taken a hiatus from private coaching, but I have not be idle! I've been loving working on productions all around Sydney in this time - I've updated my Voice & Dialect page with recent credits, and will be updating my Testimonials page as well soon!
I've coached a heap of plays at my long-term collaborators the Ensemble Theatre. I've also coached a lot at the Old Fitzroy Theatre through their new custodians Red Line Productions. I've worked on a couple of TV commercials in this time as well, and that has been a wonderful experience! I was the principal voice teacher at the Actor's Pulse for all of 2014, covering RP, London, GenAm and New York for their Intermediate students. I began teaching voice at AFTT under my old voice teacher, Jill Brown. I'm currently the main voice teacher for Federation University's Musical Theatre course being run out of Eora TAFE in Redfern, which is also connected to my early acting training as my first year acting school teacher, Fiona Press, is the head of the Acting course. We're focusing on storytelling and accent for this term - Standard American, some New York, German, Spanish and I think one of them has to speak Russian for their 2nd year production of "Bells Are Ringing" - and they're doing brilliantly.
I'm hoping to post some specific images and reviews of what I've been working on these past few years - it's been busy! In the meantime, thank you for checking out my site, and if you are looking for help with your accent, please drop me a line via my contact form. The hiatus message is still there because my schedule is very hectic and I don't want to promise things I can't deliver - it's great to be in demand, but I acknowledge that I have been swamped and some people have not been responded to. If you get no response initially, please contact me again because I am most definitely NOT deliberately ignoring you!
With thanks for your support, and love for your journey!
Nick Curnow
I've coached a heap of plays at my long-term collaborators the Ensemble Theatre. I've also coached a lot at the Old Fitzroy Theatre through their new custodians Red Line Productions. I've worked on a couple of TV commercials in this time as well, and that has been a wonderful experience! I was the principal voice teacher at the Actor's Pulse for all of 2014, covering RP, London, GenAm and New York for their Intermediate students. I began teaching voice at AFTT under my old voice teacher, Jill Brown. I'm currently the main voice teacher for Federation University's Musical Theatre course being run out of Eora TAFE in Redfern, which is also connected to my early acting training as my first year acting school teacher, Fiona Press, is the head of the Acting course. We're focusing on storytelling and accent for this term - Standard American, some New York, German, Spanish and I think one of them has to speak Russian for their 2nd year production of "Bells Are Ringing" - and they're doing brilliantly.
I'm hoping to post some specific images and reviews of what I've been working on these past few years - it's been busy! In the meantime, thank you for checking out my site, and if you are looking for help with your accent, please drop me a line via my contact form. The hiatus message is still there because my schedule is very hectic and I don't want to promise things I can't deliver - it's great to be in demand, but I acknowledge that I have been swamped and some people have not been responded to. If you get no response initially, please contact me again because I am most definitely NOT deliberately ignoring you!
With thanks for your support, and love for your journey!
Nick Curnow
I Worked on...
A remount of my very successful one man show Fully Committed, this time at the Old Fitzroy Hotel in Wolloomoolloo. It's a rare gift for an actor to get to revisit a character you've played before, but to get to revisit 38 of them is a rare gift indeed! It's also great to continue working with Alexander Butt and Brevity Theatre after the success of Wittenberg.
After a highly acclaimed season at the 2013 Sydney Fringe Festival, Fully Committed has an encore season at the Old Fitzroy Theatre for one week only. This sharp and funny one act play follows a day in the life of Sam Peliczowski, an out-of-work actor who mans the red-hot reservation line at Manhattan's number-one restaurant. Amid the barrage, Sam's got his own needs to contend with-his recently widowed dad wants him home for Christmas, and he's up for a choice part at Lincoln Center. While juggling scheming socialites, name-dropping wannabes, fickle celebrities and egomaniacal bosses, can he manage to look out for himself?
Season runs 24 February - 1 March 2014
Mon, Tues, Wed at 8pm
Thurs & Fri 7pm and 9pm
Sat 2pm and 8pm
BOOKINGS HERE!
We did three shows as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival at the New Theatre, and had great houses. Here are some of the reviews from that run:
- Lisa Thatcher - "...one of the most impressive feats of comic performance you are ever likely to see. Curnow is in full command of his challenge...
[He] races around the desk answering loud, imposing, dominating phones as he physically transforms into each of the personas he embodies. Speed, wit and comic timing are in perfect balance in a performance that almost can’t be improved upon."
- Theatre Red - "Nick Curnow is superb, creating thirty eight characters in fifty minutes... Curnow’s ability to delineate such an enormous cast of characters is awe inspiring. The laughs come thick and fast. His vocal work is nothing short of extraordinary... This is silver service satire."
- Jane Simmons (Shit On Your Play) - "Curnow’s vocal skills were terrific. We recognised each character immediately and his nuance and range was impressive...It's a performance marathon."
After a highly acclaimed season at the 2013 Sydney Fringe Festival, Fully Committed has an encore season at the Old Fitzroy Theatre for one week only. This sharp and funny one act play follows a day in the life of Sam Peliczowski, an out-of-work actor who mans the red-hot reservation line at Manhattan's number-one restaurant. Amid the barrage, Sam's got his own needs to contend with-his recently widowed dad wants him home for Christmas, and he's up for a choice part at Lincoln Center. While juggling scheming socialites, name-dropping wannabes, fickle celebrities and egomaniacal bosses, can he manage to look out for himself?
Season runs 24 February - 1 March 2014
Mon, Tues, Wed at 8pm
Thurs & Fri 7pm and 9pm
Sat 2pm and 8pm
BOOKINGS HERE!
We did three shows as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival at the New Theatre, and had great houses. Here are some of the reviews from that run:
- Lisa Thatcher - "...one of the most impressive feats of comic performance you are ever likely to see. Curnow is in full command of his challenge...
[He] races around the desk answering loud, imposing, dominating phones as he physically transforms into each of the personas he embodies. Speed, wit and comic timing are in perfect balance in a performance that almost can’t be improved upon."
- Theatre Red - "Nick Curnow is superb, creating thirty eight characters in fifty minutes... Curnow’s ability to delineate such an enormous cast of characters is awe inspiring. The laughs come thick and fast. His vocal work is nothing short of extraordinary... This is silver service satire."
- Jane Simmons (Shit On Your Play) - "Curnow’s vocal skills were terrific. We recognised each character immediately and his nuance and range was impressive...It's a performance marathon."
I Worked On...
Image by Blueprint Studios.
The Australian Premiere of Wittenberg by David Davalos at the Old Fitzroy Hotel. This is Brevity Theatre's second production after the success of Fully Committed and stars Alexander Butt as Hamlet, David Woodland as Doctor Faustus, Lana Kershaw as the Virgin Mary, Gretchen and Helen, and me as none other than Martin Luther!
Director Richard Hilliar
Set and lighting designer Benjamin Brockman
Cast Alexander Butt, Nick Curnow, Lana Kershaw and David Woodland
"We all believe in something, even if it's nothing. It's only a question of what we choose to surrender to. So choose wisely."
Hamlet can't pick a major. He's the star tennis player studying at Wittenberg University and has achieved favourite status between two particularly contrary faculty members: Rev Martin Luther and Dr John Faustus. The two lecturers already engage in plenty of philosophical jousting over beers of an evening, but their witty and jovial debates escalate when both Faustus and Luther place more and more importance on winning Hamlet over to their side of the philosophical coin (Hamlet appears to be a foreign prince). As a prequel to both Hamlet and Marlowe's Faustus, this play by David Davalos provides audiences with all they've ever wanted - a brilliant pastiche of fact, fiction, genius and legend. Wittenberg is literary fantasy to be relished and ingested with glee.
Pozible campaign www.pozible.com/wittenberg
Facebook page www.facebook.com/BrevityTheatreCo
Twitter www.twitter.com/Brevity_Theatre
Director Richard Hilliar
Set and lighting designer Benjamin Brockman
Cast Alexander Butt, Nick Curnow, Lana Kershaw and David Woodland
"We all believe in something, even if it's nothing. It's only a question of what we choose to surrender to. So choose wisely."
Hamlet can't pick a major. He's the star tennis player studying at Wittenberg University and has achieved favourite status between two particularly contrary faculty members: Rev Martin Luther and Dr John Faustus. The two lecturers already engage in plenty of philosophical jousting over beers of an evening, but their witty and jovial debates escalate when both Faustus and Luther place more and more importance on winning Hamlet over to their side of the philosophical coin (Hamlet appears to be a foreign prince). As a prequel to both Hamlet and Marlowe's Faustus, this play by David Davalos provides audiences with all they've ever wanted - a brilliant pastiche of fact, fiction, genius and legend. Wittenberg is literary fantasy to be relished and ingested with glee.
Pozible campaign www.pozible.com/wittenberg
Facebook page www.facebook.com/BrevityTheatreCo
Twitter www.twitter.com/Brevity_Theatre
I've Also Worked On...
Proof at the Ensemble Theatre, directed by Sandra Bates. I first saw this show some years ago, I believe it was at the Opera House, and it stuck with me. It's a truly beautiful script. This production has an excellent cast with some people I've worked with before and others who I'm proud to get the chance to work with for the first time. The setting is Chicago so we're in the fun territory of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift where our Aussie "dog" and the GenAm "dahg" become "dagg."
Catherine has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father Robert, a famous mathematician. As she celebrates her 25th birthday, she has to deal with the arrival of her estranged sister and the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father’s who hopes to find valuable work in Robert’s notes. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draws Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: how much of her father’s madness or genius has she inherited?
A captivating character study, PROOF was awarded the 2001 Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award for Best Play and NY Drama Critics Circle Award. PROOF beautifully captures the curse and the gift of beautiful minds.
Directed by Sandra Bates
Designer: Graham McLean
Lighting: Trudy Dalgleish
CAST: Adriano Cappalletta, Catherine McGraffin, Matilda Ridgeway and Michael Ross
Season from January 31st
BOOK HERE!
Catherine has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father Robert, a famous mathematician. As she celebrates her 25th birthday, she has to deal with the arrival of her estranged sister and the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father’s who hopes to find valuable work in Robert’s notes. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draws Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: how much of her father’s madness or genius has she inherited?
A captivating character study, PROOF was awarded the 2001 Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award for Best Play and NY Drama Critics Circle Award. PROOF beautifully captures the curse and the gift of beautiful minds.
Directed by Sandra Bates
Designer: Graham McLean
Lighting: Trudy Dalgleish
CAST: Adriano Cappalletta, Catherine McGraffin, Matilda Ridgeway and Michael Ross
Season from January 31st
BOOK HERE!
I've Also Worked On...
Neighbourhood Watch at the Ensemble Theatre Company, directed by Anna Crawford. I've been called in to coach this stellar cast in UK dialects. the challenge with this one is that the characters float between Upper Middle Class to Lower Middle Class - in other words there is no set pattern for the sounds we are targetting, only a vague and uncertainmodel and we need to find a middle ground for most of them between varying stereotypes. Having seen the preview, I think they've done a marvellous job. A particular pleasure for me was working with my first year acting teacher and AFI Award winner Fiona Press. To be placed in a position of authority by a former teacher, and to be listened to and respected, is very humbling and deeply fulfilling - especially when she so wonderfully captures what you are looking for.
Bluebell Hill is a nice place to live – the only blight on the landscape is the nearby housing estate and its undesirable inhabitants. When new residents Martin and Hilda band together to form their own neighbourhood watch, their close-knit community begins to unravel as the committee become more threatening than the hoodlums. Alan Ayckbourn’s 75th play is a riotous and often scathing examination of the effects of power in the hands of the masses.
It’s in everyone’s nature to try and protect yourself and the people you love, but I think taken to the absolute extreme, that can be quite isolating, counterproductive and even dangerous. Ayckbourn has done a brilliant job exploring that theme in an hilarious play. It is so funny and so dry and I think it’s one of his best works.
DIRECTOR ANNA CRAWFORD
DESIGNER: AMANDA MCNAMARA
LIGHTING DESIGNER: PETER NEUFELD
SOUND DESIGNER: DARYL WALLIS
Bluebell Hill is a nice place to live – the only blight on the landscape is the nearby housing estate and its undesirable inhabitants. When new residents Martin and Hilda band together to form their own neighbourhood watch, their close-knit community begins to unravel as the committee become more threatening than the hoodlums. Alan Ayckbourn’s 75th play is a riotous and often scathing examination of the effects of power in the hands of the masses.
It’s in everyone’s nature to try and protect yourself and the people you love, but I think taken to the absolute extreme, that can be quite isolating, counterproductive and even dangerous. Ayckbourn has done a brilliant job exploring that theme in an hilarious play. It is so funny and so dry and I think it’s one of his best works.
DIRECTOR ANNA CRAWFORD
DESIGNER: AMANDA MCNAMARA
LIGHTING DESIGNER: PETER NEUFELD
SOUND DESIGNER: DARYL WALLIS
I Worked On...
A one man show! As part of the Sydney Fringe Festival I teamed up with Brevity Theatre's Alexander Butt to put on Becky Mode's fantastic play Fully Committed.
This sharp and funny one act play follows a day in the life of Sam Peliczowski, an out-of-work actor who mans the red-hot reservation line at Manhattan's #1 restaurant. Amid the barrage, Sam's got his own needs to contend with—his recently widowed dad wants him home for Christmas, and he's up for a choice part at Lincoln Center. While juggling scheming socialites, name-dropping wannabes, fickle celebrities and egomaniacal bosses, can he manage to look out for himself?
We did three shows at the Fringe venue the New Theatre, and had great houses. Here are some reviews:
Lisa Thatcher - "...one of the most impressive feats of comic performance you are ever likely to see. Curnow is in full command of his challenge...
[He] races around the desk answering loud, imposing, dominating phones as he physically transforms into each of the personas he embodies. Speed, wit and comic timing are in perfect balance in a performance that almost can’t be improved upon."
Theatre Red - "Nick Curnow is superb, creating thirty eight characters in fifty minutes... Curnow’s ability to delineate such an enormous cast of characters is awe inspiring. The laughs come thick and fast. His vocal work is nothing short of extraordinary... This is silver service satire."
Shit On Your Play - "Certainly Curnow’s vocal skills were terrific. We recognised each character immediately and his nuance and range was impressive...It's a performance marathon."
This sharp and funny one act play follows a day in the life of Sam Peliczowski, an out-of-work actor who mans the red-hot reservation line at Manhattan's #1 restaurant. Amid the barrage, Sam's got his own needs to contend with—his recently widowed dad wants him home for Christmas, and he's up for a choice part at Lincoln Center. While juggling scheming socialites, name-dropping wannabes, fickle celebrities and egomaniacal bosses, can he manage to look out for himself?
We did three shows at the Fringe venue the New Theatre, and had great houses. Here are some reviews:
Lisa Thatcher - "...one of the most impressive feats of comic performance you are ever likely to see. Curnow is in full command of his challenge...
[He] races around the desk answering loud, imposing, dominating phones as he physically transforms into each of the personas he embodies. Speed, wit and comic timing are in perfect balance in a performance that almost can’t be improved upon."
Theatre Red - "Nick Curnow is superb, creating thirty eight characters in fifty minutes... Curnow’s ability to delineate such an enormous cast of characters is awe inspiring. The laughs come thick and fast. His vocal work is nothing short of extraordinary... This is silver service satire."
Shit On Your Play - "Certainly Curnow’s vocal skills were terrific. We recognised each character immediately and his nuance and range was impressive...It's a performance marathon."
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