Profiles
This is section documents some of the more interesting characters that have made substaintial contributions to our theatre history.
Written by Bob Ferris
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Bob Ferris AustraliaBob Ferris is a member of the Australian Cartophilic Society and has collected cigarette and trade cards since the late 1970s. He has been a regular contributor to the Society Newsletter and Magazine—The Australian Card Collector—for over twenty years and has served as Co-editor of the magazine for seven years.
Bob was awarded Life Membership of the Society in 2019.
Written by Roland Rocchiccioli
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Roland Rocchiccioli AustraliaThis year, 2024, marks 58-years in the theatre. It has taken Roland to places he never imagined: Moscow, Shanghai, London, New York, Rome, Paris — even Uzbekistan. He has done 14-plays with Googie Withers, and 12 with Frank Thring. He has worked at ABC and The Playhouse, Perth; the Community Theatre, Killara; Melbourne Theatre Company; Harry M Miller Attractions; and Bill Kenwright Productions, London. He is probably best-known for his unlikely on-screen shenanigans with Sam Newman for the AFL Footy Show. It was, he said: “the best decision of my life. It introduced me to a vast audience whom I would never have met. It was such a joy for ten-years! I relished every moment.”
Written by Brendan Kelly
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Brendan Kelly AustraliaBrendan Kelly is a self-confessed evocator of Australian history. He takes an off-centre approach to the examination of the past. His essays seek to describe the little corner occurrences, less noticed, but just as important as mainstream history. Brendan explores everyday people. His passion for the Perth amateur entertainers 1875-1895 leads him to explore the human condition, as much as it is now, as it was then. [email protected]
Written by Nick Murphy
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Nick Murphy Australia
As the grandson of Melbourne theatre architect Gordon Murphy, Nick Murphy grew up with a fascination for all things theatrical. A teacher and Assistant Principal for many years, he also worked at Melbourne Museum and in educational settings in China, and tutored pre-service teachers at the University of Melbourne. He has lived most of his life just a few streets from Daphne Pollard's birthplace in Fitzroy. The children of Pollard’s Lilliputian Opera Company remain an ongoing interest. forgottenaustralianactresses.com
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Written by Roger Neill
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Roger Neill UKRoger Neill is a UK-based arts historian. He curated the exhibition Legends: The Art of Walter Barnett for the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra in 2000. He helped Sam Wanamaker to re-build Shakespeare’s Globe in London. His most recent book is The Simonsens of St Kilda: A Family of Singers. With Tony Locantro he co-produced the 4CD set From Melba to Sutherland: Australian Singers on Record for Decca Eloquence.
Written by Susan Mills
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Susan Mills Australia
Susan Mills is an archivist and librarian with 25 years experience in public libraries, academic libraries, and community archives. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Adelaide (1999), and a Graduate Diploma of Information Studies from the University of South Australia (2001), working in public libraries in Adelaide and the Northern Territory, then university libraries in Sydney. Discovering a love for historical collections, she completed a Masters of Information Studies (Archives and Records Management) from Charles Sturt University (2016). As an archivist, she has managed collections relating to Sydney’s rich performing arts history at the NIDA and more recently at the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation performing arts archives.
Written by John Senczuk
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John Senczuk AustraliaBased in the Northern Rivers of NSW, Dr John Senczuk is a theatre polymath. A NIDA graduate, his multi-award winning career as director, designer, playwright and dramaturg spans forty years, with his work seen nationally and internationally in commissions for opera, dance and drama. Concurrently, he lectured on dramaturgy and scenography at the Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, Toi Whakaari, NZ Drama School, and WAAPA. John is the inaugural S,B&W Foundation Research Fellow, where his first major publication was the transcription and annotations of JC Williamson’s 1909 Diary (listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register). In 2020, he was a member of the ARC/Ausstage Research Team engaged on an animated 3D Digital Reconstruction of the Stage House of Newcastle’s Victoria Theatre (1891). He now writes on Australian theatre history and biography. Recent publications include Griffin Rising (2019; shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s History Award), Griffin Redux (2022); Funny Business: A Biography of Carol Raye (2022); and ‘Those Enterprising Impresarios’ The MacMahon Brothers (2024). John is also the founding editor of the boutique publisher Janus Imprint, making available unpublished or inaccessible heritage Australian drama scripts. John’s first releases included Louis Esson’s The Battler, Leon Brodsky’s Rebel Smith, Kate Howarde’s Possum Paddock and Euphemia Coulson Davidson’s Sorell.
Written by Bob Ferris
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Bob Ferris Australia
Bob Ferris is a member of the Australian Cartophilic Society and has collected cigarette and trade cards since the late 1970s. He has been a regular contributor to the Society Newsletter and Magazine—The Australian Card Collector—for over twenty years and has served as Co-editor of the magazine for seven years.
Bob was awarded Life Membership of the Society in 2019.
Written by Nick Murphy
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Nick Murphy Australia
As the grandson of Melbourne theatre architect Gordon Murphy, Nick Murphy grew up with a fascination for all things theatrical. A teacher and Assistant Principal for many years, he also worked at Melbourne Museum and in educational settings in China, and tutored pre-service teachers at the University of Melbourne. He has lived most of his life just a few streets from Daphne Pollard's birthplace in Fitzroy. The children of Pollard’s Lilliputian Opera Company remain an ongoing interest. forgottenaustralianactresses.com
Written by Cheryl Threadgold
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Cheryl Threadgold AustraliaSince 2005 Cheryl has been the honorary theatre writer/reviewer/review coordinator for the 'Melbourne Observer' newspaper, and presented the non-professional theatre report on 3AW for six and a half years. She convenes the Bayside U3A Writers Group, and casts and directs the writers' radio plays for broadcast on 88.3 Southern FM.
Personal involvement in amateur theatre commenced in1958 in a play titled 'A Must for Dolly' (a sequel to 'Man and Superman' by George Bernard Shaw) written and directed by J. Beresford Fowler at the Arrow Theatre, Middle Park.
After working in ABC Television behind the scenes for 29 years, more recent amateur theatrical activities include performing, directing, choreographing, writing full-length productions and short plays, publicity, adjudicating, committee and front-of-house.
A love of amateur theatre inspired Cheryl to undertake a PhD research project with Swinburne University of Technology to explore the history and culture of the theatrical arts sector in Victoria. Her self-published book In the Name of Theatre: the history, culture and voices of amateur theatre in Victoria is based on the award-winning thesis and won the 2020 Collaborative Victorian Community History Award.
