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Costume Design: Fiona Victoria Hopkins
Fiona Victoria Hopkins again brings her fresh, imaginative costuming to the Lakespeare stage, having worked with the company on their Shakespeare by the Lakes productions of Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Fiona is both an extraordinarily talented and accomplished Costume Designer and Actor. Her parallel talents have taken her around the world, having spent over 14 years in the UK and Europe before returning to her homeland back in 2014.
“I adore Shakespeare, character defines the costume, and vice versa. I always try to marry this relationship to my designs. I see my designs as a continuous work of art, and as the production moves through rehearsals so too will the costume design. I am a great believer that costumes are not just an item of clothing you put on, but a frame of mind you wear from within.“
Cast
Anneka van der Velde
Helena and Snout
Anneka’s love for acting started when she did numerous musicals and pantomimes around Canberra starting at the age of seven. As she grew up, it became less cute that she wasn’t great at singing or dancing, so she decided to move onto plays. She has a passion for everything silly, Shakespeare, and circus. In 2017, she graduated from Perform Australia with an Advanced Diploma in Performance. Some of her most recent theatre credits include: Verges in Much Ado About Nothing with Shakespeare by the Lakes (2018), Constable in The Accidental Death of an Anarchist with Limbo Theatre Company (2018), A clowning show named S.A.D at the Canberra Theatre with Little Black Jacket Productions (2018), Revolt, She Said, Revolt Again with The Street Theatre (2018) and most recent The Good Doctor with Limbo Theatre Company (2019). She is completely thrilled not only to be revisiting Shakspeare but also to work with the complete and utter joy that is Lakespeare again.
Heidi Silberman
Oberon
Heidi Silberman is an award-winning Canberra-based performer, writer, director and educator. She has been performing improvised and scripted theatre for over 15 years. She co-created, performed in and directed The Home Front which received 4 and 5 star reviews at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and high acclaim for its Canberra season, before touring regionally. She is co-producer of Canberra Unscripted, the local festival of improvised theatre, and has created, directed and performed in improvised shows including Shakespeare with Zombies, BrideSQUAD and Femme Noire. Heidi’s scripted performance roles include various characters in Limbo Theatre’s The Good Doctor and Lindy Chamberlain in Moral Panic’s Canberra season of Love/Chamberlain.
Her short plays have been staged in festivals in Canberra, Sydney and Wagga Wagga. She recently co-wrote and co-directed the Rebus Theatre production A Tender Thing and her work in progress, “White Tulips”, was selected for the Street Theatre’s script development program, First Seen, in 2017. She has written for anthologies including The Sound of Silence (awarded the 2012 ACT Writing and Publishing Award for Nonfiction) and In God’s Hands (shortlisted for the Caleb Award for Poetry 2013). Her writing has also appeared online at Kidspot, Web Child, Her Canberra and Parenting Express and she is currently writing her first novel.
Heidi has taught drama and improvisation for Perform Australia (previously Canberra Academy of Dramatic Art), Rebus Theatre and Impro ACT. Heidi’s alter ego is Dr Peek-a-boo, a Clown Doctor with The Humour Foundation, and she is co-founder of local theatre company Chrysalis Theatre.
Helen Way
Puck
It’s been an interesting progression in the following order: dancer, composer, performing musician, improvising actor then finally an actor with a script. I have left out public servant because it interrupted the flow!
ON SHAKESPEARE
Studying Shakespeare has been a revelation: I never expected it to be anything but too difficult. The words flow so well that when we have to make an edit (for clarity) I find the lines harder to learn and speak. That guy really knew what he was doing! And the iambic pentameter (5/4 swing rhythm with an upbeat in my old language) gives me clue to missing words when I’m rehearsing.
ON SHAKESPEARE BY THE LAKES
I am so delighted to be able to perform in Tuggeranong, and especially because it is free, and accessible to kids. I’ve had a secret ambition to share some of the wonderful fun things I do at Smiths and The Street; at last I can. I’ve been enjoying catching the bus down there and have even ventured into the Hi Hype Hyper…. South Point for a spot of shopping.
I am looking forward to moving amongst the audience and being fed strawberries, grapes or pieces of peach. Hint
Katerina Smalley
Titania
Katerina has been a Sydney based actor for over 10 years, having recently moved to Canberra this will be her first role in a Canberran production. Katerina is an actor, singer, dancer with a Bachelor of Music majoring in Music Theatre from the Australian Institute of Music (AIM). She started her career as a Disney princess at Tokyo Disneyland and has since toured Australia performing in a variety of Theatre in Education plays with Starrs Productions and Class Act Theatre. Katerina has been a singer at Dirty Dick’s Theatre Restaurant and also for the children’s group Captain Bandanna, and in many pantomimes for Australian Global Entertainment. She has stage managed for Marina Prior, Mark Vincent, Ian Cooper, and David Hobson and for the last 3 year’s she has been teaching singing to students aged 5-18 at Performance Art Western Sydney (PAWS). Her stage credits include Cinderella in Into the Woods (Hornsby Musical Society), Adelle in Shakers (AIM), Viola in Twelth Night (AIM), Luisa in The Fantastiks (Genesian Theatre), Eliza in My Fair Lady (Cameo Theatre Company), and Maggie in A Chorus Line (Bankstown Theatre Company).
Liam Jones
Lysander and Flute
Liam is a born and bred Canberran and is thrilled to be involved in Lakespeare, a now established feature of Canberra’s cultural calendar.
Lakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be Liam’s first foray back into the world of plays following a number of roles in Canberra’s musical scene. Liam recently featured as Kyle in Legally Blonde and Gaston in Beauty and the Beast with the Canberra Philharmonic Society following ensemble performances in Free-Rain Theatre’s Les Miserables and Wicked.
Following a crash course in Lakspeare’s clinical theatrical approach he is ready to take Lysander onto the stage and out of the Capital (Athens of course!)
Oliver Bailey
Bottom
Oliver grew up in Canberra where he developed his love for theatre, first stepping on to stage as part of Phoenix PlayersScroogewhen he was 10 years old. He performed in multiple works for both Phoenix Players and Child Players ACT throughout his childhood, and received a CAT Award nomination for his portrayal of Albert in Child Player’s Mort. At the age of 19 Oliver moved to Melbourne, where he studied acting, firstly at Monash University and then at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). Oliver’s stage credits at the VCA include Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible (dir. Adena Jacobs), Lady Anne in Richard III, Trigorin in The Cherry Orchard (both dir. Budi Miller), SM/ Fitz in The Skin of Our Teeth (dir. Dean Bryant), and Aegisthus in Agamemnon(dir. Melanie Beddie). Oliver is so incredibly excited to be performing in Canberra once again.
Marni Mount
Hermia and Quince
Marni is a Canberra born actor, writer, director, and theatre lover. She has been performing on Canberra stages for the last 5 years while studying for a Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics/Bachelor of Arts at the ANU. Marni is the Founding President of the ANU Shakespeare Society and works at Canberra Youth Theatre. She is passionate about good theatre, great comedy, and people of any variety. Selected credits include: Freya in Fragments (The Street Theatre), Amber in Picnic at Hanging Rock, Cynthia in The Real Inspector Hound (National University Theatre Society), Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, various roles in The Art of Coarse Acting (Canberra Repertory Theatre Society), as director: The Importance of Being Earnest (National University Theatre Society), Juris Doctor Strangelaw or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Cop the 5% (ANU Law Revue). In August this year she will be appearing as Lizzie Gael in Echo Theatre’s production of Wolf Lullaby.
Tom Cullen
Demetrius and Snug
Tom hails from the sleepy seaside hamlet of Cairns in Queensland’s tropical Far North. A miscreant performer for most of his life, Tom has qualifications in law and arts from the University of Queensland and two decades of experience in acting, singing, writing poetry of debateable quality, and loudly and aimlessly pontificating about his views on every subject under the sun. Tom has previously performed Shakespeare in the roles of Cassius (Julius Caesar, 2015) and Dogberry (Much Ado about Nothing, 2018). He is thrilled to be performing the Bard’s work once more, stepping into the role of Demetrius before his biggest audience yet.
