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Songs & Sonnets: Information and Cast Bios
Songs and Sonnets
Pialligo Estate Winery, June 10-19
Pialligo Estate and Lakespeare & Co. are delighted to introduce Songs & Sonnets, a dinner and theatre event like no other in Canberra.
Just minutes away from the city’s centre, join us for a premium three-course meal featuring amazing local produce and immerse yourself in this intimate cabaret show featuring a grand piano.
If you have a special occasion to celebrate or are going COVID stir-crazy at home, treat yourself to a wonderful experience. Our cast of four Canberrans will delight you with a medley of songs, including those from musical theatre giant Stephen Sondheim and original compositions from local musical composer, Jay Cameron, peppered with Sonnets from Shakespeare. Sit back and enjoy Canberra’s finest produce, wine and music.
Lakespeare & Co brings high-quality storytelling to Canberrans. This production has been developed locally and performances have been well received by audiences. It was first produced at Typica Cafe and then a free performance was held in Glebe Park in March 2021. It will now be adapted for the wonderful Glasshouse venue. Lakespeare & Co. are grateful for the support of Events ACT and the Capital Arts Patrons’ Organisation.
For more details and to book please go to the Pialligo Estate Winery site
Feedback from our March outdoor performance…
The song selections were delightful and interesting
Gorgeous singing from strong performers
Enjoyable and uplifting. Wonderful voices and piano/guitar
Absolutely fantastic and inspiring, enjoyed every moment of the evening!
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Meet the Cast
Meet our wonderful cast for this intimate cabaret experience.
Jay Cameron
Jay is a Scottish composer, musician and songwriter currently based in Australia whose passion is found in collaboration and telling stories or delivering a strong message relating to the human condition. Jay has performed as a session musician, and performed his own musical and showcase of musical theatre at he Scottish Arts Club in Edinburgh.
For Lakespeare & Co. August 2020 Production, Rockspeare, he had created a modern soundscape that captures the cacophony of battle, the pomp and celebration of victory, and the bitter mourning, and feverish dreams and nightmares of the protagonists of Shakespeare’s Richard III.
Katerina Smalley
Katerina is a singer, actor, 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.
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).
David Pearson
David studied Musical Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music in London under the tutelage of Mary King. Other highlights included a national tour of the UK with Sir Elton John, the roles of Ciaphas and Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar and making his West End debut. David was part of the Baylis Education Programme with the English National Opera, presenting Bernstein’s On the Town and also provided the role of the Narrator in the children’s opera, The Lionhunt! David was baritone soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra performing Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, conducted by Maron Alsop for the BBC and was also a featured vocalist for Patti Smith’s Meltdown with the London Sinfonetta.
In Australia David has appeared in premiere Australian productions of Titanic, the Musical, Jekyll and Hyde, and the principle role of Raymond in Nigredo Hotel. Other works include the Phantom of the Opera, Mahagonny Songspiel, Carousel, Godspell, Joseph, 42nd Street, South Pacific, Peter Pan, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Westside Story and Sweeney Todd. David has appeared in numerous pantomimes with Top Hat Productions and several cabaret seasons at the School of Arts Café in Queanbeyan.
Non-musical roles include, Nic Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Andy Hobart in Star Spangled Girl, Grainger Cooley in Don’s Party and two successful seasons as Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.
David played the role of Heart in the award winning musical short film Jingle Man by Magenius as well as being Bass soloist in the Not the Messiah! with the Canberra Choral Society. Most recently David appeared as Tony Abbott in the Canberra Opera production of The Prime-ministerial Impresario and also played the role of Chelsias in the acclaimed opera production of Susanna with Handel in the Theatre.
Helen McFarlane
Helen has just enjoyed performing as Tanya in a sell-out season of Free Rain Theatre’s Mamma Mia! It had been a while since Helen had performed in a female role, having last played both Dogberry and Don John in Much Ado about Nothing (Lakespeare 2018). Prior to that she juggled 13 male roles in The 39 Steps (Canberra Repertory Theatre 2017).
In glamorous contrast, she donned sequins and feathers alongside Lexi Sekuless in her self-devised cabaret show Some like it Marilyn (2017); a journey through the life and work of Marilyn Munroe.
She has performed in Everyman Theatre’s production of Sondheim’s Company, Shakespeare’s Richard III and in The Ides of March and Home at the End both written by ex-Canberran playwright Duncan Ley.
Other shows of note include The Threepenny Opera, Arcadia, Speaking in Tongues and Pride and Prejudice (Canberra Repertory 2012).
Helen studied Musical Theatre at WAAPA and spent ten years performing professionally as a cabaret artist at His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth and co-writing and performing in corporate/touring cabaret shows in WA.
