The Actor as Storyteller

Graduating actors at the Flinders University Drama Centre participated in a two-year performance research project Coming of Age on Stage, incorporating collaborations with some of Australia’s leading artists, and performances at the Adelaide Festival Centre. Jude Hines reports.

Flinders Drama Centre alumni include legends of stage, film and television, from grande dame Noni Hazlehurst in the inaugural graduating group in 1974 and graduates include stage actors, Amber McMahon and Nathan O’Keefe, film-maker Scott Hicks, actor, producer Joanne Hartstone, director Gale Edwards and Twilight series star Xavier Samuel, all of whom have gone on to have success at local, national and international level.

The current cohorts were inspired by this heritage of innovation and originality, to share their own stories through their work. In 2022, mentored by Teaching Artist-in-Residence, director Wayne Harrison AM, the graduating actors explored the history of coming-of-age stories in Australian theatre from Ray Lawler to Debra Oswald, to create the anthology production Coming of Age in Australia. The 2023 cohort responded by going global in working with famed actor and acting teacher Glenda Linscott: investigating the contemporary repertoire to create Coming of Age in the Twenty-First Century. Each group took the bold step of presenting two graduate showcases at the Adelaide Festival Centre, made up entirely of new works they wrote themselves.

Graduate Ella Le Fournour, who came to the Drama Centre with a passion for storytelling, said “the greatest strength of my training at the Drama Centre has to be the focus on being true to ourselves, not being afraid of our vulnerabilities and using them to create characters.”

Ella, and Rhys Griffin, also a 2022 graduate, undertook a three-year degree and Honours year at the Drama Centre, each appearing in ten productions on stage and screen during their training. Both commented that being taught and mentored by a respected and highly qualified team of arts professionals—including Lecturer and stage director, Dr. Christopher Hurrell, who has worked with Rebel Wilson and Helpmann Award winner Kate Mulvany, brought confidence and the opportunity to hone skills in both stage and film.

Following their mentoring by director and creative producer Wayne Harrison— best known as CEO and Director of the Sydney Theatre Company in the 1990s—both commented that they had been treated as “fully qualified, skilful performers who are already in the industry and whose input, creative ideas and thoughts were treated with respect and genuine interest.”

Rhys said, “Wayne’s dramaturgical experience is mesmerising,” and the opportunity to learn and work with him and the team at the Drama Centre in an environment that is “safely creative, respected and collaborative has been both eye-opening and life-changing.”

Each of them believes they now have a well-packed kit bag of skills, ideas and experiences to be day one contributors in the world of the performance.

Ella and Rhys fearlessly deployed their own real-life personas in the fictional works they created for their graduate showcase, be/coming. The students were trained in playwriting by award-winning playwrights Caleb Lewis and Emily Steel, and solo performance-maker Emma Beech.

“Having explored issues of political, personal and gender identity through their independent performance research through each year,’ said Dr Hurrell, “our talented graduates have now found their own unique voices, transforming their own stories into dynamic works of theatre.”

After graduating, Rhys and Ella moved to Melbourne and signed with agents. Griffin plans to follow his dream to direct in the Australian film industry, and he noted, “We need to understand ourselves as actors first. I know it is a journey. I am patient and flexible and know that I will continue to learn as I become part of the industry.”

Ella commented that “people at the Drama Centre have moved mountains, particularly in the thick of COVID, to equip students to be powerful, confident story-tellers.”

Their passion is contagious. I, for one, am expecting to see their names very soon as the credits roll on a film or series or perhaps in a glossy theatre program proclaiming a new ‘find’ in a great role.

Photgrapher: Sam Oster

The 2022 graduate showcase, be/coming can be viewed here

The 2023 graduate showcase, be/ginning can be viewed at here