The Cast
PAUL BERTRAM
Paul is a NIDA graduate. Film work includes Curly in The Adventures of Barry McKenzie and J.J Silvers in Strictly Ballroom. Television appearances include: Archer, Cody, Mother and Son, Fields of Fire, A Country Practice, The Thorn Birds - The Missing Years, Noahs Ark, Pizza and Backberner. On stage: The Importance Of Being Ernest for MTC, The Glass Menagerie for SATC, The Front Page for RQTC Time and Time Again for Ensemble Theatre. At Marian Street: Seasons Greetings, Wait Until Dark, and Dracula, Australasian tour of Fallen Angels, opposite Hayley Mills, a Sir Peter Halls production of An Ideal Husband, for Nimrod, Neil Armfield's production of Upside Down At The Bottom of The World. Steven Berkoff’s productions: Metamorphosis, Clouds, Oresteia, Volpone, As You Like It. Recent appearances include at Bondi Pavilion: A Lie of the Mind, The Fool in King Lear and Claudius The Ghost in Hamlet. Paul has been a director of Page to Stage for the past 8 years.
RALPH COTTERILL – HANS BLIX
Ralph attended the Drama Centre, London, and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company before coming to Australia in 1973, where he performed as Cobweb in Peter Brook’s original production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. For Company B, Ralph has performed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, The Seagull, The Alchemist, Night on Bald Mountain, A View from the Bridge, The Judas Kiss, As You Like It, The Little Cherry Orchard and The Ham Funeral and the Company B presentation of Melbourne Theatre Company’s The Aunt’s Story. He also toured nationally in 1995 with Hamlet and The Tempest. Ralph has also appeared in Genet’s Splendids, Master Builder and the sell-out production of The Blind Giant is Dancing. Other theatre credits include Travesties, Metamorphosis and The Oresteia (Nimrod Company); Hamlet, Nicholas Nickleby, Loot and The Visit (STC); Lulu (State Theatre South Australia); Macbeth (Hunter Valley Theatre Company); Road (Ensemble Theatre); The Well of Saints (Crossroads); A Flea in Her Ear (NIDA); Doctor Faustus and King Lear (Bondi Pavilion Theatre); Cats Step Softly (One Extra Dance Company). Television appearances include the mini-series Four Minute Mile, Halifax fp, GP and Ultraman. Film credits include The Light Horsemen, Burke and Wills, Rickey and Pete, Frauds, Bad Boy Bubby and The Proposition.
RUSSELL DYKSTRA – DONALD RUMSFELD
Russell trained at the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education, École Jaques Lecoq and École Philippe Gaulier. His previous Company B credits include Ray’s Tempest, The Underpants, The Laramie Project and The Ham Funeral. His one-man show Children of the Devil played at Belvoir St’s Downstairs Theatre touring nationally and earning him the 1998 Brisbane Theatre Critics’ Matilda Award and a Victorian Green Room Award nomination for Best Actor. Russell’s many other theatre credits include The Unlikely Prospect of Happiness (Sydney Theatre Company), The Gypsy Boy (Theatre of Image), Below (Griffin), The Millennium Project (Glen St), The Imaginary Invalid (Ensemble), Gigi, The Winter’s Tale, The Gift of the Gorgon, Worlds Apart, And a Nightingale Sang, Shimada (Queensland Theatre Company), A Beautiful Life (Brisbane Festival) Snapshots from Home (Brisbane Festival/Qld Performing Arts Trust), Glamalot, The Ring Cycle (Qld Performing Arts Trust) and Body Slam (Rock ‘n Roll Circus). Russell made his feature film debut in the critically acclaimed Soft Fruit, for which he received the 1999 AFI Award for Best Actor and was nominated for a Film Critics’ Circle of Australia Award. He has since appeared in Lantana, Garage Days, Ned Kelly and The Wannabes. Russell’s recent television credits include telemovies such as the Channel 10 BlackJack series and ABC TV’s Loot.
JOHN GADEN - JACK STRAW
John has enjoyed a career in Australian theatre that has spanned over 40 years. His most recent work with Company B was The Fever. He was also in the Company B/Sydney Festival production of Waiting for Godot and the 2001 return season and original 1998 production of Cloudstreet. Other work for Company B includes The Unexpected Man, Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Signal Driver, Company B’s first production. Other extensive theatre credits include Democracy, The Miser, Major Barbara, Copenhagen, The White Devil (STC/Olympic Arts Festival), Love for Love, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, As You Like It, Coriolanus, Arcadia, St Joan, Death and the Maiden and The Secret Rapture (Sydney Theatre Company); Present Laughter, Racing Demon, The Tempest, Uncle Vanya and Hysteria (Melbourne Theatre Company); Dreams in an Empty City, The Real Thing, Wild Honey, Shepherd on the Rocks, The Winter’s Tale, Hedda Gabler and Ring around the Moon (State Theatre Company South Australia). Film credits include Caddie, Children of the Revolution, Muriel’s Wedding, Thank God He Met Lizzie, A Little Bit of Soul and Willful. His operatic and musical credits include the role of Haushofmeister in Ariadne Auf Naxos (Opera Australia); The Wizard of Oz (Victoria State Opera). John has won the Sydney Critics’ Circle Award for Best Performance in a Lead Role three times and in 2001 was awarded the Helpmann Award for Best Actor in a Play (The Unexpected Man). In 1986 John was awarded an AM for Services to the Theatre.
VICTORIA HARALABIDOU
Victoria Haralabidou studied at the Institute of Cinematography in Moscow and The Greek Drama School in Athens. Her acting credits include: Dear Elena, a contemporary Russian play by Lioudmila Razumovskaya (Best Actress award 2001), The Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard, A Bright Shinning Sun (Best Actress Award - Short Film Festival 2000), Suddenly (TV series for Mega TV Channel Greece) and a feature film Brides (Best Actress Award – Thessaloniki Film Festival 2005) a Martin Scorsese production which will be released in Australia by Palace Cinemas in September 2005. She has translated various theatrical works in Russian, English and Greek. This is her first performance with Company B and also her Australian stage debut.
GEORGE HENARE - KOFI ANNAN
George’s 40 years in “the business” which began in 1965 with the NZ Opera Company’s production of Porgy & Bess, has embraced all the disciplines of the performing arts, stage, screen and the recording medium – even abstract art is a new passion!
As lead actor with Auckland’s Mercury Theatre for 20 years, roles have included everything from King Lear, Sweeny Todd and Salieri, to Toad, Scarecrow and Cinderella’s Ugly Sister, to name but a smidgen. TV and film appearances have included Once Were Warriors, Rapanui, Atomic Twister, Hercules, Xena, Greenstone, Ocean Girl IV and Law of The Land. George has worked with Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre. Awards include an OBE for Services to Theatre (1988), 1994 Best Theatre Performance as Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar; Best Actor in a TV Series in NZ (2000), and has twice won Narrator of the Year for Talking Books for the NZ Foundation for the Blind. George is chuffed to be making his Company B debut in such an exciting and provocative play.
RUSSELL KIEFEL – DICK CHENEY
Stuff Happens marks Russell’s ninth performance for Company B, having previously appeared in Ray’s Tempest, The Spook, Our Lady of Sligo, Run Rabbit Run, The Alchemist, Hamlet, The Tempest and The Blind Giant is Dancing. His other most recent credits include Rabbit for Griffin, two STC productions of Macbeth, Nowhere, Insouciance and The Prodigal Son for Playbox, King Lear for The Bell Shakespeare Company, Don’s Party for State Theatre Company of South Australia and Simpatico for Queensland Theatre Company. Russell made his film debut in 1979 in an early Gillian Armstrong film shortly after graduating from NIDA. He has since appeared in Australian classics such as Breaker Morant, Children of the Revolution and Radiance. Russell most recently appeared on television screens in the critically acclaimed ABC drama Fireflies.
REBECCA MASSEY – LAURA BUSH
Rebecca graduated with an Honours Degree in Law and a Bachelor of Arts from Auckland University, New Zealand. Since moving to Australia she has worked extensively with Company B, most recently as Gertrude in The Underpants (for which she received a Helpman Award nomination). Other credits with Company B include: Macbeth, Cloudstreet, The Small Poppies (Sydney Festival and Dublin Festival productions), The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Seagull, WASP and The Alchemist. Rebecca’s other theatre credits include Borderlines and Ship of Fools (Griffin Theatre), Henry IV (parts I and II) (Bell Shakespeare) and Bad Poetry for the NIDA Company. Film and television credits include Small Claims, All Saints, Grassroots, Bloodsports and Son of The Mask.
PIP MILLER
Pip Miller started work as an actor in 1967 and has had extensive experience in repertory all over the UK interspersed with many TV appearances in various of the popular UK presentations EastEnders, The Bill and Heartbeat. Film includes Return of the Jedi, Sliding Doors and Defence of the Realm. Pip appeared in seasons with the RSC London Westend and Broadway, The Old Vic, Young Vic, The National and the world tour of RSC’s production of Les Liasons Dangereuses playing Valmont. Since arriving in Australia in 2002, Pip has appeared in three Bell Shakespeare productions. This is his first for Belvoir. He will be appearing in Cherry Orchard for the Sydney Theatre Company in December this year.
RHYS MULDOON – TONY BLAIR
Rhys’ most recent theatre credit was Design for Living for Melbourne Theatre Company. For his role in the Sydney/Melbourne/Adelaide tour of Steven Berkoff’s Decadence he received the Best Actor Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and was nominated for a Green Room Award. Rhys made his feature debut opposite Miranda Otto and Justine Clarke in the romantic comedy Danny Deckchair and has since appeared in The Crop, The Extra and the soon to be released Bitter and Twisted. For his role as Arcadia Waters Council’s inept general manager Greg Dominelli in the critically acclaimed Grass Roots, Rhys received an AFI nomination in 2000. He is also known to ABC audiences as a Playschool regular. Rhys played the laidback pilot Jimbo James in the Southern Star series Big Sky and more recently starred as university lecturer Frank in The Secret Life of Us. He has also had guest roles in McLeod’s Daughters, Young Lions, Blue Heelers, Farscape, Water Rats and Stingers.
LEAH PURCELL – CONDOLEEZZA RICE
Leah Purcell is one of Australia’s leading actors, with award-winning roles in theatre, film and television. Her first professional break came in 1993 when she was cast in the stage show Bran Nue Dae, which toured Australia to rave reviews. She soon followed this up in 1994 with a Matilda Award for her role in the La Boite Theatre Company’s production of Daniel Keene’s Low. In 1997 Leah was nominated for an AFI (Australian Film Institute) award for ‘Best Actress in a TV Drama’ for her performance in ABC’s Fallen Angels. Other productions include her Helpmann Award nominated role in Box the Pony last performed at the Barbican Centre in London for BITE:2000, and Company B’s production of The Marriage of Figaro in 1999 and 2000 where she played ‘Suzanne’ opposite Geoffrey Rush’s ‘Figaro’. Leah also starred with Geoffrey Rush and Anthony La Paglia in Lantana (2001). In 2001, Leah was awarded the Independent Film-maker Award for ‘Best Actress’ jointly with the other female leads of Lantana. In 2004 she was awarded the Green Room Award for ‘Best Actress in a Play’ for her performance in Beasty Girl: The Secret Life of Errol Flynn. Leah went on to significant roles in Lennie Cahill Shoots Through (2003) and Somersault (2004). She has recently finished filming The Proposition, starring Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone and Emily Watson, and Jindabyne directed once again by Ray Lawrence and starring Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, John Howard and Deborah Lee-Furness. Leah Purcell is also an award-winning author, singer and director.
HAZEM SHAMMAS
This is Hazem’s first production with Company B. He has worked predominantly in theatre and graduated from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2001, where his credits included The Marriage of Figaro and Summerfolk. Most recently he appeared in Through the Wire, for a regional tour and Sydney Festival 2004. Further credits include: Ubu, Crazy Brave, Pussy Boy, Purgatory Down Under, The Rules of the Game and Halal el Mashakel. He is also an Artistic Director for Sha`man Productions.
GREG STONE – GEORGE W. BUSH
Greg graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1983. His theatre credits include Wars of The Roses (Bell Shakespeare), Julia 3, Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America, Rapture, Good Works, A Return to the Brink and Black Sequin Dress for Playbox; Cloud Nine, The Seagull, Trelawny of the Wells, Born Yesterday, Assassins, A Little Night Music and Angels in America for Melbourne Theatre Company (the latter two earning him Green Room nominations); Stones in His Pockets, Summer Rain, Merrily We Roll Along and The Beauty Queen of Leenane (which also earned him a Green Room nomination) for Sydney Theatre Company. Greg was a founding member of the acclaimed Keene/Taylor Theatre Project and spent 2004 as Artistic Associate of Playbox. Television credits include Blue Heelers, MDA, Stingers, Halifax fp, Marshall Law and Seachange. Greg’s roles for film include The Bank and Kokoda Crescent. He is also an accomplished singer and director. This is Greg’s first production with Company B.
SANDY WINTON
Sandy graduated from NIDA in 1995 and has played lead roles in The Herbal Bed and Black Rock at STC. He worked with Michael Gow on Griffin Theatre Company’s production of Live Acts on Stage and appeared in the QTC/MTC production Long Day’s Journey into Night.
Sandy recently worked with director Neil Armfield on the film Candy. His other feature credits include Oscar and Lucinda, Son of the Mask and Me Myself and I, in which he co-starred with Rachel Griffiths and David Roberts.
Sandy has appeared in almost every Australian television drama, including The Alice, White Collar Blue, Young Lions, McLeod’s Daughters, The Secret Life of Us, Something in the Air, Above the Law, Dogwoman, Murder Call, Wildside, All Saints, Good Guys Bad Guys, Big Sky, Twisted Tales and Police Rescue. His foreign television credits include Cold Feet, Farscape and Xena.