MARTIN CREWES
Frank
Since graduating from the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Martin Crewes has performed leading roles in Australia, the UK and Asia, enjoying a successful career in film, theatre and television. Martin’s feature film credits include the remake of the Richard Franklin cult hit Patrick, the box office winner Resident Evil, performing alongside Milla Jovovich in the role of ‘Chad Kaplan’ and the action/adventure film DOA: Dead or Alive. His most recent television appearance was in ABC TV’s legal drama Crownies as the journalist ‘Jimmy Butcher’. Previous television appearances in the UK include Dream Team (Series 2 and 3) as lead ‘Luis Amor Rodriguez’, Casualty, Heartbeat, Mile High, Bad Girls, and The Grand. He appeared in the US the telemovie Scarlett and Italian telemovie Rita da Cascia. He has also appeared in the Australian long running family drama Neighbours.
Martin has enjoyed a phenomenal stage career, most recently touring with Sweet Charity to rave reviews. Other credits are Gordon Frost Organisation’s Doctor Zhivago and South Pacific, the Production Company’s Guys and Dolls, Chess and Hair, the Really Useful Company’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Aspects of Love, Majestic Theatre Company’s Oh! What a Night, Momo Films “8” The Play, Kevin Jacobsen’s/David Atkins The Man From Snowy River Arena Spectacular and Victoria State Opera’s West Side Story. Martin played the role of ‘Marius’ in Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Les Miserables, Asia, South Africa and London’s West End. His other work in the UK includes The Woman in White directed by Trevor Nunn, Pal Joey for Chichester Festival Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Merry Wives The Musical. Martin is a highly accomplished singer; he performed the Opening Number of the Royal Variety Performance in London, he sang the role of Marius in the Scandinavian Concert Tour of Les Miserables and has performed in orchestral concerts throughout Europe and the UK. In 2014 Martin was cast as Charlie, Oscar & Vittorio in Luckiest Productions multi award winning Sweet Charity at The Hayes Theatre, he then performed in the remount of Big hART/Yijila Yala Project’s tour of Hipbone Sticking Out.
Martin has received critical acclaim from the public and his peers with numerous award nominations and wins. For Doctor Zhivago he has won a Sydney Theatre Award, A Glug Award and a nomination for a Helpmann Award. He won a Green Room Award for Hair and a nomination for The Man From Snowy River Arena Spectacular. He received a Helpmann Award nomination for Oh! What a Night and a What’s Onstage nomination for The Woman in White. Martin has recently received a Green Room Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in Chess as well as a Helpmann Award Nomination and a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Male Actor in a Musical for Sweet Charity.
MICHAEL WHALLEY
Keith
Since graduating from New Zealand Drama School, Michael Whalley has established a fine career in film, theatre and television in New Zealand and now Australia. Michael’s film credits include Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut feature Unbroken, the Michael Bennett directed drama Matariki, the crime/drama Out of the Blue and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. He will soon be seen in the thriller Backtrack alongside Adrien Brody and Sam Neill and the John Maclean’s Slow West with Michael Fassbender and Ben Mendelsohn. For the small screen, Michael has appeared in the highly successful Love Child (Series 2), Network Ten’s Wonderland, Paradise Café (shot in Rarotonga), TVNZ’s Killian’s Curse and Karaoke High, and played ‘Flynn’ in the US series Legend of the Seeker. This year will see Michael in the Kriv Stenders directed series The Principal.
Michael’s most recent theatre performance was with Redline Productions Cock as part of the Mardi Gras Festival. Other theatre credits include Big hART/Yijala Yala’s Hipbone Sticking Out, Big hART Blue Angel, Gordon Frost’s An Officer and a Gentleman, The Importance of Being Earnest with Burley Theatre, Tarantula with Tredwood Productions, for which Michael won a Glug Award for Best New Talent and Michael Kantor’s The Threepenny Opera, a Malthouse Theatre and Victorian Opera’s coproduction featuring a stellar cast at Sydney Theatre Company. Michael’s New Zealand theatre credits include Auckland Theatre Company’s Romeo and Juliet in the lead role and She Stoops to Conquer, the lead role in Taki Rua Theatre Company’s Te Karakia for the International and Dreaming festivals and Wellington Musical Theatre Company’s production of High School Musical as ‘Troy Bolton’. Michael has also performed in and co-devised Apollo 13, a multi award-winning interactive theatre piece, which has toured extensively in Australia and New Zealand.
CAMERON MACDONALD
Bert
Cameron trained extensively at Centrestage Performing Arts School in Brunswick, under the guidance of Ian & Leanne White. Having graduated High School in 2002, Cameron spent the best part of 4 years traveling the world as a lead singer aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships. Since his return, Cameron’s stage credits include Miss Saigon (Withers/Coppel/Bewick) in which he covered the lead role of Chris, Altar Boyz (Precedent Productions - Australian Premiere) playing the lead role of Matthew for which he received a Greenroom Award nomination.
Other stage credits include I Can’t Believe It’s Not Countdown! (Brian Mannix/Fur Productions) starring as various rock legends, the role of Alex in the World Premiere of Anthony Costanzo’s Life’s A Circus,), Mamma Mia (Louise Withers and Associates) throughout Australia where he covered the role of Skye, and Jersey Boys (Knuckles/Tommy/Gyp and Bob Cover) touring nationally and to New Zealand. In 2013 Cameron played Jesus in Magnormous’s production of Godspell and was privileged to perform the role for Stephen Schwartz. Most recently Cameron has been seen in Guys and Dolls (The Production Company) at the State Theatre and Parade (Governor Slaton/Britt Craig) in the inaugural production for The Collective for which he was nominated for a Green Room Award.
TV credits include: Neighbours (Cory Helpmann), Blue Heelers (Jesse Dawson), Dr Blake Mysteries series 3 (Nathan Eaton), and most recently 800 Words (Noah) filmed in New Zealand.
Cameron is thrilled to be involved with this production of The Front and thanks his Mother and fiancé for their continued support.
PAUL BLACKWELL
Arthur
In a career spanning thirty years Paul has worked widely across the industry in theatre, film, television and radio. He is perhaps best known on the stage having worked for all the major theatre companies and in childrens theatre as well as for Opera Australia and the symphony orchestras in Adelaide and Hobart.
Recent appearances for State Theatre include Eh Joe in the Beckett Triptych, The Seagull, the title role in Vere , a co-production with the Sydney Theatre Company and Babyteeth. For Brink Productions and English Touring Theatre he appeared in Thursday.
Other highlights include Brink’s award winning production of Andrew Bovell’s When the Rain Stops Falling and their 2009 season of Moliere’s The Hypochondriac.
Paul has appeared in numerous productions for State Theatre over the years, highlights include Waiting For Godot, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Scapin, Night Letters, Dealers Choice and Venetian Twins. For the Sydney Theatre Company he appeared in Tartuffe, The Government Inspector, The Ham Funeral and The Trackers of Oxyhrinchus. For Co B Belvoir productions include Antigone, Ubu, The Underpants, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Frogs and The Popular Mechanicals and Pop Mecs 2, On Parliament Hill. For Windmill he appeared in The Composer Is Dead, a co-pro with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and in The Clockwork Forest a co-pro with Brink. For Patch he was a co-creator on the award winning Mr McGee and the Biting Flea, Who Sank the Boat? and The Happiest Show on Earth.
Film credits include Red Dog, Dr Plonk, Candy, December Boys, The Quiet Room, Charlie’s Country and The Boy Castaways.
ROSANNE HOSKING
Miriam
Rosanne’s performance career spans over 20 years and has taken her all around Australia and overseas. Her professional theatrical debut was in the Australian cast of The Phantom of the Opera. More recently, she toured Australia with Amity Dry’s musical, Mother Wife and the Complicated Life in the role of Lily. In 2012, she was awarded the Adelaide Theatre Guide Curtain Call Award - Best Professional Female Performance, for her portrayal of Diana Goodman in Adelaide’s premiere of the musical, Next to Normal (Six Foot Something Productions & The Factory). Other professional theatre credits include The Venetian Twins (Beatrice) for the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival, South Pacific (Dinah) for Seabiscuit Productions and Sunday in the Park with George (Frieda). Rosanne has thoroughly enjoyed her involvement with the workshop phase of The Front and is delighted be a part of its World Premiere.
EMILY MORRIS
Gertie
Emily has performed in singing, acting and dance throughout Adelaide and interstate after graduating from a diploma of Musical Theatre at NIDA in 2009. Emily has training in ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, jazz, tap and ballroom dancing as well as classical, music theatre and contemporary voice. In recent times she has enjoyed branching into T.V, film and radio. After many years teaching performing arts in a number of schools throughout Adelaide Emily is now working as a Speech Pathologist in Melbourne. Emily loves to approach theatre holistically by combining singing, acting and movement to tell a story; and what better way to do this than in a musical. Emily is thrilled to have been apart of the growth and development of The Front and is looking forward to making her Cabaret Festival debut playing Gertie.
JOSH ROWE
Bluey
After studying his Bachelor of Music degree at the Queensland Conservatorium, Josh Rowe has gone on to perform for opera companies and orchestras around Australia; including Opera Queensland, Victorian Opera, State Opera of South Australia and Queensland Symphony Orchestra. His many awards include the 2007 Queensland Arts Council Performing Arts Scholarship and Runner Up in the Dame Joan Sutherland Awards. Since 2006 Josh has performed in many operas: including Romeo and Juliet, Lucia di Lammermoor, Nabucco, Turandot, The Magic Flute, Otello and made his principal role debut in 2007 with Richard Mills' The Love of the Nightingale. Joshua also performed the role of Bottom in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Nights Dream in 2008 for the Queensland Conservatorium for which he won the Sir Mostyn Hanger Opera Award. On the concert platform Joshua has performed as soloist for numerous popular works: including Britten’s War Requiem, Vaughan William’s A Sea Symphony, Bach’s St John Passion and St Matthew Passion, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Paulus, Haydn’s The Creation and Handel’s Messiah to name a few. Josh was a 2008 Opera Queensland Developing artist and a 2014 State Opera of South Australia ‘James and Diana Ramsay Foundation Emerging Artist’. In 2015 Josh will be performing and understudying a number of main stage roles for State Opera.
NICHOLAS WINTER
Willy
Nicholas Winter has had the privilege of performing a variety of different roles in a number of diverse productions and musicals over the past several years. Nick has performed with companies such as Swell Productions, Adelaide Youth Theatre, Pelican Productions and the State Theatre Company. Nicholas has performed in many amateur shows, such as The Terrible Infants, Into the Woods Jr, Pirates of Penzance, Beauty and the Beast and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. Nicholas has also had the pleasure of performing in the State Opera children’s chorus for Hansel and Gretel (2010) and in a supernumerary position, Don Giovanni (2015). In 2014, Nicholas was provided with the opportunity to work in the final workshop of The Front as Willy Brown. Hoping to study acting next year, Nicholas is eager to learn and work among a group of experienced actors.
CATHERINE CAMPBELL
Nellie
Catherine is recognised as a leading cabaret performer, and has had solo shows at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and at Don’t Tell Mama (New York). With Frank Ford she co-wrote cabaret/theatre piece My Blue Angel: Dreaming of Dietrich which had seasons in Adelaide (including the Adelaide Cabaret Festival), Melbourne, regional Australia and New York. She co-created award-winning shows: Gentlemen Prefer Curves (seasons in Adelaide - including 3 featured shows at Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Melbourne, Perth, regional Australia) and Berlin Cabaret, which enjoyed a season of almost 3 years. Music theatre includes Sweeney Todd (dir Gale Edwards, SOSA), The Mikado (with Anthony Warlow, AFCT) and Les Miserables (with Normie Rowe), The Witch in the SA Premiere of Into The Woods (GSC), as well as working with Jason Robert Brown on Songs For A New World, Richard Maltby and David Shire on Take Flight, and Andrew Lippa on The Wild Party: A Wild Evening with Andrew Lippa (all Adelaide Cabaret Festival). With Matthew Carey as MD she has written several cabaret shows including She also performed with Tutti in Northern Lights/Southern Cross (USA tour/Bundaleer Festival) and The Shouting Fence (with Various People).
A graduate of AC Arts (Acting – CPA), Catherine studied Cabaret at Yale, USA. She also lectures and tutors at UniSA in performance and communication.