Q Theatre Lab artists-in-residence, Deborah Pollard and Thomas Campbell, will debut their new dramatic works at The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre on March 25 and 26.
Deborah Pollard is a theatre director, performance makere and artist based in Sydney.
Over the years she has collaborated with a diverse group, including dancers, farmers and visual artists.
Originally trained in theatre as a performer and director, Pollard's focus has shifted over 20 years to a hybrid of performance and visual arts.
Her work for the Q Theatre Lab is Eighteen Years On, which tells the story of a family who lost their home during the 2003 Canberra bushfires.
Eighteen years on they still remember, they can't forget, but they find a way to carry on.
Via wit, storytelling and song, Pollard aims to create a theatrical portrait of the human face of climate change catastrophe.
Thomas Campbell graduated from NIDA in 2002 and Mountview in the UK in 2010. He has performed for leading theatre companies including Belvoir, Ensemble Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company, has appeared in comedy and cabaret, and co-hosts the successful Luminary Podcast, Celeste and her Best with Celeste Barber.
Campbell's screen credits include Love and Monsters, Downton Abbey and Love My Way. He is a recipient of both the Mike Walsh and Marten Bequest Fellowships and winner of three Sydney Theatre Awards.
Campbell's Q Theatre Lab work is his debut play, Betty is a Butcher, involving five characters, five reasons to live and an odyssey towards death.
Filled with dark humour and an unsettling personal narrative, the play is written and performed by Campbell and directed by Kate Gaul.
Pollard and Campbell's 30 minute preview performances will offer audiences a peek behind the curtain, to witness two plays fresh off the page.
Performances will start at 7.30pm on Thursday, March 25 and Friday, March 26.
The Joan is located at 597 High Street, Penrith. Visit thejoan.com.au
