One of Australia’s most respected actors, Nadine Garner’s career has spanned film, television and theatre for more than 30 years.

Nadine recently performed on stage in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s The Almighty Sometimes and Belvoir’s production of Tell Me I’m Here to rave reviews. Her recent screen credits include the ABC crime drama series Savage River and Scott Major’s debut feature film Darklands which premiered on Stan.

Nadine’s other television credits include the Network 10/Channel 5 (UK) series Lie With Me, the Stan original series Bloom, My Life Is Murder and Mr Black for Network 10, The Blake Mysteries: Ghost Stories Telemovie for the Seven Network, ABC’s The Doctor Blake Mysteries, the Seven Network drama City Homicide, ABC comedy It’s A Date, Blue Water High, The Henderson Kids, G.P, The Flying Doctors, Boys From The Bush, and RAW FM for which she was nominated for an AFI Award for Best Actress in a Television Drama.

Nadine’s feature film credits include Ben Hackworth’s debut feature Celeste which premiered at the 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival, Ana Kokkinos’ The Book Of Revelation, Darren Ashton’s Razzle Dazzle and Amanda Jane’s The Wedding Party, which earned her a New York City International Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1988, Nadine received an AFI Award for Best Actress for her role in Mull and in 1995, she received a Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Supporting Actress and an AFI Award nomination for Best Actress for her role in Metal Skin.

Nadine has worked for many of Australia’s theatre companies performing both contemporary and classical pieces including The Lifespan of a Fact which earned her a Green Room Award Nomination for Outstanding Performance , Emerald City (co-production with QT), Photograph 51, Di and Viv and Rose, The Distance, The Weir, Private Lives, The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard for MTC; A Little Night Music for Watch This National Theatre; Zebra! and Life After George for STC; Miss Julie for Perth Theatre Company; Romeo & Juliet and Taming of the Shrew for The Australian Shakespeare Company. She starred in Sam Mendes’ production of Cabaret and received a Helpmann Award and Green Room Award for her performance as Fraulein Kost.

In 2011, Nadine wrote and directed the short film Afterglow which was nominated for an AACTA Award for Best Screenplay.

Nadine returns to the Musical stage in July for William Finn’s Elegies, being presented at 45 Downstairs in Melbourne. In August she is in Sydney making her Opera House debut in a unique presentation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Warwick Fyfe is an Australian opera singer, considered to be one of Australia’s leading exponents of the Wagnerian repertoire and is the recipient of Helpmann and Green Room awards.
Warwick has performed throughout Australasia and internationally. Most recently, he has sung the rôles of Wotan / Wanderer (MO, OMM and Alberich, OA). Other Wagner rôles include Heerrufer (OA); Beckmesser (OA); Klingsor (OA); Hunding (WASO); Dutchman (OA), Daland (VO); Wolfram (OA); Fasolt (SOSA).
Other major work encompasses Amonasro (Aida-FNO, OA); Pizarro (Fidelio-MO, OA,WASO); Athanaël (Thaïs-FNO); Peter (Hansel and Gretel- OA),OMM); Four Villains (Tales of Hoffmann-ETO); Falstaff (OA); Rigoletto (OA, NZO); Sancho Panza (Don Quichotte- OA); Paolo (Simon Boccanegra- OA); Leporello (NZO) (OA); Fra Melitone (Forza del Destino- OA); Scarpia (WAO, OA); Tonio (I Pagliacci- NZO); Faninal (Der Rosenkavalier- OA); Schaunard (La Boheme- OA); Dr Schon /Jack the Ripper (Lulu- OA); Germont (La Traviata- OA); Mandryka (Arabella-OA).
Warwick has delighted audiences in comedic rôles, such as Bottom (Midsummer Night’s Dream, Adelaide Festival); Barone di Trombonok (Viaggio a Rheims - OA); Geronio (Il Turco in Italia- OA); Dr Bartolo (Barber of Seville- WAO) (VOC); Pooh Bah (OA); Taddeo (Italian Girl in Algiers- NZO); Papageno (OA).
Concert work includes: Gurrelieder, (SSO); Carmina Burana (MSO, QSO, Adelaide Philharmonia Chorus); Beethoven 9 (MSO), (Orchestra Wellington); The Bells, WASO; Stabat Mater (Rossini, SSO); Viva Verdi (TYO); St Matthew Passion, St John Passion (Melbourne Bach Choir); Bluebeard’s Castle (Monash Academy Orchestra); Mahler 8 (OMM); Stabat Mater (Szymanowski), (Melbourne Bach Choir); Ein Deutsches Requiem (OA), (Melbourne Bach Choir); Messiah (State Symphony Orchestras).
Warwick performs the role of Scarpia in Puccini’s TOSCA from July 31st to August 16th, for Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House.
The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Edward Dick trained as a theatre director with Cheek by Jowl, and has directed acclaimed theatre and opera productions across the UK and abroad. Edward’s first short film, An Act of Love, starring Stephen Mangan and Gina McKee, premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2010 and has played at festivals around the world.
His second short That Woman was also successful on the festival circuit and led to his first project for television, A Little Cracker for Hillbilly / Sky 1. In 2016 he was invited to take part in the BBC’s continuing drama training scheme, which has seen him direct multiple episodes of BBC One dramas Holby City and Doctors, receiving an RTS nomination for outstanding new talent for his work on the latter.
He is a member of BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Crew 2021 and was recently named by the BBC as one of its ‘broadcasting stars of the future.’
In 2020 he took part in the Directors UK High End Drama training programme on Silent Witness, directing 2nd Unit and working across all aspects of the production on multiple blocks and on the development of the 25th anniversary series.
He is presently in Australia directing an acclaimed production of Giacomo Puccini’s TOSCA. The production recently played the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne and soon takes to the stage in the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House.
In this acclaimed, five-star production from Opera North, director Edward Dick writes the tension large upon the stage.
The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au

The annual TONY Awards ceremony celebrates the best and brightest of the Broadway season. And I’m delighted that one of our favourite performers, who has graced the great white way, is the STAGES guest for our TONY episode.
Caroline O’Connor is one of the foremost interpreters of musical theatre in the world. Projects have taken her from Sydney to Paris to London and the bright lights of Broadway in a vast array of leading roles, that are coveted by musical theatre performers at their peak.
At 17 she won a scholarship to the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London. The discipline and routine of such classes instilled in her a fierce work ethic that allows her characterisations to be delivered with boundless energy, masterful timing, consummate skill and infinite joy.
Her career continues to reward her with great stories, mesmerising performances and a loyal audience. She commenced the year returning to Jerry Herman’s Mack & Mabel, this time in the role of Lotte, in a fully staged concert season in Los Angeles. In May she played with the State Theatre Company and State Opera of South Australia in Leonard Bernstein’s Candide and in November joins the Lido 2 Company in Paris for a 60th anniversary production of Hello, Dolly! In the eponymous role of Dolly Levi.
These performances indicate a versatility that demands an appreciation of style and technical dexterity. Confirming she’s one of the best!
Caroline returns to the STAGES podcast for a long overdue catch-up and to shed light onto her forays on the Broadway stage, in this annual STAGES celebration of the TONY Awards.
The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Neil Armfield AO is a leading Australian director of theatre, opera and film. Alongside Rachel Healy, Neil was Artistic Director of Adelaide Festival between 2017 and 2022. Prior to that, Neil was the inaugural Artistic Director of Belvoir St Theatre, which he also co-founded, for 17 years.

As Artistic Director of Belvoir, and for other companies, Neil has directed well over 100 productions, with a focus on new and Indigenous writing, Shakespeare, David Hare and Patrick White. Some highlights include; The Tempest, Hamlet, Up the Road, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Keating!, Toy Symphony, Dallas Winmar’s Aliwa, Angels in America, A Cheery Soul, Signal Driver, The Blind Giant is Dancing and Things I KnowTo Be True.

Neil’s production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman opened in late 2023 to glowing reviews. Produced by GWB Entertainment and Red Line Productions at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne, it starred Anthony LaPaglia and Alison Whyte. After the success of the Melbourne season, the play will be presented at the Theatre Royal Sydney in May/June 2024.

In 2022, Neil directed the world premiere of the oratorio Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan by Joseph Twist at the Adelaide Festival, and Glyndebourne Festival’s production of Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Neil directed the same production of Hamlet at Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper in July 2023. For the 2021 Adelaide Festival, Neil directed the Australian premiere of A German Life by Christopher Hampton, starring Robyn Nevin, as well as Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Festival Theatre. Later that year he directed an acclaimed production of Rameau’s comic masterpiece Platée for Pinchgut Opera.

In addition to his extensive work in Australia, many of Neil’s productions have played internationally. These include Cloudstreet (toured to London, Dublin, Zurich, New York), The Diary of a Madman (with Geoffrey Rush, toured to Moscow, St Petersburg, New York), Exit The King (Broadway), The Book of Everything (toured to New York), The Judas Kiss (toured Australia with Bille Brown, London, New York and Toronto with Rupert Everett), The Secret River (adapted by Andrew Bovell, toured to Edinburgh Festival and London) and the world premiere of David Hare’s I’m Not Running for National Theatre in London.

Neil frequently collaborates with major opera companies, having directed productions at The Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Chicago Lyric Opera, Zurich Opera, Bregenz Festival, Washington National Opera, Opera Australia, Pinchgut, Canadian Opera, Welsh National Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. In addition to classics by Mozart, Britten and Wagner, Neil directed the premieres of Frankie and The Eighth Wonder by Alan John, Whitsunday by Brian Howard, Love Burns by Graeme Koehne and Bliss and Hamlet by Brett Dean.

For screen, Neil directed and co-wrote the feature film Candy, starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish, which screened at over twenty international films festivals including In Competition at the Berlinale. Neil was awarded Best Adapted Screenplay at the AFI Awards and an AWGIE for Best Screenplay. Neil’s second feature film Holding the Man premiered at Sydney Film Festival in 2015. For television, Neil directed miniseries Edens Lost for ABC (AFI Award Best Director and Best Mini-Series), The Fisherman’s Wake (by Andrew Bovell), which won an ATOM Award for Best Original TV Production, and Coral Island (by Nick Enright).

Over his distinguished career, Neil has received 2 AFI Awards, 12 Helpmann Awards and several Sydney Theatre, Victorian Green Room and Sydney Theatre Critics Circle Awards. He holds Honorary Doctorates from Adelaide, Sydney and NSW Universities, and in 2007 was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts.

Genevieve Lemon has appeared in many premiere Australian productions in a 40-plus year career including Steaming, Steel Magnolias, Seventeen, Miracle City, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Billy Elliot, which she also played in London’s West End.
Other performances include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Death of a Salesman, Summer Rain, The Venetian Twins, Summer of the 17th Doll and North by Northwest.
Screen performances include Sweetie, The Piano, Top of the Lake and The Power of the Dog (among others with Jane Campion); Ticket to Paradise, Colin from Accounts, Prisoner, Here Out West, The Dressmaker, Suburban Mayhem, Rake, The Tourist, Acute Misfortune, Population 11 and the upcoming feature film Runt.
Awards include Helpmann, Green Room and Sydney Theatre Critics awards for Best Actress in a Musical for Billy Elliot and Best Actress in a Feature Film from the Sydney Film Critics’ Circle for Sweetie.
Genevieve Lemon returns to the musical theatre stage as the Mother Superior in Sister Act which opens at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney in August and the Regent Theatre Melbourne in November.
The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Genevieve Lemon has appeared in many premiere Australian productions in a 40-plus year career including Steaming, Steel Magnolias, Seventeen, Miracle City, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Billy Elliot, which she also played in London’s West End.
Other performances include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Death of a Salesman, Summer Rain, The Venetian Twins, Summer of the 17th Doll and North by Northwest.
Screen performances include Sweetie, The Piano, Top of the Lake and The Power of the Dog (among others with Jane Campion); Ticket to Paradise, Colin from Accounts, Prisoner, Here Out West, The Dressmaker, Suburban Mayhem, Rake, The Tourist, Acute Misfortune, Population 11 and the upcoming feature film Runt.
Awards include Helpmann, Green Room and Sydney Theatre Critics awards for Best Actress in a Musical for Billy Elliot and Best Actress in a Feature Film from the Sydney Film Critics’ Circle for Sweetie.
Genevieve Lemon returns to the musical theatre stage as the Mother Superior in Sister Act which opens at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney in August and the Regent Theatre Melbourne in November.
The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Dillie Keane is one-third of iconic Cabaret trio Fascinating Aida. She is presently in Australia for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, where alongside her partners in song, Liza Pulman and Adèle Anderson, Fascinating Aida will present a 40th anniversary show.

Since their first performance together in 1983, the trio have racked-up millions of internet followers, performed in the world’s most prestigious venues and have been showered with awards and plaudits galore.

Proving they’re still in their glorious prime, these mistresses of their craft ring in this four-decade milestone with their trademark diamond-sharp satire, lyrical wit and belligerent sass.

The bare bones of Dillie’s life are these. Born Portsmouth 1952. Father a GP. Three much older, very nice siblings who have done nothing but grace the name of Keane and distinguish themselves in every way. Family despaired of Dillie ever conforming.

Educated at Portsmouth High School (very happy) and then at successive Convents of the Sacred Heart (first Hove, where she was miserable but learned remedial curtseying and sang all the time, then Woldingham where she was utterly and completely miserable and still sang all the time). “She’ll come to no good, that girl!” opined one of the nuns as her parents took her away after she was expelled.

Safely at university, she drank and shagged and partied like a girl released from a convent and became a leading light of the drama society and ended her first year being elected Miss Elegance, hahaha! After three years of this divinely crazed existence, her mortal frame nearly gave out. A spell in hospital exposed her complete unfitness for the life of a musicologist. As her parents took her away – she was too ill to take her Part 2 and couldn’t face doing 5 years of a 4 year degree – her Professor suggested that a career in Stage Management might suit.

Finally, she took control of her life. A spell as secretary to the Deputy MD of a leading advertising firm in London gave her financial independence, and she secretly auditioned for LAMDA. The day she got her acceptance letter was the best day of her life. Having flunked out of university, her parents were reluctant to fork out for 3 more years of further education, so she wrote to anyone she could think of who might help. Eventually, the fabled Jim Slater of Slater Walker stepped in with a scholarship and paid her tuition fees. Her defeated parents agreed to give her £100 per term towards living costs, and she was able to accept her place on the course.

Those three years were a thrilling ride. LAMDA was everything she hoped for and more, though trying to keep body and soul together was wonderfully crazy. She had a stall in the Portobello Road every Saturday, where she and a friend sold handmade shopping bags, aprons and second-hand clothes they’d collected from friends and strangers. She temped in the evenings and throughout the holidays, became an artist’s model, did bar work, biked everywhere in London and hitched everywhere else. She also played piano in various hotels, nightclubs and restaurants, and looking back she thinks she must have cut an odd figure with her homemade clothes and Cole Porter songs. Two summer months in Sweden playing piano in a Stockholm nightclub hardened her for the life to come.

Acting jobs followed. Then the songs started popping out. And with the acting jobs, new friends who also sang and were willing to sing her songs. And with all that came the gigs and the birth of Fascinating Aïda.

The Adelaide Festival Centre presents FASCINATING AÏDA - THE 40th ANNIVERSARY SHOW! Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, Friday June 7th, Saturday June 8th and Sunday June 9th.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au