GRADS would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet and play. We pay our respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.

Please be aware this production contains mature themes:

Sexual references, domestic violence references, and depictions of violence and suicide. If you are having trouble coping or staying safe:
Lifeline 13 11 14
Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636

THE
MONTAGUES

Joe Haworth – Romeo

Joe is 22 year old actor originally from Manchester, England. He recently graduated the Diploma of Acting Course at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2021, with highlights including Reverend Hale in Arthur Millers “The Crucible.” Joe then went straight into a weekly award winning FringeWorld 2022 show where he played an awkward, unlucky in love teenager ‘Eli’ in Sunburnt Productions “Gatho at Mine.” Joe has already acquired short film credits in 2022 and hopes to be heading into more work both theatre and screen this year.

Tony Petani – Lord Montague

This will be Tony’s 8th GRADS Summer Shakespeare production after having performed in last year’s highly-acclaimed Comedy of Errors. He has also previously played Benvolio (R & J 2001), Rosencrantz (in both Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead) and Lucentio (Taming of the Shrew). Outside of Shakespeare, Tony has appeared as Freddie (Noises Off), Alan (Equus) and as the eponymous characters in The Elephant Man and Britannicus. Off stage Tony enjoys playing indoor soccer and providing quality legal services.

Sarah Thillagaratnam – Lady Montague

This is Sarah’s fifth Shakespeare production, with her last performance as the drunken Host of the Garter in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Recently, Sarah played the lead role of Bagheera the Panther in Jungle Book The Musical, put her fencing skills to use as leader of the Amazon warriors in Peter Pan, padded up as Kim Kardashian in Cinderella the pantomime, and performed in the Fringe show Dead by the Minute. She has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Journalism and Film & TV, as well as a postgraduate qualification in Literature. Sarah likes singing, dogs, cartoons and video games.

Sarah Harris – Chorus / Montacrew

Sarah fell into theatre when she signed up to Play-building classes in Year Nine thinking it was linked to Woodwork. Initially disappointed that she was going to have to actually talk to people, she fell in love with the creative freedom of drama class and found her niche; at least she nailed something! Since then she hasn’t looked back, loving different chorus and supporting roles she’s jumped in to, even pursuing Drama Studies at ECU as a part of her Bachelor of Arts (especially anything Shakespeare). Now she forces her Year 10 students to love Romeo and Juliet each year.

Grace Edwards – Benvolia

Benvolia is Grace’s fourth Shakespearean role in the New Fortune Theatre, following Dromio of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, and Feste in Twelfth Night. She has also performed in several of the Bard’s other works: Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest — and William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged), in which she played 14 Shakespearean characters. Some of her other past favourite roles include Miss Scarlet in Clue, Hannah in Arcadia, Catherine in A View from the Bridge, and Vanda in Venus in Fur.

Kaitlyn Barry – Abraham

Kaitlyn Barry is a yo-yo performer- she takes sabbaticals and then throws herself back in. A Murdoch Theatre graduate of 2013- Kaitlyn first began her performing journey at 3yrs old, when asked to dance with the WIGGLES at Mirrabooka shopping centre. Since then, she’s performed in shows like Clue- Melville theatre 2021 and starred in commercials for companies like Feral Brewing. After joining the R&J cast Kaitlyn is starting to warm up to Shakespeare and loves the concepts and nuances Sarah and the cast have brought to light.

THE

CAPULETS

Astrid Dainton – Juliet

Astrid is an artist currently working for Sensorium Theatre and DADAA, a disability arts organisation where she runs a theatre workshop. In 2020 she completed a Theatre and Journalism degree at Notre Dame where she appeared in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream playing Egeus, Peasblossom and Peter Quince. Last year she was part of the WA Youth Theatre Company ensemble and appeared in devised work Protest Actually. She has also appeared in numerous plays, musicals and short films including REST with WAYTCo, Mungbean with Beyond the Yard and A Few Good Men and Spring Storm with PAANDA.

Ed Stowers – Lord Capulet

Presuming Ed WITHNAIL & I, Chief Bromden ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, Karl Bresner POPCORN Judd BOUNCERS, Goldberg THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, the lead in OTHELLO, Pontius Pilate JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (nominated for Best Musical Performance at the Finlay Awards) plus roles in HAMLET, THE MERCHANT OF VENUS, MACBETH and most recently CLUE. Also several Blue Room shows, local films, and a recurring role as Sergeant Vainu’upu on THE HEIGHTS (ABC TV).

Genevieve Moran – Lady Capulet

A graduate of Curtin University’s Theatre Arts degree, Genevieve has had an extensive and varied career in the Performing Arts. Highlights include dancing in South Korea; performing in Jesus Christ Superstar at His Majesty’s Theatre; touring regional and outback Australia with a traditional circus; acting in many roles with Shakespeare by the Sea in Sydney; training with Stalker Physical Theatre Company in Sydney; and teaching on and directing for the Contemporary Performance course at Edith Cowan University. Romeo and Juliet sees Genevieve’s return to the stage after, well, quite a while, and she has loved every minute of it.

Oliver Clare – Mercutio

Oliver’s passion for theatre was ignited in 2014 when he gain the role of Javert in his School’s production of Les Miserables, since then he has done a variety of productions ranging from musical theatre (Les Miserables 2014, Mary Poppins 2015, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 2015, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables 2017, Rock of Ages 2018, Atomic: The New Rock Musical, Kinky Boots 2019, Next to Normal 2020, Mamma Mia 2021) as well as plays (The Graduate 2017, The Crucible 2018, Love and Information, Shakespeare Scene Mix, The Crucible 2021). Having achieved his Certificate IV in Musical Theatre (2016) and Diploma of Acting (2021) at WAAPA, Oliver has successfully secured a place in The 3 year Bachelor of Performing Arts (theatre making) program this year. This will be Oliver’s first full length Shakespearean production and hopes you enjoy the show as much as the cast have enjoyed playing.

Libby Stone – Nurse

Libby’s performance career began at the Perth Playhouse. She became known on radio 6PR, 6NR, 6KY and the ABC (1975 – 1985). She played leads in Les Liaisons Dangereuse, A Streetcar Named Desire, Ghosts, the title role in Mrs Warren’s Profession, Gertrude in Hamlet, A Lie of the Mind, Nuts; and at La Mama in It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To, Some Mother’s Son and the solo Machiavelli, Machiavelli. Her work in film, TV and on stage: includes Blue Heelers, Neighbours and Stingers, with roles in TV mini-series The War That Changed Us and Three Acts of Murder; films Punishment and My Year Without Sex, and performances at The Blue Room, the Subiaco Arts Centre and the Perth Fringe Festival in the solo My Father’s Name.

Ellis Kinnear – Tybalt

After arriving on the fair shores of Australia from the United Kingdom, Ellis R Kinnear was first introduced to the wonderful world of theatre as a youth in high school drama. Continuing to love theatre and desiring to hone his skills Ellis enrolled in and completed a bachelor of theatre arts at Curtin University in 2020. Having developed a passion for Shakespeare and Absurdism Ellis has geared his theatrical career towards that, and has appeared in Much Ado About Nothing, Masquerade, The Hogfather, Cosi, Rock of Ages and is beyond excited to be bringing the gentle and kind hearted Tybalt to life.

Sebastian Boyd – Sampson & Romeo Understudy

Having recently completed and acquired his diploma of acting from WAAPA and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in both Screen and Theatre arts from Curtin University Sebastian is keen to put all his new skills into practice. With a keen eye and ear for Sound and AV design and a passion for all things acting, Seb has gone on to design and perform in a multitude of engaging and entertaining theatre and film projects.

Sophie Strahan – Gregory & Juliet Understudy

Sophie Strahan completed the WAAPA Diploma of Acting in 2020 and the Diploma of Screen Performance in 2021. Prior to that she attended a performing arts high school, playing roles such as Elizabeth Proctor in Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ and Beatrice in William Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. She has completed workshops at institutions such as RADA and RSC. She’s appeared in different theatre productions, short films and made her Fringe debut earlier this year.

Megan Lilly – Peta

Megan has always been involved with the arts, leading them to win the Cultural Arts award at their high school graduation in 2020. They recently performed as Grandma in Stirling Theatre’s Addams Family jr, and performed in Modicum Theatre Company’s Midsummer Dreams as a part of the 2020 Fringe Festival. Also in 2020, they were nominated for Young Citizen of the year for their contribution to community radio. Megan has also dabbled in voice acting, appearing in Ballarat National Theatres audio book adaptation of Peter Pan, as the voice of Slightly the Lost Boy. In their spare time, Megan now co-hosts a Marvel and Star Wars themed podcast called “Blob On”. They are excited to be a part of this fabulous production of Romeo and Juliet, and hopes that you have as much fun watching it as everyone had during rehearsals!

THE

COMMUNITY

Jason Dohle – Paris

This is Jason’s third performance with GRADS, having joined in 2020 and performed in The Boys in the Band and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Jason graduated from and currently teaches at Murdoch University. At Murdoch, Jason worked on Shakespeare productions of Macbeth, Titus Andronicus, Hamlet, The Tempest, Much ado about Nothing and Twelfth Night. Jason has also performed in Closer at Koorliny, Clue, Twelfth Night and Sense & Sensibility at Melville Theatre, Arcadia and Wuthering Heights at Harbour Theatre along with Amadeus at Old Mill Theatre. Jason will also be a part of GRADS next production, French Without Tears.

Jess Lally – Prince

Jess Lally is an alumnus of the improvised comedy collective The Big Hoo Haa!, an actor and singer with many companies across Perth, and a former drama teacher. She is most proud of her roles as Titania in Roleystone’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Little Mermaid/Rapunzel in Grey Lantern’s Disenchanted! and Princess Katherine in Blak Yak’s Henry V, for which she received a Best Supporting Actress Finley nomination. She has just finished a season of the Fringe World Comedy Award winning Bogan Shakespeare Presents Julius Caesar, and is thrilled to tread the boards of the New Fortune Theatre once again.

Ruhama Rowe – Friar Laurence

Ruhama completed a Performance Studies degree at Curtin University where she featured in many productions and short films. Since graduating she has been involved on and offstage in theatre. Ruhama has worked in theatre around Australia and in New York. She has appeared in many shows around Perth, most recently performing in The Little Good Wolf at Fringe World, the Henry VI Part 1 and 3 staged readings and the award-winning production Incognito. In addition to acting, Ruhama has toured regional areas singing in her acoustic duo. She is thrilled to be performing on the New Fortune Stage.

Celia Andrews – Friar John

After returning to Perth, from several years overseas, I’m delighted that Sarah has included me in her R&J cast. Previously with Grads: I’ve played several roles, including Ranyevskaya, in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, and Goneril in Shakespeare’s King Lear. I also directed Arthur Miller’s The Crucible at The Dolphin.

Shivas Lindsay – Man Friday / Apothecary

Shivas is originally from Scotland and has been in a number of GRADS productions including MacBeth. He also has played at the Irish Club in One acts and Pantomimes. Shivas is an engineer by day and loves the totally different aspect that acting brings to his life and is very much looking forward to being part of this modern Romeo and Juliet and revisiting the New Fortune!

CREATIVE

TEAM

Sarah Guillot – Director

Sarah is an actor, director and educator specialising in Shakespeare. She has built a robust reputation in Western Australia as an independent theatre-maker, bringing a blend of fresh ideas and a physical, collaborative approach to each theatre process. Sarah studied devised theatre as part of a BA in Contemporary Performance at Edith Cowan University, then combined her specialities to create unique productions of Shakespeare for young audiences: All’s Well That Ends Well (Fringe World 2012) and R&J (FringeWorld 2014). Perth Now described All’s Well That Ends Well. As, “Spirited and ambitious... an exciting and inventive take on Shakespeare’s classic”. In 2019, she created her YouTube channel Shakespeare with Sarah, and continues to help thousands of young actors around the world via videos and Zoom coaching. Last year she directed the moved readings of Henry VI Parts 2 and 3 at The New Fortune Theatre and is delighted to be leading this full-scale production of Romeo and Juliet in this unique and wonderful theatre space.

Kerri-Anne Mulley - Assistant Director

Kerri-Anne’s performances have included “100 Reasons For War”, Tiggy in “Bombshells”, Jillian in “Sex Toys”, Lady Windermere in “Lady Windermere’s Fan”, Judy in “After the Ball” , Angie in “The Wedding Singer”, Stevie in “The Living Hell” and Regina in “Ghosts. Kerri-Anne has performed professionally in various lead roles with the Hunted Interactive Experience and on the television show “The Heights”. Kerri-Anne trained with Curtin University where she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Performance. Kerri-Anne has directed “The Secret of Snow White.” Kerri-Anne is thoroughly enjoying working with the cast and crew of “Romeo and Juliet.”

Nastassja Kruger – Fight Choreographer

A graduate of the Contemporary Performance and Theatre Studies Course at WAAPA, since 2013 Nastassja has trained with and assisted Andy Fraser of Stage Combat Perth at a variety of companies and institutions, including WAAPA, WA Opera, and Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company. She has also assisted on other Black Swan productions including As You Like It, Dinner and Venus In Fur. Nastassja was also a regular fixture at the Western Regional Stage Combat Workshops from 2014-2017 and attended the 2016 Paddy Crean International Stage Combat Workshop at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada. Black Swan Theatre: Oklahoma! (2020), York (2021), City of Gold (2022).

Jane Tero – Design

Jane is a Curtin Screen Arts graduate with an interest in costume and production design. She has designed the costumes for several shows at the Hayman Theatre Company, worked on The Producers at the Regal Theatre and School of Rock at Koorliny Arts Centre, and recently designed the set and costume of Monstrous Woman for Tempest Theatre. She has also worked on a number of short films at Curtin, most notably third-year production Cadet, for which she won Best Production Design for 2020.

Dan Beard – Graphic Design - Go Modern Creative

Go Modern Creative offers a range of graphic and web design solutions, including social media services, email marketing and more. With over 15 years of professional experience, Go Modern has worked alongside businesses and creatives to help develop their online and offline presence. Whether it’s creating your new style, refreshing your current image, designing your website or simply producing your flyers, Go Modern Creative can help. gomoderncreative.com.

With special thanks to...

GRADS committee members and previous directors for their advice and support.
Nigel Goodwin for videography. nigel.goodwin.creative@gmail.com.
Dan Beard at Go Modern Creative for Graphic Design.
Grace Edwards for her ingenious help with publicity.
Sarah would like to thank her endlessly patient husband Alexis and son Oliver for supporting her when she’s “doing her Shakespeare”.

Against the backdrop of a bitter feud between their noble families and a tense political situation, a pair of young lovers meet. Despite the bloody hostility between their families they vow their love to each other.

Could their revolutionary love finally bring peace to these warring houses?

Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy is stunningly retold as a modern-dress adaptation in the open-air of

UWA’s New Fortune Theatre.

TICKETSWA.COM / 08 6488 2440

TICKETS $30, CONCESSION $25