Director's notes

Set in the 1960s, but written by a young Michael Gow in the 1980s, Away shows us the drama of three families dealing with (or not dealing with) trauma – past, present and approaching. A feature of Australian society at that time was to ignore personal issues, hide them away and repress them. The damage of such attitudes is evident to the audience in the ways characters such as Gwen, Roy and both Vic and Harry treat their supposed loved ones. However, by the end of the play each family achieves at least peace, if not happiness. The minimalist set and 1960s costumes help to place us in that time – seemingly so recent but in fact quite distant. Exploring these characters with my wonderful cast and crew has been a challenging and enjoyable experience, and a reminder not to enact these mistakes in present life

Cast

Roy

Brent Schon

Brent has performed in a range of productions and genres with various theatre groups over many years in greater Brisbane. Some highlights include the role of William Randolph Hurst in The Cats Meow and Henry in The Lion in Winter, for Villanova Players. He has also performed the roles of Brutus in Julius Caesar, Lord Gloucester in King Lear, Polonius/Grave Digger in Hamlet for heartBeast Theatre, Roy in Tim Wynns production of Cosi, Pedro in Man of La Mancha and Telegin in the Curators production of Uncle Vanya. This is Brent’s second time performing the role of Roy in Away!

Coral

Meagan Lawson

Meagan has been a member of Villanova Players since 2010, performing in several on-stage roles over the years including Influence, An Italian Straw Hat, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Rabbit Hole, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and The Sweet Deliah Swim Club. Meagan loves everything about theatre and enjoys both backstage and onstage roles whenever she can, attending as many productions as she can throughout the year.

Jim

Peter Cattach

Peter has popped up again like a bad penny every couple of years since his first appearance at VPs in 2004 as a supporting actor for his dog in 'As you like it'. This time it is as Jim that saintly but long suffering husband of Gwen and doting father of Meg Peter last appeared at VPs in ‘The Cat’s Meow’, and before that ‘Daylight saving’, ‘School for Scandal’, ‘ Summer rain’, 'Picnic at Hanging Rock ‘,'High Society' and 'Much Ado About Nothing’. Bring back the dog we say.

PS: Peter informs us that the dog in question passed over the Rainbow Bridge ten years ago; so good luck with that one

Gwen

Jane Binstead

Jane has been involved in theatre for more than 20 years and loving every minute of it. Last year she played Sheree in Villanova Players’ (VPs) Sweet Delilah Swim Club and had a hoot getting comedic with 4 amazing, fun women. This was a big contrast to Lindy Chamberlain in Letters to Lindy (2022). Highlights with VPs include going solo in comedy Her Big Chance, by Alan Bennett (2020); The Memory of Water and Edith Stein (both 2009) and Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet. A couple of Jane’s other favourites include Private Lives with St Luke’s Theatre (2018); the Philadelphia Story radio play with Nash (2017) and Beyond Reasonable Doubt with Sunnybank Theatre (2016). Jane’s tried out directing a Short & Sharp, VPs The Bear by Anton Chekhov (2021). She feels very lucky to have this cathartic role in Away.

Meg

Emily Summer

Emily Summer is a Brisbane-based performer with a passion for music and live theatre, currently studying at the University of Queensland. Previous shows with Villanova Players include ‘Great Expectations’ (2024), ‘My Family and Other Animals’ (2023) and ‘The Cat’s Meow’ (2023), ‘Jasper Jones’ (Beenleigh Theatre Group, 2023), ‘Legally Blonde’ (Bowra & Nucifora, 2022) and a short film written and directed by James Hurley to be released in 2024. Most recently, Emily acted in, and stage managed ‘A Cherry Orchard’ with UQ Drama. Emily is delighted to be a part of ‘Away’ and looks forward to sharing this wonderful Australian story with you.

Harry

David Scholes

A former television producer and writer, David now runs a design and branding agency Jellyfish Creative with his partner Jennifer. David’s love of theatre began with seeing Tom Courtenay in Twelfth Night at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre more than forty years ago. He is now fulfilling a lifelong ambition to act. David’s most recently appeared for Villanova Players in A Separate Peace, and as Colonel Pickering in Pygmalion for Centenary Theatre. He is devoted to Darcy, his rescue greyhound, and Sheffield Wednesday.

Viv

Victoria McCrystal

This is Victoria's second performance with the Villanova Players, having played Felicity in last year’s production of Daylight Saving. Before that, she portrayed Sheila in Jake’s Women with St Luke’s Theatre. Victoria enthusiastically returned to the stage in 2022 after a long hiatus spent building her career and raising a family. Excited to be part of another classic Aussie play, she has loved bringing her namesake, Vic, to life in, Away, embodying the role of a delightful, yet quintessentially 1960s, wife, mother and immigrant to Australia.

Tom

Thomas Wood

Thomas is currently studying drama and performance studies at university. He has performed in many productions around Brisbane including ‘A Midsummers Night Dream’, ‘The Picture of Dorian Grey’ and ‘Troilus and Cressida’ and most recently in a Beenleigh theatre group production ‘Shakespeare in Love’. This is Thomas’s first time starring in a Villanova Players production and is thrilled to be a part of the Away cast. Thomas would like to thank the cast and the director Helen Ekundayo for an exciting production process. Thomas is also ready to blow the audience AWAY with his performance.

Nick

Harley Rutherford

This is Harley’s debut theatrical performance, and he is excited to be treading the boards as Rick. Hailing from Sydney, he has thoroughly enjoyed the production process and can’t wait to continue his theatrical career!

Ensemble

Tiffany Dahl

Tiffany, though relatively new to stage acting, has harboured a lifelong passion for it. After studying drama in school, she recently completed her Cert 4 in Acting for Stage and Film. Her theatre credits include Samantha in "Fishing for Fate", as a Grandmother in Roald Dahl's "Witches", and as Mum in Jake Moss' "Sex Shop". When not on stage, Tiffany enjoys running, cycling, and spending time with her partner and bonus son.

Ensemble

Rachael Griffiths

Rachael is a Meanjin based actor and theatre maker. As a recent graduate of QUT's Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drama) degree she has spent the last 3 years studying, enjoying and making theatre alongside Vena Cava Productions, theatrePUNK.co and in shows at Anywhere Festival. Rachael is excited for you to join her and the cast of Away on their holidays!

Ensemble

Vivien Broadbent

No doubt Vivien secretly envied her much older sister who got to wear her hair in 60’s styles and actually went out to Go Go dance clubs. Playing Miss La Trobe/Ensemble in Away has been a wonderful opportunity to work with such a great group of cast and crew, to practise those classic 60’s hair dos and re-experience Aussie culture and sterotypes in which now seems so far back in time if not from a foreign universe.

With Villanova Players Vivien has played Lexi in Sweet Delilah Swim Club, Myra/Joy in Ladies In Black, various parts in The Kursk and has directed Hidden In This Picture written by Aaron Sorkin.

Vivien has performed with other theatre companies and special events including, Brink Productions, QMT, Brisbane Arts Theatre, Opera Q’s Community Chorus, Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony as well as voice acting and a film extra.

Sammy-Jo Toissant

Ensemble:

Sammy Jo has a passion for theatre. She was extremely excited to be offered the opportunity to act in 'Away'. Her previous work in theatre includes 2023, where she played one of the school girls in 'There's A War On You Know'. In 2022 she played Demoiselle in 'Summer Wonderland'. Sammy desires to pursue a career in both stage and screen work.

Finn McCrystal

Ensemble:

Finn makes his theatrical debut in Away as a member of the ensemble. He has enthusiastically embraced the challenge of bringing a colourful assortment of characters to life on the stage in this production. Theatre is a new chapter in Finn’s lifelong passion for the arts. Apart from his new found love of acting, Finn enjoys creating and painting models, drawing and writing stories, with a keen interest in film and media arts, which he is pursuing in his studies

Helen Ekundayo

Director.

Helen began dancing at the age of 5 and has never stopped. Acting followed as a teenager and has also continued. Helen performed most recently on stage as Elinor Glyn in the Villanova Players' production of "Cat's Meow" directed by Roslyn Johnson, and on screen in a Mt Gravatt TAFE film, “Out of Reach” in the role of Nikki Webster, directed by Grace Kelly.

Over the years she has performed with Ignatians Musical Society, Ocean Theatre, Mercury Theatre, Villanova Players, Sunnybank Theatre, HeartBeast, Ad Astra Theatre.

She choreographed the 2017 "Wizard of Oz"production and the 2021 "Beauty and the Beast" production, both for San Sisto College, and Villanova Player's'production of "The Venetian Twins" in 2022.

Her directing credits include Co-director of "High Society" for Villanova Players in 2018, director of "Shadowlands" for Villanova Players in 2019 ,director and choreographer of "Summer Rain" for Villanova Players in November 2021, director of "Jake's Women "for St Luke's Theatre Society in 2022 and “Daylight Saving" for Villanova Players in 2023.

Helen is an accomplished dancer, choreographer and dance teacher and until recently taught dance classes for adults.