Never Closer

Grace Chapple

Grace Chapple is a playwright and screenwriter based on Gadigal land in Sydney, Australia.

Grace completed her MFA in Writing for Performance at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 2020. Her major work, NEVER CLOSER, was produced as part of Belvoir St Theatre’s 25A program in 2022, for which it received an AWGIE nomination for Best Stage Play (Original). The production will be remounted for Belvoir’s mainstage season in May 2024. NEVER CLOSER has also been shortlisted for the Griffin Award, the Rodney Seaborn Award, the Shane & Catherine Brennan Playwriting Award, and longlisted for Theatre503’s International Playwriting Award.

In 2023 Grace was selected to participate in Sydney Theatre Company’s Watershed: Writers group, a professional development program for emerging playwrights. In 2022, she was a participant in the AWG’s First Break program for emerging screenwriters. Grace is currently represented by HLA Management.

Hannah Goodwin

Hannah Goodwin (she/her) is a director who lives and works on Gadigal land. She is currently Resident Director at Belvoir Street Theatre. Her work includes Wayside Bride by Alana Valentine (Belvoir), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire by Caryl Churchill (Belvoir), The Sorry Mum Project by Pippa Ellams (National Theatre of Parramatta, Bondi Feast), A Girl in School Uniform (Walks into a Bar) by Lulu Raczka (Kings Cross Theatre), and The Carousel by Pippa Ellams (Shopfront Arts Co-op, Downstairs Belvoir, Merrigong X, Kings Cross Theatre). As assistant director: Black Brass by Mararo Wangai (Belvoir), Stop Girl by Sally Sara (Belvoir), My Brilliant Career by Kendall Feaver (Belvoir), Packer and Sons by Tommy Murphy (Belvoir), and Love by Patricia Cornelius (Darlinghurst Theatre Company).

Hannah was the 2020-2022 Andrew Cameron Fellow at Belvoir and the 2019 recipient of the ATYP Rose Byrne Leadership Scholarship.

Emma Diaz

Emma Diaz is an actor and producer based in Sydney. A graduate of WAAPA Acting, her theatre credits include Blessed Union (Belvoir), The
Great Divide (Ensemble), On The Beach (Sydney Theatre Company), The Crucible (Sport for Jove), Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare), Nautilus (Monkey Baa Theatre Company), and Hitler’s Daughter (Monkey Baa Theatre Company). Emma’s notable TV/film credits include After the Verdict (Nine Network), Bump (Stan), Pieces of Her (Netflix), Isaac’s Dream (Triangle Films), Diary of an Uber Driver (ABC) and Friends and Strangers, which was selected in the British Film Institute’s Top 50 Films of 2021 and is streaming on MUBI and SBS. Notable short film credits include Smoko Porno and Water – for which she was nominated ‘Best Performance by an Actress’ at the WA Screen Awards. Emma is also production management graduate of AFTRS, and as a producer has worked with Belvoir St Theatre, Projector Films, Goalpost Pictures, Acuity Films and Co-curious. In 2017 Emma created Aya Productions and has presented independent work at ATYP, Belvoir 25A, Kings X Theatre and the Old Fitz Theatre. Emma is represented by Linsten Management.

Raj Labade

Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, Raj Labade began his professional career at the age of 17 in
the 2019 Australian feature film, Back of The Net. At 18, Raj was Accepted into the ‘Bachelor of
Fine Arts (Acting)’ course at the ‘The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts’
(WAAPA). While At WAAPA, Raj was the recipient of multiple prestigious awards. The 2020
Speech and Drama Teachers Association Poetry Prize, the 2021 Vice Chancellor’s Shakespeare
award of ‘Best Production’ for his performance of Hamlet and The 2021 Leslie Anderson Award
for ‘Most Outstanding Graduating Actor’ in his final Showcase performance, graduating at the
age of 21.

Raj’s stage credits include; Tell Me I’m Here and Never Closer for Belvoir; Perth Festival’s
production of Mary Stuart; Sex Magick for Griffin Theatre Company; The Talented Mr
Ripley and Dictionary of Lost Words for Sydney Theatre Company; and the musical adaptation
of My Brilliant Career for Melbourne Theatre Company, for which Raj received a 2025 Green
Room nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actor in a Musical’.
Raj’s recent Television Credits include Appetite (SBS) and The Office (Australian Version –
Amazon Prime).

In 2023, Raj was one of 12 recipients of the CGA ‘Rising Stars’ award “have the potential to break
out on the world stage”.

Mabel Li

Mabel Li is a 2019 graduate from NIDA’s BFA Acting course.

Their theatre credits include Miss Peony (Belvoir Mainstage), Never Closer (Downstairs Belvoir), The Seagull (Sydney Theatre Company), Delilah by the Hour (Brand X), Goldilocks (NIDA), Pool (no water) (NIDA), Ah, Tuzenbach: A Melancholic Cabaret (NIDA), and D.N.A (Seymour Theatre).

Mabel made her television debut in the 2021 AACTA award winning SBS series, The Tailings (dir. Stevie Cruz-Martin). Since then she has starred in Kindling Picture’s Safe Home, and most recently appeared in Lingo Pictures’ Erotic Stories. She was also nominated for a Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress and won an Asian Academy award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Goalpost Pictures’ New Gold Mountain, (dir. Corrie Chen) for SBS. Their work in film also includes art installation Trechikoff’s Chinese Girl.

Mabel is also the recipient of the 2019/2020 BBM Youth Award Scholarship for Drama and was a 2021 Finalist for the Heath Ledger Scholarship. Mabel was also a recipient of the CGA Rising Star Award for 2022. She will be seen later this at Melbourne Theatre Company in Cost of Living.

Philip Lynch

Belvoir Street Theatre: NEVER CLOSER. 

Griffin Theatre Company: THE LEWIS TRILOGY.  Red Line Productions: JUST! LIVE ON STAGE!, HAND TO GOD.

Film: FIVE BLIND DATES (Amazon Studios). Short Film: INCORRUPTIBLE, LEAF LITTER, SHELTERED.

Television: HE HAD IT COMING (Stan).

Training: WAAPA (2017) NIDA (BFA 2021).

Ariadne Sgouros

Ariadne Sgouros graduated from NIDA in 2017 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting.

Ariadne has been onstage at Belvoir for production of Scenes from the Climate Era, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Never Closer (Belvoir 25a) and in Shitty (Belvoir 25a) and Life is a Dream (Belvoir 25a).

During her time at NIDA, Ariadne performed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Eurydike and Orpheus, and The Show That Smells. Ariadne has been involved in a series of KXTeethCutting readings at the Kings Cross Theatre. Other theatre credits include Midnight Murder At Hamlington Hall (Ensemble Theatre), The Divorce Party and Love, Me (The Old 505), Before the Meeting and The Shifting Heart (White Box Theatre) and What The Butler Saw and This Bitter Earth (New Theatre). Most recently Ariadne has been on stage in 4000 Miles (Sydney Theatre Company).

On screen, Ariadne has been involved in a number of AFTRS short films, including The Retreat, Reunion, and Gorgon, in which she speaks Greek. Ariadne also appeared on Swipe Right, Home and Away and Binge original series Strife.

Adam Sollis

Born and bred a stone’s throw from Fremantle, Adam received his high school education at John Curtin College of the Arts before being accepted into the prestigious Acting program at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

Adam’s theatre credits include Tonsils and Tweezers (Black Swan State Theatre Company) written and directed by Will O’Mahony, Once In Royal David’s City (Queensland Theatre/BSSTC) directed by Sam Strong, WRATH (KXT/Bakehouse) and Shepherd (Belvoir 25A) written and directed by Liam Maguire, The Effect written by Lucy Prebble and directed by Pippa Grandison and TheDog/TheCat written by Brendan Cowell and Lally Katz, directed by Michael Abercrombie, both for Fremantle Theatre Company.

Adam’s television credits include Cloudstreet for Screentime, Stormworld for Great Western Entertainment, Angelfish and Boldly Go [AFTRS], Riot for the ABC and Home and Away for the Seven Network.

Adam’s Feature Film credits include Dance Academy: The Movie for Werner Film Productions and he will soon appear in the feature The Surfer, directed by Lorcan Finnegan and starring Nicolas Cage.

Adam is very excited to once again bring Never Closer to the stage at Belvoir St Theatre.

Grace Deacon

Grace is a production and costume designer working across stage, film and screen. Grace’s practice is based heavily on creative collaboration and exploration, with a love of developing new works. Grace’s recent design credits include:  AN OX STOOF ON MY TOUNGE (25A BELVOIR), NEVER CLOSER (25A BELVOIR), THE ITALIANS (25A BELVOIR), WHO’S AFRAID (25A BELVOIR), DESTRY, SHE SAID (25A BELVOIR), LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE), SENSER (THEATRE WORKS), T NOT TODAY (MELBOURNE COMEDY FESTIVAL). TV credits: MASKED SINGER AUSTRALIA (2021-23), GLADIATORS (2023) Grace has been awarded the Best Stage Design for an Independant production 2023, the William Fletcher Foundation Scholarship and Peter Ivan Scholarship for Excellence in Design.

Keerthi Subramanyam

Keerthi is a Sydney based set and costume designer for live performance and film. Keerthi is a National Institute of Dramatic Art, BFA (Design for Performance, 2019) graduate, and a member of the Australian Production Design Guild.

Keerthi has designed set and costumes for Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, Chewing Gum Dreams at the Old Fitz, Chop Chef at Riverside Theatres, and designed the costumes and was a set realiser on Belvoir’s At What Cost.

Keerthi has been an associate designer on a wide range of theatre shows including Sydney Theatre Company’s Grand Horizons, Belvoir’s Jungle and the Sea, Wayside Bride, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Boomkak Panto, Cursed!, and Hayes Theatre Co’s Young Frankenstein. 

Keerthi has also worked as a props supervisor on Belvoir’s Into the Woods and Blessed Union. 

Keerthi’s film credits include working as a design assistant on Operation Buffalo, as production & costume designer on various short films and music videos and most recently as an art director on SBS’s mini series Appetite.  Keerthi is one of Belvoir’s Artistic Associates. She is currently working across theatre and art installation. 

Blake Hedley

Alyx Dennison

Alyx Dennison is a singer, composer and sound designer living and working on Gadigal Land. She is a fierce advocate for equality in education and the arts, with a particular interest in work which illuminates (and works to dissolve) systems of class, power and hierarchy.

She cut her teeth on experimental pop duo kyü, who toured extensively and released two critically acclaimed albums (Popfrenzy/Inertia) before disbanding in 2012. She continued her study of classical and experimental vocal traditions abroad as well as some studies in Interactive Composition at the VCA before joining Nick Wales’ ensemble for Shaun Parker Company’s Am I (as vocalist and multi-instrumentalist) which toured internationally. In 2015, she released and toured her self-titled solo LP (Popfrenzy/Caroline) which was lauded as an evolution from her previous work. 

She has performed at Meredith Music Festival, Mona Foma, Carriageworks, The State Theatre and played with acts such as LAMB (UK), Sarah Blasko, Juana Molina (Argentina), Xiu Xiu (US) and Deradoorian of The Dirty Projectors (US).

Alyx’s composition and sound design credits for stage include; Grey Rhino by Charmene Yap and Cass Mortimer Eipper for Sydney Festival/Carriageworks 2022, Limbic by Cass Mortimer Eipper for Australasian Dance Collective 2022; The Mother Project a multi-disciplinary work directed by Clemence Williams 2022; for Agatha Gothe-Snape; The Outcome is Certain 2020 and Wet Matter 2020 (lead by Evelyn Morris) for MUMA, Double Beat by Sara Black for Form Dance Projects 2019-2022; for Griffin Theatre Company: Splinter by Hilary Bell and directed by Lee Lewis 2019 and Superheroes by Mark Rogers and directed by Shari Sebbens 2020 (associate to Dave Bergman); for Karul Projects: Mi:wi by Taree Sansbury for Next Wave Festival 2018, WOLLUMBIN / / WARNING 2017 and CO_EX_EN by Thomas E.S. Kelly for Dance Massive 2019, Story Club Solo by Zoe Norton-Lodge for Sydney Opera House 2017. Film credits include; Nataptedi by Yolanda Lowatta for Art_Apart 2022; Liminal for Australasian Dance Collective 2020 and ID for Transit Dance Company 2020 – both choreographed and directed by Cass Mortimer Eipper; a series of short films born of Liverpool Girls’ Highschool’s Refugee Art Project, and Outbreak Generation by Brooke Goldfinch which premiered at Sydney Film Festival in 2017.

She has performed in works by internationally renowned artists such as Agatha Gothe-Snape, Oliver Beer (UK), Patricia Piccinini, Lauren Brincat; and has performed alongside legendary new music vocalist Joan La Barbara (NY), and has appeared in works presented at The Art Gallery of NSW, The Bienale of Sydney, Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art, National Gallery of Australia, MONA and Opéra National de Paris.  She has cultivated a practice that enables her love (and compulsion for) experimentation, connection and collaboration, and is honoured to be joining the Belvoir family for Rep Season.

Phoebe Pilcher

Phoebe is a Sydney based lighting designer predominantly working in new Australian work and devised processes, with her credits spanning across theatre, musical theatre, dance and events.

Phoebe enjoys vibrant, ambitious projects where chaos sparks creativity. She is committed to developing fresh, innovative projects with Australia’s young creatives.

Most recently, Phoebe designed the lighting for THE EDIT, from writer/director Gabrielle Scawthorn at Belvoir 25A; WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, directed by Alexander Berlage for Hayes Theatre and Pinwheel Productions; and worked with lighting designer Paul Jackson as Associate Lighting Designer on Belvoir’s THE SPARE ROOM starring Judy Davis.

Other recent designs include; A MODEL MURDER (Sydney Festival), NEVER CLOSER, HOLDING THE MAN (Belvoir), A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, HAND TO GOD (Redline Productions), HOT TUB, THE ITALIANS (Belvoir 25A) and LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (ACM).

Previous designs include THIS BITTER EARTH (Theatreworks), UNVEILING: GAY SEX FOR ENDTIMES, HIRO (The Blue Room Theatre) and MINUS ONE SISTER (The Blue Room and State Theatre Centre of WA)

Phoebe is one half of independent queer theatre company, Bub, and a graduate from both the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Production & Design) and the National Institute of Dramatic Art (M.F.A Design for Performance).

www.phoebepilcher.com

Laura Farrell

Laura Farrell (she/her) is a Voice and Dialect Coach living and working on Gadigal land. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Voice from NIDA; a Post Graduate Diploma in Voice from the Victorian College of the Arts; and a Bachelor of Music Theatre from the Victorian College of the Arts. A current lecturer for NIDA’s BFA, Laura has also taught on multiple Sydney actor training programs, including NIDA’s Diploma of Stage and Screen and Diploma of Music Theatre, Actors Pulse, Sydney Acting Studio, Actors Centre Australia and The University of Wollongong.

For Belvoir, Laura’s coaching credits include Counting and Cracking directed by Eamon Flack (2024), Never Closer directed by Hannah Goodwin (2024), Lose to Win directed by Jess Arthur (2024), Holding the Man directed by Eamon Flack (2024), At What Cost? directed by Isaac Drandic, Miss Peony directed by Courtney Stewart (2023), The Master & Margarita, Into The Woods, directed by Eamon Flack (2023), Blue, directed by Deborah Brown (2023), The Jungle And The Sea, directed by Eamon Flack (2022), Tell Me I’m Here, directed by Leticia Caceres (2022), Fangirls, directed by Paige Rattray (2022) and Counting And Cracking, directed by Eamon Flack (2022).  

Other credits include Pear Shaped, directed by Miranda Middleton (Rogue Projects, 2023), F*** It Bucket, directed by Alyssa McClelland (LeftBank Productions UK, 2022),  Reluctant Sea Shanty for UNHCR, directed by Kyra Bartley (FINCH, 2022), Picnic At Hanging Rock, directed by Claudia Osbourne (NIDA, 2022), Paper Stars, directed by Miranda Middleton (Salty Theatre, 2021) and Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., directed by Heather Fairbairn (NIDA, Sydney 2021).  

Nigel Poulton

Nigel is an award-winning fight, movement, and intimacy director, SAG-AFTRA stunt performer and actor with over 17 years of national and international experience. He is a Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors.

Belvoir credits include: THE SPARE ROOM, THE WRONG GODS, BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY,  THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, NEVER CLOSER, HOLDING THE MAN, COUNTING AND CRACKING, THE REP SEASON, THE MASTER AND MARGARITA, INTO THE WOODS, THE JUNGLE AND THE SEA, LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, WAYSIDE BRIDE, AT WHAT COST, CHERRY ORCHARD, MISS PEONY, MY BRILLIANT CAREER, CURSED!, PACKER AND SONS, THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE, COUNTING AND CRACKING, DANCE OF DEATH, SAMI IN PARADISE, THE SUGAR HOUSE, A TASTE OF HONEY, AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, PRIZEFIGHTER.

Other credits include: for Sydney Theatre Company, OIL, THE VISITORS, CONSTELLATIONS, ON THE BEACH, DO NOT GO GENTLE, FENCES, HUBRIS AND HUMILIATION, A RAISIN IN THE SUN, STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE, TOP COAT, THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL, GRAND HORIZONS, APPROPRIATE, PLAYING BEATIE BOW, RULES FOR LIVING, THE DEEP BLUE SEA, LORD OF THE FLIES, THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, HOW TO RULE THE WORLD, MARY STUART, DINNER, THE HARP IN THE SOUTH PART ONE AND PART TWO, THE LONG FORGOTTEN DREAM, BLACKIE BLACKIE BROWN (WITH MALTHOUSE), ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST, THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI, SAINT JOAN, SPEED THE PLOW, THREE SISTERS, DINNER, MURIEL’S WEDDING THE MUSICAL, BLACK IS THE NEW WHITE, A CHEERY SOUL, THE GOLDEN AGE, THE PRESENT, SWITZERLAND, MACBETH, NOISES OFF, CYRANO DE BERGERAC, THE REMOVALISTS, ROMEO & JULIET, ROMEO & JULIET (EDUCATION); for Melbourne Theatre Company, THE REMOVALISTS, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, BERNHARDT/HAMLET, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, TWELFTH NIGHT, NOISES OFF, THREE LITTLE WORDS, JASPER JONES, QUEEN LEAR, HAMLET, REALISM, DON JUAN IN SOHO, MACBETH, THE GLASS SOLDIER, CYRANO DE BERGERAC; for Queensland Theatre, GASLIGHT, FIRST CASUALTY, BOY SWALLOWS UNIVERSE, TRIPLE X (WITH SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY), CITY OF GOLD (WITH GRIFFIN THEATRE COMPANY), SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE, HYDRA, BLACK IS THE NEW WHITE, NOISES OFF! (WITH MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY), JASPER JONES, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, SWITZERLAND, MACBETH, FRACTIONS; for Bell Shakespeare, CORIOLANUS, IN A NUTSHELL: THE POETRY OF VIOLENCE, IN THE ROUND, KING LEAR, ROMEO AND JULIET (X4), HAMLET (X4), A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (X3), TWELFTH NIGHT, (X2), THE LOVERS, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, THE MISER, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, RICHARD III, OTHELLO, THE DREAM, MACBETH, JULIUS CAESAR; AS YOU LIKE IT (X2), SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS; La Boite: ARTISTS COMPANY (2021-22), CLOSER, TIDDAS, IRL, CAPRICORN, MISS PEONY, THE POISON OF POLYGAMY, AN IDEAL HUSBAND, THE LAST FIVE YEARS, JULIUS CAESAR, ROMEO AND JULIET, BLACKROCK, PRIZEFIGHTER, RICHARD III, COSI, A HOAX, JULIUS CEASAR, HAMLET.

Darcy Catto-Pitkin

Darcy is an Australian creative based in Wollongong. His work in the theatre industry usually takes the form of stage management. They have an interest in lighting design and a passion for technical theatre. Darcy is also a member of the newly formed art collective Thoroughfare, who have recently debuted their first show ‘One Canvas’ (2024). He has fascination with performance art and interactive theatre. In his creative work, he encourages audience participation and explores the relationship between art and the artist.

Darcy’s previous credits include ‘Never Closer’ for Belvoir 25A (2022) , ‘FEMINAZI’ for Belvoir 25A (2023),‘Frumpus: Landed’ for Merrigong Theatre (2023) as stage manager; ‘After the Law’ for UOW (2023), ‘Chekhov in Hell’ for UOW (2023) as lighting designer, stage manager and prop construction; ‘One Canvas’ at The Side Door Theatre (2024) as lighting designer and production manager.

Zoë Hollyoak

Zoë is a Director and Creative Producer who has worked across a range of organisations including Performance Space, Performing Lines, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA. She holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Performance Making) from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and a Master of Fine Arts (Directing) from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). Zoë runs essential workers, a Sydney-based Performance Making Group.

Zoë combines her significant producing and project management skills with an extensive artistic background that includes projects for NIDA, PICA, triple J Unearthed, Belvoir, The Blue Room Theatre, The Old Fitz and the State Theatre Centre of WA.

As Director: Shitty (Belvoir 25a), Collapsible (Old Fitz), The Changelings (PACT), The Writer (NIDA) Antigonick (NIDA), Cotton Wool Kid (STCWA). As Producer: Never Closer (Belvoir 25a), Horses (Belvoir 25a), All His Beloved Children (KXT), Trash Pop Butterflies Dance Dance Paradise (MKA), Slutdrop (PICA). Awards: NIDA X Storytelling Futures Grant, 2024 recipient of The Glorias Fellowship, completing an attachment with The Wooster Group (NYC) under the mentorship of Elizabeth LeCompte.