SONG OF FIRST DESIRE

Andrew Bovell

Andrew is a writer renowned for his work in theatre, film, and television. His theatre credits include Things I Know to Be True (Belvoir St Theatre, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Frantic Assembly, Black Swan Theatre), Canción Del Primer Deseo, (Teatro La Abadia, Madrid), Anthem (Melbourne Arts Centre, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth Festivals), an adaptation of The Secret River (Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Festival, Edinburgh Festival, National Theatre London ), When the Rain Stops Falling (Brink, Adelaide Festival, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, Lincoln Centre, NYC)

His screen credits include, A Most Wanted Man (2014), Edge of Darkness (2010), Blessed (2008), Lantana (2001), based on his award-winning stage play Speaking in Tongues and Head On (1999)

Andrew has received many accolades, including the David Williamson Prize for The Secret River (2014), and the AWGIE Best Stage Play for Speaking in Tongues (1996), Who’s Afraid of the Working Class (2000), Holy Day (2002) and When the Rain Stops Falling (2009). When the Rain Stops Falling also won multiple awards, including the Ruby Award (2008). Lantana won seven AFI Awards (2001), the AWGIE for Best Screenplay, and five Film Critics’ Circle of Australia Awards.

Neil Armfield

Neil Armfield AO is a leading Australian director of theatre, opera and film. He was Co-Artistic Director of Adelaide Festival (2017 – 2022) and Artistic Director of Belvoir St Theatre for 17 years, which he also co-founded. Having directed well over 100 stage productions, including many world premieres, Neil’s Belvoir credits include Things I Know To Be True, The Diary of a Madman, The Book of Everything, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Toy Symphony, Exit the King, Keating!, Cloudstreet, Aliwa, The Judas Kiss, Up the Road, Hamlet, The Blind Giant is Dancing, No Sugar, The Tempest and Signal Driver. Other highlights include Handel’s Julius Caesar, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Brett Dean’s Hamlet, Watershed: the Death of Dr Duncan, A German Life, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Secret River and Angels in America.

Neil has directed for many of the world’s major opera companies and in addition to classics, has directed the new operas Frankie and The Eighth Wonder by Alan John, Love Burns by Graeme Koehne and Bliss by Brett Dean.
Neil’s screen credits are Candy and Holding The Man (features) and Edens Lost, The Fisherman’s Wake and Coral Island (television).
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. In 2007 Neil was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia.

Kerry Fox

Kerry Fox is one of New Zealand’s most internationally respected and awarded actors.

Kerry’s theatre credits include Cosi: Belvoir Street, Face to Face:Sydney Theatre Company, The Blonde,The Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead: Auckland Theatre Company, The Maids:Donmar Warehouse, Cruel & Tender:Young Vic, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: Apollo, Speaking in Tongues: Duke of York’s, I Am Yours:Royal Court, The Vortex: The Rose 

Film credits include An Angel at My Table, Shallow Grave, Intimacy, The Last Days of Chez Nous, Bright Star, Rare Beasts, Little Joe, The Colour Room, Welcome to Sarajevo, Country Life, Mental, Top End Wedding, Holding the Man, The Dressmaker, Burning Man, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, 

Television credits include: Bay of Fires, Cloudstreet, Wanted, Conversations with Friends, The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself, Last Tango in Halifax, MotherFatherSon, The Split, The Women in White, National Treasure, The Crimson Field, A Village Affair, Saigon Baby, Silent Witness, Death in Paradise, Waking the Dead.

Kerry’s has won the ASTRA Award for Most Outstanding Performance for Cloudstreet, Berlinalie Silver Bear Best Actressfor Intimacy, Venice Film Festival Elvira Notari Award Best Performance and The NZFA Best Actress for An Angel At My Table.

Borja Maestre

Borja Maestre is an actor who trained at Estudio del Actor Juan Carlos Corazza (Juan Carlos Corazza Acting Studio) in Madrid. He finished his studies with the production Ensayando un Brecht (Rehearsing Brecht), about Bertolt Brecht’s play Fear and Misery in the Third Reich. He continues to train with professionals such as Consuelo Trujillo, Catalina Lladó and Fernando Piernas. He completed his training, in bodily and expressive aspects, with Arnold Taraborrelli.

Borja also completed a Diploma in Musical Education at the UCM in Madrid, after studying Music Theory and Saxophone at the Conservatory of Valladolid.

In theatre, he has participated in numerous shows, among which he stars in Molière: El Misántropo (The Misanthrope) by Lucía Carballal, directed by Paco Montes; Los hijos de las nubes (The Children of the Clouds) by Lola Blasco, directed by Julián Fuentes, When the Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell, directed by Julian Fuentes Reta, which won 3 Max awards, including Best Theater Show 2014; Criatura (Creature) directed by Andrés Waksman, 2016 GodOff Award for Best Piece of Dance/Performance; Ni con tres vidas que tuviera (Not even with three lives that I had) by José Pascual; Escenas de Caza (Hunting Scenes) by María Velasco, directed by Alberto Velasco; Y el cuerpo se hace nombre (And the body makes a name) directed by Andrés Waksman; América by José Manuel Carrasco; Things I Know to be True and Canción del Primer Deseo (Song of First Desire), both by Andrew Bovell, directed by Julián Fuentes Reta.

For TV, Borja has participated in national series such as Amar es para siempre (Antena 3), where he was nominated for the 2019 Actors Union Awards for Best Supporting Actor on TV; El Ministerio del Tiempo (TVE); Acacias 38 (TVE); El Secreto de Puente Viejo (Antena 3), Cardo (A3MediaPlayer) or Memento Mori (Prime Video.)

In film, he has participated in feature films Muertos comunes, by Norberto Ramos del Val and Hécuba: un Sueño de Pasión, by José Luis López-Linares and Arantxa Aguirre, and stars in the short films El Amante Imperfecto and Sinécdoque. Una historia de Amour Fou (Best Spanish Fiction Short at the FIBABC Ibero-American Short Film Festival 2016), by José Manuel Carrasco; Castilla Mal, by Sara Rivero and Cuando llega el frío, by María Salgado Gispert which is pending release.

Jorge Muriel

Born and raise in Madrid, Jorge Muriel is an actor, director, translator and producer from Spain.

A Fulbright Scholar for the Arts in NYC, he has studied in the most prestigious schools in the US and Spain.

For theatre, his acting credits include Song of First Desire by Andrew Bovell (Teatro Abadía. Madrid.); Things I Know to be True by Andrew Bovell (Teatro Canal. Madrid.); Tribes by Nina Raine (Teatro CDN. Madrid.); When the Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell (Teatro Español. Madrid.); The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side by Derek Ahonen (Teatro Español.) Possible Worlds by John Mighton (Teatro de la Abadía. Madrid.); The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman (Teatro Español. Madrid.); Comedy without a Title by Federico García Lorca (Teatro Abadía. Madrid.)

Jorge is also the generator of the Spanish productions and translator of The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman, Tribes by Nina Raine or When the Rain Stops Falling and Things I Know to be True by Andrew Bovell. Jorge was part of the original cast of Song of First Desire in Madrid, playing the roles of Luis & Carlos.

For film, he was the writer, director and producer of four short films, of which three were nominated for Best Short Film of the Year at Goya Academy Awards of Spain. 

Nowadays, he is writing his debut feature film and will direct the Spanish production of Infinite Life by Annie Baker, opening in Madrid next season.

Sarah Peirse

Sarah Peirse is one of Australia and New Zealand’s most respected and awarded actresses.

Theatre credits include, for Belvoir: Mark Colvin’s Kidney, The Business, Gethsemane; for MTC: Switzerland, Poor Boy, Tribes, Enlightenment, Molly Sweeney, The Heidi Chronicles; for STC: A Cheery Soul, The Golden Age, Endgame, Switzerland, Poor Boy, Fury, Dead Funny. For ATC: Switzerland, Other Desert Cities, The Gift. For Archipelago: Women of Troy.

Film credits include: Went Up the Hill, Addition, Nude Tuesday, Mortal Engines, Rain, Heavenly Creatures, The Navigator, The Hobbit Trilogy.

Television credits include: The Twelve (Season 3), Under the Vines, Love Me, Stateless, Sweet Tooth, The Letdown, Offspring, Seven Types of Ambiguity, Hunters, The Shannara Chronicles, Old School, Rake, Bliss – A Story of Katherine Mansfield, City Homicide, Murder Rooms, A Woman Of Good Character.

Sarah’s awards include, for Theatre: Helpmann Award (The Golden Age), Sydney Theatre Award (Switzerland), Green Room Award (Molly Sweeney), Tasmanian Theatre Award (Women of Troy)

For Film and TV: Equity Ensemble Award (7 Types of Ambiguity), Best Actress/Supporting Actress NZ Film/TV Awards (A Woman of Good Character, Heavenly Creatures, The Navigator, Rain)

Mel Page

Mel is a set and costume designer.

Costume designs for Belvoir St Theatre include: Japser Jones, Ivanov, Kill The Messenger, Seventeen, Nora, The Glass Menagerie, A Christmas Carol, Elektra/Orestes, The Government Inspector, Hamlet, Angels In America, & Strange Interlude. Set & Costume designs include: Taste Of Honey, Enemy Of The People, Back At The Dojo, Medea and Small & Tired.

Opera designs include costumes for Lear & Médée for Salzburg Festival; Die Tote Stadt for Bayerisch Staatsoper & Theater Basel and Pelleas Et Melisande for Den Norske Opera & Ballet.

Other theatre credits include costumes for Engel In Amerika for Theater Basel; Drei Schwestern for Theater Basel & L’Odeon; Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Mary Stuart Les Liasions Dangereuses and Baal for Sydney Theatre Company; La Pompeii for Malthouse Theatre and Complexity Of Belonging for Chunky Move. Set and costume designs include: Lethal Indifference for Sydney Theatre Company; Night Maybe for Theatreworks; Minnie & Liraz and The Apocalypse Bear Trilogy for Melbourne Theatre Company.

Mel was the proud recipient of the 2016 George Fairfax Memorial Award, and has won a Sydney Theatre Award.

Morgan Moroney

MORGAN MORONEY (he/him) is a lighting and video designer working across theatre, opera, dance and installation.

Morgan’s work as Lighting Designer includes: NAYIKA: A DANCING GIRL (Belvoir), SHITTY (Belvoir 25A), DIDO & AENEAS (Pinchgut Opera), THE TURN OF THE SCREW (Hayes Theatre), THE QUEEN’S NANNY, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, CLYDE’S, MR. BAILEY’S MINDER, COLDER THAN HERE (Ensemble), CLEANSED (Redline), GIRLS IN BOYS’ CARS (NTofP), THE WET, THE DRY (Circa Cairns), INFERNO (Australian Brandenberg Orchestra), THE BARBER OF SEVILLE (Opera Australia National Tour), ANATOMY OF A SUICIDE (Sugary Rum), JALI (Jubilee Street), SAPLINGS and SHACK (ATYP). Work as Lighting and Video Designer includes: COLLAPSIBLE (essential workers), A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SELF-DEFENCE (NTofP & Merrigong) and CAMP (Siren & WorldPride). Assistant and Associate Designer work includes: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA ON SYDNEY HARBOUR (Opera Australia) and DRACULA (Sydney Theatre Company).

Awards include the Michael Northen Award for Emerging Lighting Designers (ALPD UK 2024), Sydney Theatre Award for Best Independent Lighting Design (COLLAPSIBLE 2023) APDG Lighting Design for Live Performance Award (CLEANSED 2022), APDG Emerging Designer for Live Performance Award (GHOSTS 2020).

Clemence Williams

Clemence is an award-winning director, composer and sound designer for theatre and opera. Belvoir credits include: THE WOLVES. Other credits include: for Sydney Theatre Company, DRACULA, INTO THE SHIMMERING WORLD, OIL, THE TENANT OF WINDFELL HALL, DEATH OF A SALESMAN, GRAND HORIZONS, BLITHE SPIRIT, THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE; for Melbourne Theatre Company, TORCH THE PLACE, HEISENBERG, ARBUS AND WEST; for Bell Shakespeare, ROMEO AND JULIET; for Ensemble Theatre, A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE; for Griffin Theatre Company, FLAT EARTHERS THE MUSICAL (musical dramaturg), BLAQUE SHOWGIRLS. Awards: Clemence has won the APRA AMCOS Art Music Award for Best Live Performance COMMUTE which she directed for Sydney Chamber Opera.

Madeleine Picard

Madeleine is a sound designer & composer working on Gadigal land. Combining her backgrounds in technical theatre and music, she is interested in storytelling through sound and in being part of the creation of new Australian theatrical works. Recent select credits include: Hot Tub (Belvoir 25A); Scab (ATYP); All the Fraudulent Horse Girls (Old Fitz); Shitty (Belvoir 25A); The Weekend (Belvoir). She has also recently worked as associate sound designer and/or realiser for a number of productions including Song of First Desire (Belvoir), Ride the Cyclone (Hayes), Zombie! The Musical (Hayes), and Julia (Sydney Theatre Company). Her work on Shitty was nominated for a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Sound Design/Composition of an Independent Production. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Technical Theatre and Stage Management) from NIDA.

Nigel Poulton

Nigel is an award-winning movement director, fight and intimacy coordinator, SAG-AFTRA/MEAA stunt performer and actor, with over 25 years of professional experience. Selected theatre credits include: for Belvoir St Theatre, Holding the Man, The Master and Margarita, Miss Peony, Packer and Sons, Things I Know To Be True, Stop Girl, Blessed Union, At What Cost?, The Jungle and the Sea; for Sydney Theatre Company, Oil, On The Beach, Do Not Go Gentle, Fences; for Bell Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth; for Melbourne Theatre Company, Bernhardt/Hamlet; for Ensemble Theatre, Memory of Water, Mr Bailey’s Minder, Suddenly Last Summer. Nigel’s film and television work includes: Deadloch, Nautilus, Poker Face, Thor: Love and Thunder, Spiderhead, Ding Dong I’m Gay, Occupation 2, Pirates of the Caribbean V, Deadline Gallipoli, The Water Diviner, The Bourne Legacy, Vikingdom and Winter’s Tale.

In 2021, Nigel was awarded the status of Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors, as one of only two recipients outside the US with this accolade. He has also won a Green Room Award for outstanding contribution to the stage.

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 Into The Woods, directed by Eamon Flack (2023), Blue, directed by Deborah Brown (2023), 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). 

Luke McGettigan

Luke is Belvoir’s Resident Stage Manager. For Belvoir, he has stage managed Holding the Man, Master and Margarita, The Weekend, Scenes from the Climate Era, Blessed Union, The Jungle and the Sea, Tell Me I’m Here, Opening Night, The Boomkak Panto, Stop Girl, My Brilliant Career, A Room of One’s Own, Packer & Sons, Things I Know To Be True, Counting and Cracking, The Dance of Death, A Taste of Honey, Sami in Paradise, Barbara and the Camp Dogs, Ghosts, The Rover, Mark Colvin’s Kidney, Faith Healer, Twelfth Night or What You Will, The Great Fire, Mortido, Seventeen, Elektra/Orestes, Radiance, The Glass Menagerie, Brothers Wreck, Once in Royal David’s City, Miss Julie, Forget Me Not, Peter Pan (including New York tour), Private Lives, Death of a Salesman, Babyteeth, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Neighbourhood Watch, The Wild Duck (including UK and Europe tours), Namatjira (Belvoir/Big hART), Page 8, The End, That Face, The Promise, Scorched, Antigone, Keating!, The Little Cherry Orchard and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. His other credits include The Pig Iron People, The Give and Take, Bed, La Dispute (Sydney Theatre Company); Like a Fishbone (STC / Griffin); The Government Inspector, The Tempest, The Servant of Two Masters, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew (Bell Shakespeare); Paradise City, Through the Wire (Performing Lines); and Alive at Williamstown Pier (Griffin).

Jen Jackson

Jen Jackson (she/her) is a Korean-Australian stage manager, living and working on Gadigal land, with a particular passion for new Australian work and a commitment to diversity in theatre.

After attending UNSW in a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Theatre & Performance, she continued her studies at NIDA with a degree in Technical Theatre & Stage Management. Recent productions she has stage managed include Lost in Shanghai (Contemporary Asian-Australian Performance), The Bridal Lament (Contemporary Asian Australian Performance & Performance Space), Pony (Griffin Theatre Company), End Of. (Griffin Theatre Company), Nothing (National Theatre of Parramatta), and Golden Blood (Griffin Theatre Company).

Jen hopes to help bring to life stories of all kinds that challenge, entertain, reflect, make us feel, think, and examine ourselves – the kind of stuff that made her fall in love with theatre in the first place.