THE BANK
Directors Note
Working on a Melissa Reeves’ play is a real treat – both as an actor and as a director. Her plays are always rich in a humour that sits in a slightly uncomfortable but familiar truth. Melissa’s ability to make political comment by capturing everyday people and situations in an ironic light helps us to clearly see the societal idiosyncrasies and contradictions that sit right under our very noses. I like to describe it as poignant political theatre – always with heart and astute intelligence.
This is the first staging of THE BANK. It is a new Australian work that has undergone a series of developments over the last few years. It is a play that was written as a direct response to the Australian Royal Commission into Banking exactly five years ago. The Royal Commission publicly exposed the Banking Industries malpractices and ‘profit before people’ mentality. This play places us squarely in the world of a small suburban bank branch as the staff grapple with the public airing of banking practice and brace themselves as they wait for the Royal Commission’s recommendations towards better and fairer practices.
It has been a pleasure having Melissa available to us along this journey of realising THE BANK. She has answered our questions, attended rehearsals, and continued to develop her work – tightening the screws from week to week with re-writes and adjustments.
The creative team of student designers and actors have approached the text and its big thematic with aplomb and rigour. The production team and makers in the background have helped hold this production together from the sidelines like superglue. It has of course been a massive team effort – affording us a lot of fun and a lot of learning.
We hope you laugh, feel, and understand something new as you watch our discoveries manifest in this inaugural production of THE BANK.
- Daniela Farinacci, Director
Cast
Cassie
Aimee Forrest
Georgia
Amira Susskind
Paul
James Provis
Tina
Michelle Rupert
Bet
Elowen Murphy
Race
Hunter Stanford
David
Daniel Nieborski
Creative Team
Director
Daniela Farinacci
Assistant Director
Simon Porro
Set Designer
Oliver Hall+
Costume Designer
Sophie Louise Ness*
Lighting Designer
Finnegan Comte-Harvey*
Video Designer
Saskia Permezel*
Voice and Dialect Coach
Melinda Butel
Co-Sound Designers
Sasha Kaiser^
Oscar Lush^
Production Team
Technical Manager
Eoin Coolahan*
Stage Manager
Sunday Bowes*
Assistant Stage Manager
Marcus Lew
Workshop Head of Department (Staging)
Jimmy Dikranian*
Workshop Head of Department (Scenic)
Nellie Summerfield*
Workshop Head of Department (Props)
Nigel Chua*
Workshop Assistants
Ryder Blizzard
Lachlan Jones
Ivy Miller
Rory Willingham
Costume Manager
Asha Robinson
Costume Assistants
Georgia Formosa
Natalie Wing Hei Lau
Madison Lu
Head Electrician
Andrew Thompson
Deputy Electrician, Programmer and Operator
Mae E Harrison
Vision Programmer and Operator
Amy Todd
*Third year Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production) student
^Third year Bachelor of Music (Interactive Composition) student
+Second year Master of Production Design (Stage) student
Professional Staff
Artistic Operations Manager
Abe Watson
Producer
Alex Duffy
Production Coordinator
Dave Harrod
Stagecraft Project Coordinator
Alan (Alby) Logan
Stagecraft Technician
Morgan Jones
Costume Supervisor
Rose McCormick
Production Photographer
Drew Echberg
Academic Staff
Head of Theatre
Chris Mead
Head of Design and Production
Anna Cordingley
Design and Production Academic Consultants
Jacob Battista, Michael Carr, Martyn Coutts, Jo Evans, Paul Lim, Rain Iyahen, Joanne Paterson
Theatre Academic Staff
Dr Sarah Austin, Keith Brockett, Maude Davey, Nazaree Dickerson, Kat Henry, Amy Hume, Joe Paradise Lui, Chris Mead, Georgina Naidu, Alice Qin, Colin Sneesby, Kate Sulan, Isabella Vadiveloo, Mark Wilson, Mark Wong,
Design and Production Academic Staff
Kris Bird, Jo Briscoe, Dr Emily Collett, Anna Cordingley, Martyn Coutts, Jo Evans, Dale Ferguson, John Ford, Nell Hansen, Amanda Hitten, Lisa Mibus, Lisa Osborn, Professor Richard Roberts, Leon Salom, Matt Scott, Christina Smith