CREATIVE TEAM BRISBANE 2023
Peter Cook: Writer and Performer
Peter is an actor, writer and educator whose career has taken him from performing on stage at the Sydney Opera House, to creating theatre with young people in remote communities, to most recently becoming a published playwright with his critically acclaimed one-man show Breaking The Castle.
Peter has worked as an actor in numerous Australian film, television, and theatre productions.
He has also worked extensively in the field of Theatre in Education over the last ten years devising work with young people across the country.
He has worked on film and television sets as an acting coach; most recently he was the acting coach for Malachi Dower-Roberts, who received an AACTA nomination for his work on Leah Purcell’s film, The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson.
Peter has written numerous plays for young people whilst working in Theatre in Education and Breaking The Castle is his debut as professional playwright. He also wrote for The Dear Australia Project run by Playwriting Australia.
Leah Purcell AM: Director
Leah Purcell AM is an internationally acclaimed director, writer, actor and producer and a proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland.
The Drovers Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson is Leah’s debut feature film which premiered at SXSW as part of their Narrative Spotlight programme in March 2021.
The film is directed by and written by Leah, co-produced by her production company Oombarra Productions, and sees Leah star in the leading role of Molly Johnson.
Her previous adaptations of The Drover’s Wife include the multi-award-winning theatrical play which was a sell-out success at Belvoir Theatre, and the novel which is currently available through Penguin Random House.
Leah’s theatre directing credits include Brothers Wreck (Belvoir Theatre), Don’t Take Your Love to Town (a play she also co-devised and starred in at Belvoir Theatre), Stolen (Sydney Theatre Company Theatre in Education), The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table (QPAC), 7 Stages of Grieving (Sydney Theatre Company), Reflections: 40 Years and to the Future (ACPA/QPAC), Howie The Rookie (Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts).
Raymond Milner: Designer
Raymond Milner is an award-nominated exhibition and scenic designer based in Brisbane.
Raymond works across theatre, dance, circus, musicals, festivals and museum exhibitions with over 30 credits to his name. He graduated from the University of Southern Queensland with a Bachelor of Theatre Arts in 2019, and in 2021 achieved a Master of Museum Studies from The University of Queensland where he researched the role of scenography in contemporary museums and galleries.
Recent productions include: Anatomy of a Suicide (BC Productions); Season Of Contemporary American Plays 2019, The Ladies and Sons of the Prophet (QUT); Six Hundred Ways to Filter a Sunset (Queensland Theatre); Bare (Understudy Productions); and Poison (EG Productions).
Selected Credits include: Breaking the Code (QUT); The New Black (Follies Productions); Boys of Sondheim, A Very Naughty Christmas The Second Coming (Understudy Productions); Cosi (Beenleigh Theatre Group); Two Weeks With The Queen (THAT Production Company); Les Misérables (Savoyards Musical Theatre).
Dobby: Sound Designer
DOBBY is a rapper, composer, producer and drummer. He proudly identifies as a Filipino and Aboriginal musician, whose family is from Murrawarri and Ngemba lands (Weilmoringle, Brewarrina NSW).
He has performed extensively locally and internationally (UK, Netherlands, Germany, USA) and recently composed an original soundtrack for the ELEVATE Sydney Drone Show (2021 and 2022).
DOBBY was awarded the 2022 NIMA Archie Roach Foundation Award and has officially signed with Sony ATV Music Publishing.
Ben Hughes: Lighting Designer
Ben Hughes’ lighting design spans theatre, dance, opera, concerts and events, including for Queensland Theatre: Othello, The Almighty Sometimes, The Sunshine Club, Return To The Dirt, Boy Swallows Universe, Triple X (with Sydney Theatre Company), Mouthpiece, Antigone, L’Appartement, Twelfth Night, Good Muslim Boy (with Malthouse), Scenes From A Marriage, An Octoroon, (with Melbourne Theatre Company); for Prospero Arts and QPAC: Singin’ in the Rain – In Concert; for Sydney Theatre Company: Black Is The New White, The Effect (with Queensland Theatre); for Australasian Dance Collective: Three 2.0, Forgery, Aftermath, Converge, Mozart Airborne (with Opera Queensland), The Dinner Party, Carmen Sweet, Propel; for Queensland Ballet: Peter And The Wolf, The Masters Series, Flourish, Giselle, A Classical Celebration, ...With Attitude; For Opera Queensland, Don Giovanni, Snow White; for La Boite: The Last Five Years, Away, The Time Is Now, Naked & Screaming, The Neighbourhood, From Darkness; for Adelaide Festival: Two Feet; for Dead Puppet Society/Legs on the Wall/Brisbane Festival/Sydney Festival: Holding Achilles.
Ben lectures in lighting design at Queensland University of Technology.