Softly, Surely
Program
In order of appearance:
Claudia Shnier - Carla
Rosie Meader - Maddy
Yannick Lawry - Mike
Zoë Crawford - Melissa
Abi Rayment - Alice
Written by Daniela Giorgi and Paul Gilchrist
Directed by Paul Gilchrist
Co-Musical Directors - Rosie Meader & Zoë Crawford
Song List
(in order of performance)
Wayfaring Stranger - Traditional
Bella Ciao (Hello Beautiful) - Traditional
Oy, u poli, v poli (Oh, in the field, the field there) - Traditional
The Parting Glass - Traditional
E Noi Che Siamo Donne (We Who Are Women) - Traditional
A note from subtlenuance
Thanks so much for coming along to our Fringe show. The Fringe is an invaluable resource for artists to share new work.
Softly, Surely was originally written for the Old 505 FreshWorks program, and was to be produced in their 2017 season. And then life happened. We’re very grateful to the Old 505, the Fringe and Flight Path to be here now.
The play is a meditation on time, on how we navigate this most mysterious of mediums, one that forever pushes us forward, softly and surely. We regret the past, we dream of the future, while ever attempting to celebrate that most moveable of feasts, the present.
The play consciously references two artistic forms that have duration, whose medium is time: drama and music. It has been an especial joy to explore the traditional folk songs, beautiful gifts from the past that unfold anew in the present, taking the listener on a journey lasting just a minute or two, but also generations. We would like to thank Rosie Meader and Zoe Crawford, our co-musical directors, and the rest of our singing cast - Abi Rayment, Claudia Shnier and Yannick Lawry - without whom the totally tone deaf Dani and Paul might have tortured you.
And most of all, we’d like to thank our audience for sharing their time with us.
Daniela Giorgi and Paul Gilchrist
Cast & Creatives
Zoë Crawford
Zoë is an actor and emerging theatre maker living on unceded Gadigal Land. Originally from Gippsland, Zoë completed a BA (Acting) at Ballarat Arts Academy before going on to do further study in creative writing at the University of Melbourne. Relocating in 2018, Zoë has since enjoyed becoming a Sydney local. Her NSW theatre credits include The Ghost Train (Genesian), The Female of the Species (Lane Cove), A Delicate Balance (Sydney Classic Theatre), All’s Well That Ends Well / Julius Caesar (Bard on the Beach), Animal Farm (New Theatre), Morning Star (subtlenuance) and The Spook (New Theatre). Zoë is also the Artistic Director of Ship’s Cat Theatre Company.
Insta: @zoe.crawford_
Yannick Lawry
After completing studies in Law, Yannick trained as an actor at ArtsEd, London picking up a Masters in Acting. His film credits include 2018 feature, Trust, playing 'Nick' and Sherbroke Down. Award-winning shorts, Love Dad and The Malicious. TV credits include Limitless for Disney+, Australia: The Story Of Us for Channel 7, and The Checkout for ABC. Yannick's recent theatre credits include a 3-month national tour as Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters, Dr Rice in Molly Sweeney (through his own theatre company Clock and Spiel Productions) and Woland in The Master and Margarita at London's Menier Chocolate Factory. As a voiceover, he's narrated documentaries for Nat Geo and the BBC and you may well have heard him on campaigns for Kelloggs, Hotels Combined and car ads a-plenty!
Rosie Meader
Rosie is an actor, singer, and writer from Sydney who has performed at the Sydney Opera House, Belvoir St Theatre, the Sydney Town Hall and the Seymour Centre as a member of many different projects and ensembles. In 2020 she graduated from Brent Street with her Musical Theatre Diploma, after which she completed her course at NIDA’s Actors Studio and multiple Hub Studio programs. In June of 2022, Rosie wrote and starred in her original musical, Everybody Loves A Wedding, which was performed at the Flight Path Theatre to sold-out shows. Rosie recently produced the first development workshop for her new work, Spitfire Girls The Musical, funded by the Brent Street Inaugural Artist Award. This piece tells the inspiring true story of young female pilots during World War II.
Abi Rayment
Abi trained as an actor in London and worked for ten years in London theatres and around England. After moving to Australia with a young family, Abi returned to acting in 2008. She has worked in TV, (Channel 7 and Channel 9), commercials and short films, and acted in many plays in Sydney. Favourites include: Parramatta Girls (New Theatre), Bloody, Bloody, Andrew Jackson (Squabbalogic), The Hiding Place, (ATYP) and The Laden Table, (bAKEHOUSE Theatre Co). In between lockdowns, Abi narrated for Kore Productions in Finding Jekyll, a radio play. She also enjoyed working in The Storyteller’s Festival, (KXT) where excerpts of new work are given a platform. New work has always been of interest and Abi is delighted to join subtlenuance in Softly, Surely.
Claudia Shnier
Claudia is an actor and producer. Since graduating from Actors Centre Australia in 2020, Claudia had the pleasure of playing the lead in Salt House Creative’s Rape and Other Acceptable Practices (dir. Sylvia Marie Keays, 2021 and 2022), which toured to the Central Coast, Canberra and Sydney. She also had the absolute pleasure of playing and producing Lady Grey at Kings Cross Theatre (dir. Zac Bush, 2022); a one woman show. She has also recently played the lead in the short film Worm (dir. Parish Malfitano, 2022) and featured in the feature film The Book of Job (dir. Dr Daniel Widdowson, 2022).
Paul Gilchrist
Paul is a co-founder of subtlenuance. Plays he has both written and directed include: Live a Little (KXT PopUpStairs, 2021); Shut Up And Drive (with Daniela Giorgi) (KXT, 2016); All the Difference (Old 505, 2015); Joan Again (Old Fitz, 2014); Blind Tasting (Old 505, Ensemble, Street Theatre Canberra, 2012/2013); Cristina in the Cupboard (TAP, 2013); Rocket Man (TAP, 2013); Life is Impossible (Newtown Theatre, 2010, and Old 505, 2020); and A Thing of Beauty (Old Fitz, 2010). Plays he has directed include: TickTickBoom by Melissa Lee Speyer (Actors Pulse, 2018); Talc (TAP, 2010), The Poor Kitchen (Old 505, 2016) and Seed Bomb (Old 505, 2019) by Daniela Giorgi; Losing You (Twice) by Kate O'Keeffe (Newtown Theatre, 2017); and A Quiet Night in Rangoon by Katie Pollock (New Theatre, 2011). In addition his play Turning Up was produced by TTT (director Daryl Currie, Crypt Theatre, 2006), his play Atlantis was produced at KXT (director Kit Bennett, 2016), Cristina in the Cupboard by the Depot Theatre (director Julie Baz, 2016), and Appropriation by Fledgling Theatre (director Chris Huntly-Turner, 2019).
Daniela Giorgi
Daniela is a co-founder of subtlenuance. Daniela's writing credits include: Talc, produced by subtlenuance in 2010; Friday produced in 2013 by Sydney Independent Theatre Company at the Old Fitz; The Poor Kitchen produced by subtlenuance as part of the Old 505 Theatre's Fresh Works Season in 2016 and was also produced by Patina Productions at Limelight Theatre in 2019. She co-wrote Shut Up And Drive with Paul Gilchrist, which was produced at KXT in 2016. And her play Seed Bomb was produced as part of the Old 505 Theatre's Fresh Works Season in 2019. She has also had short stories, poetry and fiction published and blogs at sagesomethymes.com Since 2008, Daniela has produced over thirty original shows for subtlenuance. Prior to that she produced Gloss, Sold, Turning Up and Dead Money, for Thrown Together Theatre’s "pop-up theatre" experiment; theatre created for performance in a range of eclectic non-traditional venues.
subtlenuance is a Sydney based, independent theatre company dedicated solely to the creation of new work.
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A Special Thankyou to:
Kate Bookallil and Siobhan Lawless and the team at Flight Path Theatre,
Kerri Glasscock and the team at Sydney Fringe
and also a huge thanks to Flik Davey.
And of course, to you, our audiences, an enormous thank you
for coming along and making independent theatre possible.
