A recent graduate from The Victorian College of the Arts with a Masters in Theatre Practice, Gary has been worked in theatre in a variety of roles for over a decade. He grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, until a holiday to Australia found him auditioning for VCA and NIDA on a whim. Two months later he had packed his bags and relocated to Melbourne, to begin his actor training at the VCA. He was 19 years old. After VCA he worked as an actor in television, film and theatre, and was involved in the devising and creation of new work with some of Melbourne’s most influential independent theatre companies and makers, including Stuck Pigs Squealing , Lachlan Phillpott and Red Stitch Actors Theatre. In 2004 he moved to London where he worked as an actor and began writing and developing his own work, leading to a commission to write several monologues for a performance at the London Institute of Contemporary Art. His first full length play “Something Natural but very Childish’- based on the work of writer Katherine Mansfield- enjoying a successful independent run at a theatre in Islington. He returned to Melbourne in 2007 to undertake his Masters Degree, again at VCA, and since graduating has continued to split his time between acting, directing and creating his own work. His recent acting credits include ‘A Dream Play’(Ignite Productions), ‘Return of the Exile’( New York Lincoln Centre Theatre Directors Lab), ‘Jerker’ (Milky Way Productions), ‘YES’ (Optic Nerve Theatre) and ‘In Other Words’- which toured to Argentina late last year . While at VCA he was the recipient of THE GRACE WILSON TRUST AWARD for writing, and THE JIM MARKS SCHOLORSHIP for Artistic Practice. Since graduating he has directed for Milky Way Productions (2009 Midsumma Festival hit ‘Jerker’) and has worked as a dramaturg and script assessor for Playwriting Australia. He was one of only two Australians to be invited to participate in the 2009 Lincoln Centre Theatre Directors Lab in New York City in 2009, to which he plans to return next year. His writing has been published by The Australian Script Centre, and he is a regular contributor to SPARK online in the form of reviews, interviews and articles, as well as beginning a role as a Dramaturg in residence at Red Stitch Actors Theatre. ‘Acts of Deceit (Between Strangers in a Room) is the result of his yearlong Masters exploration into the art of adaptation and will be the premiere work for his new company DIRTY PRETTY THEATRE. This will be followed by an Australian season of “Something Natural but Very Childish’ again at La Mama, and produced by Dirty Pretty Theatre. Future planned works include a production of Elektra, and Gary is currently working on a new play based on Jean Anouih’s ‘Eurydice’, taken from the Orpheus myth.
