Beautiful Highness
by Chelsea Plumley
May 17-28, 2023
Chapel Off Chapel, Melbourne
Playwright Chelsea Plumley
Chelsea Plumley is a five-time Green Room Award nominated musical theatre actress, cabaret artist, musician, host, producer, writer, masterclass teacher, singing coach & television actor. Television appearances include seven seasons as the Queen of the Fairies in William & Sparkles' Magical Tales, Offspring, The Ex PM, I Will Survive and producer, actor and assistant director on Bachelor Girl's film clip, Speak. Musical Theatre credits include Miss Andrew in Mary Poppins, Deidre Chambers in Muriel's Wedding, Margaret Johnson in The Light In the Piazza, Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers, Rizzo in Grease, Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Betty in Sunset Boulevard, Amy in Company, Jolene Oakes in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Marge MacDougall in Promises Promises, Lalume in Kismet, and Gabby/Bobbi in City of Angels. Chelsea has written, produced & toured her one-woman shows nationally & internationally to the UK, USA and India. Her New York show, Angel in Training, was nominated for the 2001 U.S.A. Cabaret Hotline Online awards and her subsequent show, Live & Luscious, received the 2004 GLUG award for Most Versatile Performer. Chelsea has hosted Sing-A-Long-A Sound of Music for nineteen years and in 2019 she was commissioned to write & perform the opening host spot for the Australian tour of Love Actually in Concert.
Playwright's Notes
I wrote Beautiful Highness with the intention to share what it is like for a family decades into a diagnosis. How the levels of engagement shift and change over time. How the bonds of love are stretched to breaking point. How a sense of humour is mandatory when bearing the ongoing challenges. How hard it is to maintain empathy long term. How imperative communication, connection, education, awareness and understanding is if we have any hope of dealing with the increasing mental health challenges facing the world. Writing Beautiful Highness helped me find a deeper compassion for my family's struggles and crystallised just how important a sense of belonging is for those who often only experience stigma and discrimination. At my core is a desire to make a difference in my community through education and entertainment. I am beyond grateful that so many supporters have shared my vision. Thank you to the City of Stonnington for gifting me an arts grant which meant I could pay the company members a wage and mount the production. Thank you to the Cybec Foundation whose financial support enabled me to give tickets away for free to those living with a diagnosis, the family members, carers and practitioners. Thank you to our partner ANZACATA - the peak body of clinical psychotherapists who use creativity as the method of engagement with clients. Thank you to my theatrical home, Chapel Off Chapel, whose stages I have performed on many times since I arrived in Melbourne in 2002. And lastly, a huge thank you goes to the cast and creatives - seventeen in total. I am eternally grateful for your expertise that has brought this production to life. I hope this play recharges you and reveals what it is that brings you your own 'Beautiful Highness'. This play is dedicated to my remarkable, unstoppable, loving family.
Director's Notes
I have never felt so close and connected to a piece of theatre as a Director, as Beautiful Highness. Like so many people I have had a close association with mental illness my whole life. When I first read Chelsea's play I was struck by its humour, immediacy and simplicity, in dealing with such a complex issue. I think society copes with mental illness with a great deal of stigma and ignorance, which can impact people in traumatic ways. This play is not about minimising the importance and lived experience of the person with a mental illness, but rather celebrating what as individuals these people have to offer the world. There is often humour in the sadness. Certain situations can be extraordinary. I feel all of this is depicted in this wonderful play.
Sara Grenfell
Sara Grenfell
Cast Biographies
Michele Stayner - Mum
Michele is a graduate of NIDA and École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq. Television credits include Blue Heelers, Halifax f.p., Carson’s Law, Cop Shop, Sweet and Sour and Stringer. Her theatre credits are extensive and include productions with every State Theatre company in Australia, Belvoir Street, The NIDA Ensemble, Hole in the Wall, Nimrod and Playbox. Michele performed her one-woman, self-devised show, Dorothy Parker Says, at Chapel Off Chapel, The Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, and for French academics at Au Couche Tard, Tours, France, in French and English.
Petra Glieson - Shelley
A professional actor and theatre maker in the Australian film, television and theatre industry for over 20 years, Petra Glieson has worked and trained with significant award-winning writers, directors and acting coaches. Petra has had numerous leading guest roles in Australian television; Metrosexual, City Homicide, Blue Heelers, Stingers, State Coroner, Neighbour’s, It’s A Date and Dr. Blake Mysteries. She starred in the Australian Film Industry’s nominated episode of the critically acclaimed courtroom series Janus; featured in the award-winning music video clip Broken Bones; and in the Raindance Film Festival’s (London) international promo titled Lone Rider. By invitation, Petra has attended the UBUD International Writer’s festival (Bali) to perform in plays and novelists’ readings. Petra has been an artistic director of numerous theatre and film productions in Melbourne and collaborated on projects with established and innovative theatre companies such as ‘Machination Theatre Ensemble’ with Megan Jones, and Wendy Ward’s ‘Ward Theatre Company’ as both a company member, manager/co ordinator and actor both in Australia and the U.S. Petra has facilitated annual actor - director workshops at Victorian College of the Arts, and is often a Panel Chair member for the Wakakirri National Dance Story season.
In 2017 she reunited with writer-director Peter Elliott to collaborate on an Elite school program and show in Chennai, India. With a degree in primary and secondary education, she has run VCE drama, directed for schools, developed specialist drama programs for schools in Melbourne and India & ran specialist vocal and accent workshops. She Directs for Stage School Australia and has been their Associate Head of Drama in Melbourne.
Petra is proudly represented by Ian White Management.
In 2017 she reunited with writer-director Peter Elliott to collaborate on an Elite school program and show in Chennai, India. With a degree in primary and secondary education, she has run VCE drama, directed for schools, developed specialist drama programs for schools in Melbourne and India & ran specialist vocal and accent workshops. She Directs for Stage School Australia and has been their Associate Head of Drama in Melbourne.
Petra is proudly represented by Ian White Management.
Tanya Schneider - Sam
Tanya is an actor and voice over artist, and has extensive experience as an actor coach and tutor. Most recently, she performed in the national tour of Grace Under Pressure (2020, 2021, 2022) and other credits include Harrow (ABC), Metrosexual (9Go & 9Now), Heist, short films Occupation, thriller Smother and A Picture of Other People. Awards include Best Actress at the Sanctuary Film Festival and the ATOM Teachers Award for her work making films with children in the Indigenous community of Cherbourg. Tanya is also a yoga and meditation teacher.
Angela Kennedy - Lydia, Gladys, Sage
Known for her versatility, Angela's career has been extensive and varied. Theatre highlights include; Lady Chatterley in Lady Chatterley's Lover, Mamma Mia! (Original cast), Carol in Breast Wishes, Mrs Pugh in Annie, Charm Leachman in Strictly Ballroom The Musical directed by Baz Luhrmann, Marjorie Houseman in Dirty Dancing (Immersive Cinema), Come From Away (Original cast) and as Morgan Fairchild in the critically acclaimed Trevor for Melbourne's Red Stitch Theatre. Television credits include; Ginny Doyle in Sons and Daughters, Flying Doctors, Rafferty's Rules, GP, Barracuda, Richmond Hill, E Street, Home and Away, The Re-Trial Of Ned Kelly, Blue Heelers, Good Guys Bad Guys, All Saints, Packed To The Rafters and Dr Blake. Film credits include the AFI nominated short, Suburbia and as the female lead in the feature, Breaking Loose.
Anthony Scundi - Ben, Tef, Train Guard, Policeman
Anthony is known for Residence (2023), The Next Big Thing (2019) and Telepathy (2015). He is both General Manager and Actor with Q44 Theatre Company. His leading roles at Q44 include Unsolicited Male, Donating Felix, Ironbound, Hurly Burly, Shining City, Savage in Limbo and Spike Heels. He also starred as Guido Contini in Nine - The Musical for StageArt and as Bill in Electric Dreams - The Musical for Music Theatre Melbourne.
Jessica Faulkner - Tina, Angie
Jessica is a television actress, known for The InBestigators, Glitch, and Mustangs F.C.. She provided various voices for Big Words, Small Stories. Most recently, she performed the role of Cosette in Les Miserables for CenterStage Performing Arts in Geelong.
Jasper McDonald Parsons - Tommy
Jasper made his professional stage debut as Zebulun/The Baker in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Regent Theatre. In April 2023, he featured in Charles Laversha’s short film, Speech, as part of the Flickerfest International Short Film Festival. He will appear in the upcoming Robbie Williams biopic, Better Man, directed by Michael Gracie. Jasper made his junior stage debut at 8 years old at Chapel Off Chapel as Young Simba in The Lion King Jr for Take the Mic and has performed in a number of junior productions and cabaret shows. In 2021 he was nominated for a Musical Theatre Guild award for playing Scuttle in The Little Mermaid Jr. Jasper studies singing and piano at Vocal Art Studios and performing arts at Centrestage Performing Arts School in Brunswick. Jasper is proudly represented by Centrestage Agency.
Alistair Herbert - Tommy
"THE VOICES" SOUNDSCAPE voice-overs by:
Deidre Rubenstein, Hannah Waterman, James Roche, Cherian Jacob, Chelsea Plumley, Flynn Plumley & Beau Plumley.
Recorded by James Roche at THE SONG CAFE.
Deidre Rubenstein, Hannah Waterman, James Roche, Cherian Jacob, Chelsea Plumley, Flynn Plumley & Beau Plumley.
Recorded by James Roche at THE SONG CAFE.
Producers
Matt Sheehan - Artistic Director and Secretary
of Three's A Crowd (3AC)
Three's A Crowd Inc is a not-for-profit, non-professional organisation committed to delivering the following objectives for the purpose of achieving excellence in the presentation of musical theatre:
- Specialise in the staging of musical theatre for Central Victorian Audiences, achieving the highest possible production standards with the resources available
- Foster, nurture and stimulate interest in musical theatre
- Provide opportunities for people to participate in all aspects of theatrical production and increase their skillset through exposure to experienced/trained artists and technicians
- Through the organisation's professional approach, develop a culture around non-professional musical theatre in which participants share the vision of the company and are committed to contributing to this vision in a voluntary capacity
Cherian Jacob Payyapali - Cicero's Circle
Cicero’s Circle was founded by Cherian Jacob Payyapali and a group of professional and aspiring theatre practitioners with the sole purpose of producing cultural pieces that would:
- Provide a platform for Australian multicultural artists, both on and off stage and to give Australian audience and visitors to experience culturally rich theatre.
- Build relationships and synergy between artists from different fields (design, dance, music, choreography, lighting, sound) to facilitate free exchange of knowledge and skills.
- Integrate environmental sustainability as an underlying philosophy for production creation.
- Promote and acknowledge, that inclusion and cultural diversity as a philosophy leads to creation of works that are of richer artistry and socially relevant.
- Build cultural leadership through presenting new perspectives on Australian and International works.
Creatives Biographies
Sara Grenfell - Director
Sara has worked Internationally as a Performer, Teacher, Corporate Coach and Facilitator. Recent performances include Fiddler on the Roof, Home Sick and Femme Fatale. Recent TV and Film appearances include Tangle, Party Tricks, Wentworth and Tidal Marks. She has successfully produced several shows including the award-winning Fit to be Tied and A Respectable Wedding. As a Journalist, Sara has produced for Late Nite Live and Arts Today on ABC Radio National. Her writing and directing credits include Big Mob a Good Times, The Girl with the Green Ear, My Life in Art, Beef Queens, 18 Years of Therapy, Femme Fatale, Working, Food, Fetish and Frivolity, Smash Hit, Vincent, Abigail’s Party, Sexercise, Fat Boy Slimmer, The Tenants, The Magnolia Tree, Magpie, My Favourite Year, Merrily We Roll Along, Girl as Green as Elderflower, Underground, Toorak Rules, Marlene Dietrich- Perfect Illusion and Joy. She has taught extensively at drama schools and universities nationally and run Acting workshops for Seniors and people with disability.
Peter Houghton - Dramaturg
Peter Houghton is a renowned Australian actor, writer and director. His theatre credits as an actor include Three Little Words, His Girl Friday, Birthrights, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Sweet Bird of Youth, Misalliance and Macbeth for Melbourne Theatre Company; Normal Suburban Planetary Meltdown, The Trial, A Commercial Farce, Tartuffe, A View of Concrete,The Eskimo, Suburban Planetary Meltdown for Malthouse Theatre; The Graduate with Jerry Hall for Kay/McLean and Endgame in Northern Ireland; Ruby Moon and Tear from a Glass Eye for Playbox and The Trial and Travesties for Sydney Theatre Company. His TV appearances include Molly, Gallipoli, Howzat! Kerry Packer's War, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Wentworth, Winners and Losers, Killing Time, Stingers, City Homicide and Blue Heelers. Film credits include Mr Nice Guy with Jackie Chan and Fred Schepisi’s The Eye of the Storm alongside Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. His plays include The Pitch, The Architect, The Odd Couple, The Colours (MTC), A Commercial Farce and The China Incident. He directed The Recruit, Hinterland, Art and Soul, True Minds and The Boy at the Edge of Everything for Melbourne Theatre Company, Noises Off for the Marriner Group, Day One A Hotel Evening for Black Swan, Footprints on Water for Griffin Theatre and The China Incident for Malthouse Theatre.
James Roche - Composer & Sound Designer
James is a record producer, songwriter, keyboard player and artist with pop duo, Bachelor Girl. Song of the Year “Buses and Trains” is officially included in Australia’s best 100 songs of all time. In the late Eighties and Nineties, James became a regular touring keyboard player, for artists such as Tommy Emmanuel, John Farnham, and Little River Band. He also worked as an occasional Music Director and composer for television shows and large concerts. Development of Bachelor Girl began in 1992, and eventually saw the duo sign a record deal with Gotham Records and BMG. The first single was a huge success, earning James the APRA award “Song of The Year” as composer, won him and Tania Doko ARIA award “Producer Of The Year”, and became the most performed song on Australian radio that year. In 2004, he moved to London and spent the next four years in the UK scoring documentaries and feature films and producing artists that came through the Australian Idol television program. James is a highly accomplished audio engineer, expert in computer-based music systems for recording, mixing and sound design and is now primarily occupied with artist development, record production and Bachelor Girl.
Christina Logan-Bell - Set & Costume Designer
Christina has designed the set and costumes in opera and musicals for CHRISTINA’S WORLD (South Australian Opera), ROBERTO DEVEREUX, ANNA BOLENA, MARIA STUARDA, DER FREISCHÜTZ and COSI FAN TUTTE (Melbourne Opera) Green Room Award nomination for best design in opera. WERTHER, THE JAPANESE PRINCESS Lyric Opera. A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC Watch This, FLOWERCHILDREN – THE MAMMA’S AND PAPA’S STORY, THE HATPIN, THE STEPHEN SCHWARTZ TRIPTYCH, JERRY HERMAN TRIPTYCH and STEPHEN SONDHEIM TRIPTYCH Magnormos – set, costume and projection design. Christina’s credits for set and costume design for theatre include, TRUE LOVE TRAVELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD and POV DAVE Fifteen minutes from Anywhere. METAMORPHOSES, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, UNCLE VANYA (National Theatre Drama School). MELBURNALIA II and MACBETH RE-ARISEN (White Whale Theatre-nominated for best Independent Production at the Green Room Awards), WAR LOUNGE (The Bettybooke) and MEN (Straight Jacket Productions), A KIND OF ALASKA and WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF (Winerfall Theatre). Christina’s Set Design credits include; DER ROSENKAVALIER, LOHENGRIN and TANNHAUSER (Melbourne Opera), Stonnington Council's OPERA IN THE PARK 2015, 2016, and 2017, NIGHT SCHOOL (VCA), BETWEEN TODAY AND TOMORROW (VCA), LIFE’S A CIRCUS (Magnormos). Costume design credits include; WHITE WITH WIRE WHEELS (Melbourne Union Theatre) and LIVING THINGS (VCA puppetry), BOW WOW FESTIVAL (The family Dog Circus), TRIPLICITY (Weave Contemporary Dance Theatre), and AS YOU LIKE IT (Winterfall Theatre). Christina completed a placement in digital design at the National Theatre London in 2016.
Shane Grant - Lighting Designer
Shane earned a Bachelor of Arts (Performing Arts) from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne University. He is an artistic director with Metanoia theatre. Shane has: toured the world; operated venues and technically managed venues (Gasworks, Mechanics Institute Brunswick, St Martins); written shows; performed shows; sold tickets to shows; produced shows; sold drinks in the foyer at shows; built sets; built theatres; and given the St Crispin’s Day speech that gets everyone over the line on opening night—sometimes all with the same production. Some recent notable shows he has designed include: Samah Sabawi’s Tales of a City by the Sea, Them (La Mama Courthouse and tour), Underground (Gasworks Theatre), Scream Bloody Murder (Abbotsford Convent), The Omission of the Coleman Family (Metanoia Theatre at the Mechanic’s Institute), Toorak Rules (St Martins Theatre), Last Words (Kadimah Cultural Centre), Death Of A Salesman (45 Downstairs) and Hotel Sorrento (national tour). Shane has been acknowledged as an “Absolute Genius” (Theatre People, 30/7/16) for his lighting design of Sarah Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis.
Katie Williams - Stage Manager (Sound/Lighting Operator)
Teresa Dick - Chaperone for the child actors
Thank yous
The BH team are immensely grateful to the following people and organisations for their support.
Greg Carroll - Set Build
Melbourne Opera
The Substation
The Australian Cultural Fund - Staff members Tracy, Felicia
City of Stonnington - Staff members Nicole Warren and Rosalie Baylor
The Cybec Foundation - Judith Latta and Kay Attali
ANZACATA - Kate Dempsey and Michelle Spence
Q&A panel member Ange Morgan
3 Fates Media - Angel Leggas - Production photos and video recordings
Huge thanks to Nidhi Isaac from Elephant Design for her amazing contribution to our graphic design
Richard McLean for his beautiful painting that formed the base of all our artwork
Teresa Dick - for her extraordinary support in too many areas to count!
Greg Carroll - Set Build
Melbourne Opera
The Substation
The Australian Cultural Fund - Staff members Tracy, Felicia
City of Stonnington - Staff members Nicole Warren and Rosalie Baylor
The Cybec Foundation - Judith Latta and Kay Attali
ANZACATA - Kate Dempsey and Michelle Spence
Q&A panel member Ange Morgan
3 Fates Media - Angel Leggas - Production photos and video recordings
Huge thanks to Nidhi Isaac from Elephant Design for her amazing contribution to our graphic design
Richard McLean for his beautiful painting that formed the base of all our artwork
Teresa Dick - for her extraordinary support in too many areas to count!
Partners
Beautiful Highness is proudly supported by the City of Stonnington.
Thank you to the Cybec Foundation for supporting our outreach program and our partner organisation ANZACATA who generously bought an allotment of tickets for their members
The production received funds from Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund. Thank you to all of the generous donors who contributed funds to the ACF.
