Lé Nør [The Rain]

Tim Watts is a performer, deviser, director, puppeteer, improvisor and animator from Perth, Western Australia. He is a founding member of The Last Great Hunt and a Sidney Myer Fellowship recipient. He has a passion for creating and performing original, imaginatively engaging theatrical experiences born from improvisation and experimentation.

Since graduating from Notre Dame University, Fremantle with a Bachelor of Performing Arts in 2005, he has participated in international workshops, including studying clown and physical comedy with Dell’Arte International in Blue Lake California, as well as Puppetry workshops with Spare Parts Puppet Theatre in Fremantle, Western Australia, and Blind Summit in the UK. He has co-created and performed in a plethora of shows, some of which won awards and toured all over the world.

These include: The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer (2009), It’s Dark Outside (2012), BRUCE (2014), Monroe and Associates (2015), New Owner (2016), The Irresistible (2017), Stay With Us (2018), Lé Nør [The Rain] (2019), and Whistleblower (2021).

Matt Edgerton is an Australian theatre director, dramaturg and actor working with contemporary and classical texts across a range of forms, styles and scales, cross-cultural collaborations and projects promoting social development in communities.

Matt has directed shows for Black Swan, Barking Gecko, Bell Shakespeare, Belvoir St Theatre, Monkey Baa, Performing Lines, Poetry In Action, Shaman Productions, Sport For Jove, The Last Great Hunt, and WAAPA, touring widely to major festivals in Australia and overseas, winning PAWA, AWGIE, Glug and Helpmann awards.

Positions include Artistic Director at Barking Gecko, Resident Artist at Bell Shakespeare and Head of New Work at Melbourne Theatre Company. Matt trained as an actor at WAAPA and is a Winston Churchill Fellow.

Adriane Daff is an actor, writer, theatre-maker and Core Artist of The Last Great Hunt. Some notable theatre credits include ‘Lé Nør’ which was nominated for two 2019 Helpmann awards (including best new Australian work) and ‘The Irresistible’, which was also nominated for a 2018 Helpmann Award (best new play) and had a seasons at Dark Mofo (2019) and the Sydney Opera House (2019). The creators Adriane Daff, Zoe Pepper and Tim Watts also created ‘The Big Spaghetti’ a 5-part web series that made its international premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2019. Adriane won Best Actress for ‘The Big Spaghetti’ at the NextGen Webfest awards in 2018.

Adriane has studied in Perth (WAAPA BA in Theatre Arts), New York City (Ward Meisner Studio) and Paris (Ecole Philippe Gaulier). In 2018, Adriane wrote, produced and performed in ‘Era of New Paradise’ for the Griffin Theatre’s Batch Festival in Sydney. Adriane also co-wrote the audio works ‘Into the Jungle’ (DreamBig festival in Adelaide), ‘The Turners’(Sydney Writer’s Festival), and ‘The Confidence Man’(Arts House and Perth Theatre Company).

In 2021, Adriane’s first commission, an adaptation of ‘The Cherry Orchard’ (co-written by Katherine Tonkin) was staged by Black Swan State Theatre Company and premiered at Perth Festival. She also made and performed in ‘HYPERDREAM’ for Redline’s season at The Old Fitz and ‘Young & Gorgeous’ for ERTH and Griffin Theatre Company’s Mini Studio Program at Brand X. In 2023 Adriane will appear in ‘IDK’ for Sydney dance theatre company Force Majeure.

Arielle Gray is a performer, theatre-maker, director, puppeteer, voice-over artist, improviser and founding artist of The Last Great Hunt.

She has a passion for creating and performing in inventive, original and engaging theatre. Roles include – As Adaptor/performer: Cicada (Barking Gecko). As performer: Cloudstreet (Malthouse/Black Swan), Picnic At Hanging Rock (Malthouse/Black Swan): including at the Barbican Centre, London, My Robot (Barking Gecko) and Laika: A Staged Radio Play (Second Chance Theatre).

For The Last Great Hunt - As co-creator and Director: Whistleblower (Winner ‘Outstanding Direction of a Mainstage show’ Performing Arts WA Awards), Stay With Us. As co-creator/performer: Helpmann nominated Lé Nør [The Rain], Helpmann nominated New Owner, The Advisors, All That Glitters, Falling Through Clouds and Helpmann nominated It’s Dark Outside (ArtsHub critics’ choice ‘innovation’ award). As performer: Bite the Hand, Monroe & Associates, Perpetual Wake and Improvement Club.

Chris Isaacs is a writer, devisor, performer, and founding core artist of The Last Great Hunt. As a playwright he has had his works performed nationally and internationally.

Credits include Bite The Hand, York (Co-written with Ian Michael for Black Swan State Theatre Company); the multiple award winning The Great Ridolphi (Blaz Award for New Writing Perth FRINGEWORLD); the multiple award-winning FAG/STAG (co-written with Jeffrey Jay Fowler); award winvning Old Love (Audience Development Award – The Blue Room Theatre); and award winning Flood (PAWA best new play), Bali (co-written with Jeffrey Jay Fowler), and The 1s, The 0s, and Everything In Between (RIPTIDE and ATYP).

As a co-devisor/performer Chris' work includes Lé Nør [The Rain] (Perth Festival) Stay With Us ; All That Glitters; Falling Through Clouds; and the award winning It’s Dark Outside (ArtsHub Innovation Award – 2013 and Helpmann-nominated) for The Last Great Hunt.

Outside of The Last Great Hunt, Chris is a resident artist for Black Swan State Theatre Company and a sessional tutor at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).

Jeffrey Jay Fowler is a playwright, dramaturg, director and actor. He wrote and acted in award winning shows A History of Drinking and ELEPHENTS. He has performed in and co-created FAG/STAG (winner Scotsman Fringe First 2017), BALI, THE ADVISORS, PERPETUAL WAKE, ALL THAT GLITTERS and LÉ NØR [THE RAIN] with The Last Great Hunt, of which he is a founding artist.

His other plays include MINNIE AND MONA PLAY DEAD, PRICE TAG, THE ONE, Second Hands, Hope is the saddest, and IMPROVEMENT CLUB.

Among the shows he has directed are Girl Shut Your Mouth, Blithe Spirit, The Eisteddfod (winner 2017 PAWA Best Director and Best Mainstage Play), and In The Next Room, or The Vibrator Play for Black Swan State Theatre Company.

Jeffrey Jay was Associate Director of Black Swan from 2014 to 2017, and then he was their Director of New Writing for 2018 and 19. His postgraduate studies were in directing at NIDA in 2010. In 2020 Jeffrey Jay was awarded the NT Literary Award for The Hypotheticals which he co-wrote with Sarah Reuben.

Gita Bezard is a playwright, devisor, director and performer. She’s a founding member of The Last Great Hunt and mother to a tiny artist in the making.

For The Last Great Hunt: As a Writer/Director - PERPETUAL WAKE, THE TALK, THE ADVISORS, YOSHIS CASTLE and ALL THAT GLITTERS. As a co-devisor/performer - WHISTLEBLOWER (Perth Festival, 2021), LÉ NØR (Perth Festival, 2019), STAY WITH US, MINNIE AND MONA PLAY DEAD (Fringe World 2013 Martin Sims Award for Best New WA Work; Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Brisbane International Festival) and ELEPHENTS.

In 2016 her play GIRL SHUT YOUR MOUTH debuted at Black Swan State Theatre Company and was nominated for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award.

Playwriting Comissions - THE PAPER ESCAPER (Terrapin Puppet Theatre), THE PERFECT BOY (Black Swan State Theatre Company, LEMON and IN A BONY EMBRACE (Curtin University), REMARKABLE (WAAPA).

Jo is so proud to be a performer and theatre-maker on Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar, and to celebrate in the rich tradition of storytelling on this land.  Most recently she appeared in the world premiere of Barracking for the Umpire by Andrea Gibbs for Black Swan Theatre Company and The Last Great Hunt’s production of Dick Pics in the Garden of Eden. She has also worked and collaborated with companies such as Barking Gecko, Yirra Yaakin and Griffin Independent, and won multiple awards including the 2014 Blue Room Awards for Best Production and Member’s Choice, and the 2016 PAWA Award for Best Independent Production for Those who fall in love like anchors dropped upon the ocean floor which she performed in and produced, the 2015 PAWA Award for Best Actress for A Streetcar Named Desire, and was the recipient of the Fringe World 2017 ECU Performing Arts Award for her work as a performer in Price Tag, The Book of Life and Alone Outside.

Courtney Henri graduated with a Bachelor of Performing Arts degree at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2018 and recently completed the Diploma of Screen Acting at the beginning of 2021. Over the past few years she has partaken in shows such as the remount of Playthings with the Black Swan Theatre Company, the Award winning “The Cockburn Incident” that was performed for FringeWorld and KickStart Festival in 2018, FloorThirteen at the Blueroom and Playthings both in 2019, Love which was performed in 2020 Fringe Festival and Do I Look Like I Care at the State Theatre for Fringe 2021. In 2018 Courtney and her peer Marshall Stay devised a physical theatre piece called Girl and Thing which resulted in being awarded the Tilt Award. In 2022 she performing in Alex and Evie and the Forever Falling Rain at the State Theatre Centre. Courtney is very excited about the upcoming theatre opportunities she has and collaborations in the future. Throughout her studies Courtney was able to explore storytelling through a variety of forms and her love for performing grew. She is excited to continue to delve into the world of theatre and hopefully screen as well.

Ben has worked as a freelance musician, sound designer and composer across a variety of platforms since 2003.  He’s been a lecturer in sound design and audio technology at WAAPA since 2015, venue and technical manager at the Redmond Theatre since 2016 and recently has become most interested in field recording, technical theatre design, and multi-disciplinary work.  Ben has worked on short films, animations, dance works, drama and musical theatre and produced podcasts and recorded works for various platforms and is passionate about the use of technology in storytelling.

He's worked predominantly for Black Swan State Theatre Company over the past decade, as well as Barking Gecko, The Last Great Hunt and Fringe productions including most recently audio work Seeking Basic Needs and Other Tales of Excess.  In 2019 he was sound designer and programmer for Le Nor, a Last Great Hunt work for the Perth International Arts Festival, as well as sound designer for Mimma - A Musical of War & Friendship for Orana Productions. In 2020 he was sound designer for THEATRE 180’s successful production of A Fortunate Life.