A group of young actors is nearing the dramatic apex of three years of theatrical study, with a musical fable fashioned by the pre-teen and teenaged players into a political parable due to be performed next month.
Tickets were released last week for four Gibsons performances of The Brave Little Tailor in January 2025. The epic play will include singing, swordplay and larger-than-life shadow puppetry.
“I’ve been teaching these students longer than any students I’ve ever taught,” said Ingrid Bilton, a veteran instructor and co-founder of the Driftwood Theatre School. The organization is an arm of the Driftwood Players that offers biannual workshops for children and adults. Bilton, a former public school instructor in drama and English, moved to the Sunshine Coast in 2007. The dozen cast members she directs in Tailor have completed serial courses in acting fundamentals and characterization.
“But in the end, nothing really hones their skills and gets the excitement up like a production,” added Bilton.
The play, an adaptation of a Brothers Grimm tale, revolves around a diminutive tailor whose workaday drudgery is mitigated by larger-than-life dreams of slaying dragons. Exaggerated accounts of his expertise with domestic fly-swatting generates buzz among villagers, ultimately swelling into outrageous accounts of gallantry. The tailor is deputized by a cowardly king to undertake a series of real-life quests.
The tailor’s transformation mirrors the rapid development of the homegrown Sunshine Coast actors. “I’ve gone from being a bored seven-year-old doing goofy voices to a main character — who also does goofy voices, even though I’m now 11,” said Orca Coates, who portrays the eponymous tailor. “It took four years for me to realize that there’s a place where I belong.”
Three of the performers — Alta O’Farrell, Juno Noni, and Haelyn Treliving — appeared this summer in a full-scale production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Rockwood Pavilion. Two adult actors playing giants (Gabriel Ditmars and Thaelo Proctor) are also Midsummer alumni.
For O’Farrell, the Grimm tale offered a chance to flex her comedic muscles. “One main reason I chose this play was the role of the jester,” she said. “I just liked playing the comedy relief.”
The play’s message of empowerment appealed to Toya Abbott, who plays an irascible baker’s wife. “I know a lot of people who are smaller have been told that they shouldn’t do something just because they’re small, but it doesn’t matter how tiny you are — you can still be something.”
The text was chosen by the actors themselves after recognizing an opportunity for tongue-in-cheek commentary about political demagogues. “I like how ignorant the king is a lot of the time,” explained Julian Falkin, who portrays the town baker. “Before this, I had a lot of experience improvising, but I feel like I’ve gotten better performing with a script.” Sticking with the text as written compelled the actors to express sly innuendo through gestures and pointed expression.
“I’ve learned what it means to sink yourself into a character that has different problems and situations other than what you do,” said Haelyn Treliving, another jester. “It really makes me appreciate what happens on TV and with actors in live plays.”
“There are a lot of different emotions in this play,” observed Nicolas Lekakis. Lekakis plays a ruler who is simultaneously pompous and vacuous, a persona calculated by the actor (and hip hop dancer) to elicit giggles from younger viewers while prompting adult reflections on the pitfalls of vapid populism.
A condensed version of the performance was staged for parents at a Driftwood Theatre School showcase in April. “They did so well that everyone was keen to finish it and perform it in style at the Heritage Playhouse,” said Bilton.
The fully-realized musical rendition of The Brave Little Tailor will run over four performances on Jan. 17, 18, and 19. Tickets are now available for purchase online at driftwoodplayers.net.
