Ghosts of the Olympic Theatre

Written and directed by Jane Woollard.

Ghosts of the Olympic Theatre investigated the performance methods of leading performers Eliza Winstanley, Cordelia Cameron, FB Watson and JHS Lee. With the cast and dramaturg we explored textual and literary records and wove them into a speculative embodied reconstruction of nineteenth-century performance style. This research project explored how contemporary performers might utilise these historical forms to create an engaging performance for a contemporary audience, and proposed how this gestural style might have been employed in performance practice in the 1840s in Tasmania. The promenade performance follows the ghosts of the actors as they return to the site of Launceston’s Olympic Theatre, where the Post Office now stands.

Dramaturg: Melanie Beddie

Cast: Colin James, Jane Johnson, Jane Longhurst, Gerard Lane

Student performers: Graidy Schottmeier, Matt Saltmarsh, Shawna Collins, Ashley Eyles, Brandon Richardson

Costume design: Jane Woollard, Antonia Aitken, Claire Mercer

Costume construction: Claire Mercer
Sound design: Dougal James

Lighting: Chris Jackson

Photographs: Scott Gelston