Past Show
Minnie and Liraz
BY LALLY KATZ
DIRECTED BY BARBARA CRAWFORD
The Autumn Road Retirement Village in Caulfield has a fiercely competitive bridge club, but with old age no bridge partnership lasts for long.
When Minnie loses her playing partner in an unfortunately swimming accident, Liraz is desperate for them to team up. An oddball story of kindly Jewish grandparents and raw ambition. Riotously funny and brilliantly original.
See cast details below
WHEN:
30 August – 8 September
Cast
Director
Barbara Crawford
Barbara has been involved in theatre most of her life, both in the UK and in Australia. She has acted with a number of local community theatre groups over the years and in 2018 turned to directing full length plays after directing a number of one act plays. ‘All the Kings Women’ was the first play she directed and it was with Mordialloc Theatre, other MTC shows were ‘Knickers’ and ‘Love Loss and what I Wore’. Barbara has also directed at Beaumaris and Peridot Theatres and also Brighton Theatre where her most recent play was ‘Here I Belong’ in 2023. Barbara hopes you enjoy this quirky comedy as much as she enjoyed working with such a talented cast and crew.
Minnie
Elisa Gray
Elisa has been performing since childhood with The Actor’s Theatre, The National Theatre, Trak Players, Saltpillar Theatre, Kadimah and Chapel off Chapel. She performed in three productions with Barrie Kosky’s Gilgul Theatre in Melbourne and Sydney for Belvoir Street Theatre, and performed with Zaftik in Melbourne, Montreal, and New York. Elisa was cast in the Opera Australia production of Fiddler on the Roof, which was cancelled due to Covid, but played Golda with MLOC in 2023. She has appeared in episodes of Kath and Kim and MDA and in the films Chasing Parked Cars and The Trojan Warrior.
Liraz
Karen Shnider
This is Karen’s first show with Mordialloc Theatre Company and she is thrilled (thankyou Barbara!) to be playing the quirky role of” Liraz” with such a wonderful cast and crew. Karen has been involved with community theatre for as long as she can remember with musicals, pantomimes, theatre restaurants and plays. Her passion started with the Melbourne Theatre Company Youth Theatre and followed with various programmes with MTC. Karen has worked with various companies and is a proud member of Beaumaris Theatre Company and is a life Member of MLOC. Karen has been involved with Theatrical Theatre Company since its formation and first musical in 2021″ Little Women “in which she was assistant director.
Karen made her solo directorial debut this year for Theatrical’s” Sound of Music” at the National Theatre. Karen currently studies classical singing and is a member of the “Cantate Singers”. Karen hopes you enjoy the antics of the characters in” Minnie and Liraz”
Morris
Rob Coulson
Rob has spent most of his acting career performing in comedy, musical comedy and musicals. In 2016 he played the bigot Derek in RolePlay at MTC, his first return to the stage for a few years. Most recently Rob was seen as Doctor Armstrong in And Then There Were None and before that as The Count and count-less other parts in the comedy Four Flat Whites. MTC regulars will have seen him as The Waiter in the farce Out Of Order and also Things My Mother Taught Me as Carter. He was also Charles Mowbray in Equally Divided and before that as Piper (another solicitor) in One For The Pot at Beaumaris. When Rob is not on-stage locals will know that he spends every moment he can on the bowling green.
Norma
Rachel Negus
You may recall seeing Rachel on The Mordialloc Stage in “Allo Allo” as Michelle in 2008 or “All The Kings Women” in 2018. Other favourite shows include, “Private Lives” at Malvern Theatre as Sybil, “Proof” at 1812 Theatre as Claire, “Speaking in Tongues” at STAG as Sonja/Sarah, “Present Laughter” at STAG as Monica “Love Loss and What I Wore” at Encore Theatre and “Hotel Sorrento” with Ark Theatre as Meg. Rachel is thrilled to be treading the Boards again.
Ichabod
John Murphy
John was most recently seen by Mordialloc audiences as Tim in Consent. He has also appeared onstage at the Shirley Burke as Billy in The Kitchen Sink, Ross in Visiting Mr Green and Jay in Lost in Yonkers. Other favourite onstage roles include Tom in The Glass Menagerie (Malvern Theatre), Jim in Flipside (Brighton Theatre), and Danny in Jumpers for Goalposts (Williamstown Little Theatre). John is delighted to bring this funny and contemporary play to the stage.
Rachel
Kirsty Hall
Kirsty is appearing in her second play with Mordialloc Theatre, having performed last year in Summer of the 17th Doll in the role of Pearl. Since performing in her first musical at the age of ten, Kirsty has performed with many Theatre Companies around Melbourne including PLOS, Beaumaris, Brighton, Windmill and Frankston Theatre Group. Some of Kirsty’s favourite roles have been Glinda the good witch in the Wizard of Oz, Frenchy in Grease, Daisy Mae in Lil’ Abner and Audrey in little shop of horrors for which she received a Music Theatre Guild Commendation.