The Platypus

Soft Tread’s works have been staged at venues around Australia and the world including the Sydney Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai and the legendary Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas. Recent productions include Stephen Page’s Baleen Moondjan for the 2024 Adelaide Festival, the much-loved annual Wharf Revue and Emmanuelle Mattana’s incendiary hit Trophy Boys. Other notable productions include Jonathan Biggins’ acclaimed one-man play about Paul Keating, The Gospel According to Paul, Jonny Hawkins’ Maureen: Harbinger of Death and the super-group magic show, Band of Magicians.

Rebecca is a seasoned actor with a distinguished career marked by her passion for storytelling and dedication to her craft. A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, she holds Bachelor Degrees in both Dramatic Arts and Fine Arts. Rebecca has honed her skills under the guidance of esteemed mentors such as Larry Moss, John Hindman, and Kim Farrant.

Her stage credits include notable performances in productions such as Bell Shakespeare Company’s national tour of Julius Caesar directed by Peter Evans, Peer Gynt directed by Daniel Schlusser, and Grief and the Lullaby directed by Patrick McCarthy for Theatre works. She has also showcased her talent in The Honey Bees directed by Ella Caldwell for Red Stitch Theatre and Point8Six directed by Kirsten von Bibra for La Mama.

Rebecca’s impact extends to film and television, where she has delivered standout performances in productions like Angel of Mine directed by Kim Farrant and The Five Provocations directed by Angie Black. Her television credits include appearances in Offspring, Wentworth, The Other Guy, and her current role as Jane in The Spooky Files on ABC/BBC.

John is an actor, writer and podcast host and a proud member of MEAA. He made his television debut while still a child in A Country Practice. And made his professional theatre debut in Belvoir’s production of Cloudstreet. Other theatre credits include Bernhardt/Hamlet, Shakespeare in Love, North By Northwest, Private Lives, His Girl Friday and Realism (Melbourne Theatre Company); All My Sons, White Guard, Taming of the Shrew and Julius Caesar (Sydney Theatre Company); Peter Pan, The Business, The Book of Everything, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Marriage of Figaro (Belvoir); The Dragon, White Rabbit Red Rabbit (Malthouse Theatre); Just Macbeth (Bell Shakespeare); As an award winning playwright, John co-wrote and performed in the plays The Suitors and Vital Organs.

Television credits: The Newsreader, Spooky Files, Five Bedrooms, Glitch, Upright, The Letdown, True Story with Hamish and Andy, Get Krack!n, Upper Middle Bogan, Laid, Offspring, Tough Nuts, Woodley and All Saints. His US television credits include The Good Place and No Activity.

Selected film credits: Pirates of the Caribbean V, Oddball, Red Dog, Where the Wild Things Are and the Tropfest winning short Lemonade Stand. John is also the producer and host of The Saturday Quiz podcast, which is currently in its fifth season and recently surpassed three quarters of a million downloads.

Francis Greenslade has been a well known face on Australian screens for decades. He is perhaps best known for his appearances on Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell and for playing Brian Gross on the TV series, Winners and Losers. Other screen credits include The Leftovers, Irreverent, High Country, Jack Irish, Metro Sexual, The Ex-PM, Doctor Blake, Offspring, City Homicide, Bastard Boys, East of Everything, Blue Heelers, The Micallef Programme, Welcher and Welcher, Blue Heelers and Critical Mass.

He is also a prolific stage actor. His theatre credits include, The Odd Couple, Shakespeare in Love, Things We Do For Love, Man the Balloon, and The Madwoman of Chaillot, for MTC, Urinetown and Navigating for STC, Babes in the Wood, Optimism, Tartuffe and The Odyssey for Malthouse and The Club, Marat/Sade, Cosi, School for Scandal, and The Tempest for STC(SA)

This is Francis’ first original work for the theatre. His adaptation of Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist was produced by STC in 2018 and his book How I Learnt to Act (on the way to not going to Drama School), was published by Currency Press in 2019.

With a Bachelor of Interior Architecture, combined with a passion for theatre and landscapes Sarah’s love for visualising story through environment has led to work both internationally and across Australia as both a scenic and landscape designer. Sarah has worked in many roles around the theatre as a set and costume designer as well as a stage manager. Sarah is one of the three producers at Green Room Award winning production company, Pursued By Bear and works in residence as a Senior Designer with Waddell Landscape Design.

Clare is a Lighting Designer and Theatre Maker based in Naarm (Melbourne). She was the Resident Lighting Designer and ensemble member at Red Stitch Actors Theatre for seven years and another two years as a guest designer designing the lighting for many shows, including 4000 Miles, Midsummer (A Play with Songs) and Eurydice, for which she was nominated for a Green Room Award. She has the Associate Lighting Designer on Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of Shakespeare In Love working with Matt Scott, and was also one of MTC’s 2018/19 Women in Theatre participants. Clare has worked with other companies such as La Mama, Lifelike Touring and True North Festival and was the 2016 Besen Family Artist Placement at The Malthouse.

David Franzke is one of Australia's most experienced composers for theatre. His credits include Sydney Theatre Company (Venus and Adonis, The Wonderful World of Dissocia); Malthouse Theatre (Anna Tregloan's BLACK, The Odyssey, Drink Pepsi Bitch!, The Proscenium); Melbourne Theatre Company (The Joy of Text, The Grenade, August: Osage County, Don Juan in Soho, Birthrights, The Recruit); Ranters Theatre (Intimacy, Holiday) and Anna Tregloan's Skin Flick and The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. Franzke has collaborated with visual artists including David Rosetzky, Daniel Crooks, David Jolly and Andrew Hazewinkel. Film credits include X (2011), Acolytes (2008), Joyride and Designing Dreams (2004).