ADELAIDE FRINGE 2019 REVIEWS

"★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2 - Gripped the audience from start to finish" - Weekend Notes

"★ ★ ★ ★ - The young cast are passionate and do the story justice.” - This is RADELAIDE

"★ ★ ★ ★ - This play, and cast of talented young actors, is worthy of your time this silly season" - GLAM Adelaide

"See it - and the outstanding cast of up and coming actors. Glassroom Theatre Company should be extremely proud of themselves." - Theatre Travels

"Blackrock was enjoyable to watch...so important to see" - Hi Fi Way

The town of Blackrock is distressed when a teenage girl is raped and murdered at a party. Amidst the town's chaotic reactions, Jared Kirby keeps a hidden secret about the girl's death and retreats into an angry silence. And with his mother wanting to talk to him about her impending cancer surgery, the police asking what he saw and the limits of his mateship tested, Jared starts to crack under the pressure.

Inspired by true events, Nick Enright's impactful play won the AWGIE Award for Best Play and has been performed all across Australia. This is Glassroom Theatre Company's second show following their sell-out season of 'Clanstow'.

Praise for Glassroom Theatre Company

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - The Advertiser (For Clanstow)

"One looks forward to what they do next" - Barefoot Review

"Keep an eye on Glassroom Theatre for more great shows" -Great Scott

"Blackrock is thought-provoking, unsettling and still a pertinent and powerful piece of theatre. Take your teenagers" - The Advertiser (review of Blackrock, La Boite Theatre, Brisbane)

About Glassroom Theatre Company

Glassroom Theatre Company was founded by teenager Jack Cummins. After winning the State Theatre Company Young Playwright's Award for Clanstow, Jack's goal to have the piece performed led to him creating a new amateur theatre company for young adults. Glassroom's aim is to provide opportunities for aspiring actors in Adelaide and showcase their skills on stage, in both performance, production and writing areas. Their debut show Clanstow had a completely sold-out season and received a 5 star review. They are excited to be returning to the 2019 Adelaide Fringe with Blackrock by Nick Enright, which Jack will be directing and producing.

For more information about Glassroom Theatre Company, please check out their website, Facebook, and Instagram pages.

Cast & Crew

Jack Cummins - Director, Producer & Jared Kirby

Jack Cummins is a recent graduate of Saint Ignatius College. He has been performing from a young age and has trained with Actors Ink since 2013, where he was introduced to Blackrockafter performing in a 2016 production of the play alongside fellow cast members James Coates and Sachin Barclay. He starred in Deadset Theatre Company's sell-out season of Puberty Blues in 2017 in the role of Straccy, which he later reprised in the 2018 Adelaide Fringe return season of the play. For his Stage 2 Drama production, Jack performed in the lead role of Juror 8 of Twelve Angry Men. His film work includes Room Twelve for Tropfest Film Festival as well as the short films Howl and Burnt with Actors Ink. In 2017, he was awarded the State Theatre Company & Flinders University's Young Playwright's Award for his full-length play, Clanstow. This prompted Jack to create Glassroom Theatre Company and he made his producing and directorial debut with Clanstow, which received five sold out shows, a five star review and is currently becoming developed into a full-length film. He has recently been granted a place at Flinders Drama Centre and will commence a four-year training course after Blackrockis finished. Jack is very excited to be returning to the Adelaide Fringe with Blackrock by Nick Enright, as director, producer and performer.

Ella Buckingham - Cherie Milenko

Ella Buckingham is a current student at Immanuel College. Her love for acting and performing on stage began at the age of five when she begun participating in local community and school productions before moving from the Yorke Peninsula to Adelaide. Now studying SACE Drama and winning school awards and major roles in the subject, she continues to be involved in productions inside and outside of school and is also undertaking acting lessons at SA Casting. Last year, Ella was cast as Vicky in Deadset Theatre Company’s Puberty Blues for the 2018 Adelaide Fringe, alongside Blackrock cast member and director Jack Cummins.

James Coates - Brett Ricketson

James is 19 years old and a 2017 graduate from Marryatville High School. After taking a gap year, James begins his Bachelor of Economics and International Studies at the University of Adelaide this year. James has had a love of performing from a young age, having taken lessons at Actors Ink where he first appeared as Ricko in a 2016 production of Blackrock, alongside cast mates Jack Cummins and Sachin Barclay. He again starred alongside Cummins and Barclay in the Actors Ink web series Burnt. He undertook Drama as a subject in Year 12 and appeared in the theatre production of We Are Anonymous in the 2017 Adelaide Fringe. James plans to eventually move to Sydney or Los Angeles to pursue acting as a career.

Millie Sandford - Rachel Ackland/Shana Raleigh

Millie Sandford is a seventeen-year-old high school student, who has harboured an interest in the arts from a very young age. She considers acting, creating and performing to be her favourite past times. She is currently undertaking her final year of school at University Senior College, where she is studying Drama, and plans to pursue some acting after high school. Blackrock marks her independent theatre debut.

Jade Ryles - Diane Kirby

Jade is a 23 year old student who recently completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Adelaide. Her interest in performing started in primary school, when she joined the Australian Youth Choir and then attended Theatre Bugs in her teen years, where she now currently works as a teacher. She has performed in numerous public pantomimes through Theatre Bugs, as well as a performance of Hairspray with Harvest Rain Theatre Company.She is excited to participate in the Adelaide Fringe and is looking forward to the challenge of taking on the role of an older character.

Jai Pearce - Toby Ackland/Policeman

Jai is a current student at Cabra College where his favourite subjects are Drama and Media Studies. Jai spent the last school holidays attending a Stage and Screen training course by the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). He also has done extensive training in other of their term based courses. He recently made his first appearance on stage in the role of Hughie Cook in Therry Dramatic Society’s production of “The One Day of The Year.” In 2019, Jai is planning to greatly increase his appearance in the world of theatre. In addition to appearing in Blackrock for the Adelaide Fringe, Jai will also be appearing in The John Dory with Cool Beans Theatre Company.

Alex Whitrow - Scott Abbey

Alex Whitrow has recently graduated from Pembroke College, where he studied drama for the duration of his education. He performed in school productions such as The Lillie Smith Story in 2015, The Secret in the Wings in 2017 and The Crucible in 2018, in which he performed as Judge Danforth for his SACE examination. Alex performed in Glassroom’s previous Adelaide Fringe production of Clanstow, which was met with praise from audiences and critics alike. Alex has also won various awards regarding his work behind and in front of the camera in the film industry and has directed, written and performed in several short student films such as Hunt in Red and Tommy and the Thin Man. He is also set to perform in Deadset Theatre Company’s upcoming production of The Outsiders in 2019.

Sachin Barclay - Craig 'Davo' Davidson

Sachin's love for performing begun after he involved himself in school performances such as Robin Hood and… He begun lessons at Actors Ink in 2015, where he performed as Davo in Blackrock in 2016 alongside cast members Jack Cummins and James Coates and appeared in the 2017 Adelaide Fringe show We Are Anonymous. His film work includes the short film Howl and the web-series Burnt. After graduating from Urrbrae College in 2017, he has become interested in independent film-making and singing. He is looking forward to performing in Blackrock again.

Ella McKinnon - Glenys Milenko/Marian Ackland

Ella McKinnon comes from a background in classical ballet, with 15 years of training and experience in this field. Her performing arts interests evolved into music and through school, she later became involved with acting. A recent graduate of Sacred Heart Senior College, Ella deeply immersed herself in dramatic arts at school, with roles in school musicals and senior drama productions such as Miss Hannigan in Annie and Audrey in The Messenger, both of which also starred fellow cast member Miraede Bhatia. As her experience with drama has grown, Ella has found that she is better suited to the stage. After gaining more experience in the performing arts industry, Ella plans to study music theatre or acting at university level, with an interest in later pursuing directing and writing.

Miraede Bhatia - Tiffany

Miraede has recently graduated from Sacred Heart College and was awarded with the Dux of Drama, Debourge Performing Arts and Marist Spirit awards. Miraede is a avid performer and aspiring actress, who has been interested in the arts from a young age. In 2017, Miraede was cast as the supporting role of Mildew in the soon to be released major film, Stormboy. In 2018, Miraede was the lead in her school musical Annie and played 7 different characters in her Stage 2 Drama production The Messenger, alongside fellow Blackrock cast member Ella McKinnon.

Spencer Fullgrabe - Stewart Ackland/Detective/Roy

Spencer is currently studying a double degree in Media and Arts at the University of Adelaide. He started performing at a young age in various school plays such as Two Weeks With the Queen and The Ventian Twins (also written by Nick Enright). He continued to develop a love for the stage all the way through high school at Saint Ignatius College, where he starred in the college’s 2016 performance of Grease as Danny Zuko. This eventually led to him becoming as Captain of Drama of the College in 2017, a role that was succeeded by fellow Ignatius student and cast member Jack Cummins the following year. Spencer is excited to make his return to stage in 2019 for Blackrock.

Media Release

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