Mel Fyfe

We have secured a two-week residency with Hothouse Theatre's 'A Month in the Country' project in April, and require funds to build props and construct our set to fulfill our dreams of hitchin' up the wagon and getting this show on the road.

‘The Curtain’ will be an all female, contemporary, post circus performance, wrinkles and all. Exploring the life of a performer behind and in front of the curtain; their bodies, their personalities, their stories, their insanity. Four tough broads, with all their foibles, wobbly bits and broken bones. The small one, the loud one, the bossy one, the sexy one, the unsexy one…

‘The Curtain’ has a feel of the yesteryear.  Four seasoned performers who know the show so well they could do it in their sleep, a dusty old curtain that has seen better days...this show has the feel that it has been running forever like a revolving door that just keeps turning, waiting for their big break -  to hit the big time.

Welcome to the surreal yet real world of these modern day clowns;  Em J, Fyfee, Greendog and Wilksy.  All known for their colourful and strong personalities …which in the biz equals highly paranoid, hard to work with and opinionated… but funny as hell!

It will be a kaleidoscopic feast of song, dance, circus and physical theatre, celebrating the female comediennes of yesteryear and breathing new life into classic routines. As Lucille Ball sought out Buster Keaton so do we ladies seek the living legend, Emil Wolk, who has direct lineage to the British Vaudeville tradition. It could be called a show with Tourette’s… innocent, unintentionally funny, unexpectedly honest, confronting and definitely inappropriate.

Mel Fyfe - the Strongwoman who tap dances and has an obsession with 80’s dance and roller derby.

Emma J Hawkins - A diminutive performer with a bag of tricks bigger than herself, she’d like to be taken seriously.

Eloise Green - The Hula Hoop queen who is bored with hula hoop and considering opening her own bar.

Nicci Wilks - Circus legend, performer and theatrical extraordinaire with a few screws and bolts holding her together.

These 4 women look unlike any performance group in the industry. Their diverse physicality’s and dynamite personalities are what sets them apart from the crowd. Their bodies might not conform to the ‘norm’ but they don’t really give a damn.

BIOGRAPHIES

Mel Fyfe is 41, and has been on stage for 38 of those years. Starting out as a 3 year old doing tap, jazz and acrobatic dance she fell in love with being in front of an audience and she hasn’t stopped since. Becoming a qualified dance teacher and touring to Asia at the age of 19 as a Dance Captain/Choreographer just gave her even more love for the stage but something wasn’t quite right. She didn’t fit the stereotype of the blonde long-legged skinny dancers that all looked the same... and nor did she ever want to. Being noticed on stage amongst a chorus line of beauties by Circus gentleman, guru and mentor Reg Bolton (RIP) was the best thing that ever happened to her. She worked with Reg and Bizircus in Perth from 1994-1997 and also during this time worked for the WA Theatre Company in the production of ‘Barnum - the Musical’, and Glenn Elston’s botanical gardens production of ‘A Mid-Summer Nights Dream’. Mel then moved to Brisbane to fine tune her circus training at Rock and Roll Circus, participating in a 6-month training project. After serious neck surgery Mel then decided to try her luck in Melbourne and auditioned for Circus Oz. She has worked as an acrobat/performer for Circus Oz touring the world from 1998 - 2010. Her roles and skills were numerous - from Strongwoman, to Dance Captain, to German Wheel Acrobat, to Tambourine Dancer, to noisy cocky, to the cute loud fat kid on the Flying Trapeze. During this time, and presently she also taught for many circus organisations like Circus Oz, Circus RUCCIS and the Women’s Circus. Mel is excited to collaborate with different performers to create shows which will inspire her to NEVER give up what she loves the most. Mel is currently the Operations & Tour Manager at Circus Oz.

Eloise Green is 28 years young with a performance history spanning 22 of those years. Eloise has performed with companies, as a solo freelance artist and with many combinations of fellow performers. She has performed in theatres, big tops, train stations, forests, and caravan parks, on the street, the beach and islands in over fifteen different countries around the world.Once upon a time, Eloise joined Adelaide’s youth Circus, ‘Cirkidz’ where she began performing and training at the age of six and stayed for twelve years. Those years involved sixteen productions performed for the Adelaide Fringe, Come Out Festival and regional touring. At age thirteen, Eloise was cast in her first professional production, Galaxarena, a stage adaptation directed by Nigel Jamieson for the Adelaide Festival. Eloise completed a Bachelor of Circus Arts in 2003 and went on to co-create and perform in the comedy duo OzStar Airlines who have performed at the London National Theatre and toured internationally and nationally for five years. Eloise took a break from OzStar in 2009 and performed as M.C. an acrobat with ‘Circus Oz’. Most recently, while searching for some independence, and a challenge Eloise embarked on her first solo endeavour, ‘All you need is Love’ an outdoor street/ festival show. She toured it this summer to Europe for two months. Eloise is first and foremost a fan of laughter and comedy but loves the power of performance in its ability to pull people together in emotion through shared experience of living, live moments together.

Emma J Hawkins, an all round performer, most recently toured has been touring with ‘Love Never Dies’. Before that she was with Circus Oz as a tap dancing, stilt walking acrobat. She has dipped her toe into the world of burlesque with the Salon du Dance crew. Emma has toured her own award winning dance theatre piece, One More Than One. She has performed in everything from Shakespeare to musicals & even toured with the infamous Crusty Demons as a dancer. She has been involved in creative developments with Restless Dance Company, Arts Access, Snuff Puppets & Balletlab. Emma also runs her own company, Atypical Theatre Company, representing fair representation of disability in the Arts. Emma’s alter ego, The Divine Miss Em, travels around Australia appearing in many events and festivals. She is currently the poster girl for Circus Festival 2011. Emma sees performing as a way of challenging herself & audiences alike to think outside the square. Her first appearance on stage was chasing a boy with a frying pan, so just don’t give this feisty redhead any kitchen utensils.

Nicci Wilks has been working in circus and theatre for 28 years now. She began her career with the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. She has strutted her skills on every continent in the world bar one and performed in 10 different languages. Some companies Nicci has worked with over the years include Circus Oz, Melbourne Theatre Company, Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus, Hothouse Theatre, Circus Monoxide, Melbourne Workers Theatre, Born in A Taxi, Dislocate, The Famous Spiegel Tent, The Tiny Top, 56 Inch Circus and The Humour Foundation (Clown Doctors). Nicci has trained in circus, theatre and clowning with teachers from all over the globe including TheNanjing Acrobatic Troupe, the John Palacy Trapeze Volant School in Paris,La Fura Del Baus, New York based dance company “Witness Relocation”, Italian clown master Giovanni Fusetti, in Montreal on the “Rim” (Single Wheel/ Roué Cyr), and with world champions in Norway and Germany on the ‘Rhoenrad’ (Wheel). Nicci has received a Professional Development grant from Arts Victoria and The Ian Potter Foundation and CreativeDevelopment grants from The Australia Council, Arts Victoria and The Besen Foundation. The Victorian Arts Centre recently commissioned Nicci to create a solo children’s show in her intimate/one-on-one venue ‘The Teensy Top’. Nicci was also Assistant Director and performer in a site-specific work called ‘Taxi’ for Big West Festival, which has been nominated for 4 Green Room awards. Nicci is now developing three new shows with various artists.Nicci is/has been a Circus artiste, Clown Doctor, wheel enthusiast, drag king, tent boss, Shakespearean actor (Hermia), singer in a band and a musical, Stage Manager, Production Manager, Tour Manager, Cathy Freeman’s trainer, waitress in a cafe for three days...

Emil Wolk’s extensive and varied credits range from leading roles with the Royal National Theatre in London and the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford to the La Scala, Milano. He won a Laurence Oliver Award for his portrayal as one of the Gangsters in ‘Kiss Me Kate’ directed by Adrian Noble, and more recently appeared on the Palladium stage in London’s West End as Goran in the original cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang produced by the Broccolis. As a director he worked for eight years with the Manchester Royal Exchange both writing and directing collaborative works: ‘Wolks World’ and ‘Animal Crackers’ (based on the Marx Bros. stage show) which transferred to the West End as well as directing mainstream productions such as ‘Charley’s Aunt’ and ‘Sherlock Holmes in Trouble’. He collaborated for many years with the late Johnny Hutch MBE reviving ‘Spesh Acts’ (speciality routines) and giving them a contemporary voice, also devising and collaborating with him on shows with the Kosh’s ‘Endangered Species’ and the People Show’s ‘People Show Cabaret’ and ‘George Khan Show’ both of which came to the Festival of Sydney and were a tremendous success. He has a specialised knowledge of vaudeville routines and has directed Sue Broadway’s Ra Ra Zoo, Artizani’s ‘Revolution’; Avanti Display’s ‘Spurting Man’ in the UK and in Australia the Leaping Loonies and The Pitts sharing this knowledge. In 1988, Emil co-directed the Circus Oz Bicentenary Show with Robyn Laurie: a show which ‘cemented Circus Oz’s reputation as Australia’s flagship contemporary circus. ‘ (Circus Oz’s quote) and in 2008 was guest director in Circus Oz’s ‘30th Birthday Bash’. In 2010 Emil held the same position in their most recent show ‘See It To Believe It’. Emil has appeared in numerous Television and Stage productions in the UK and also in Films. Credit’s include: Ariel in Peter Greenaway’s ‘Prospero’s Books’, Cyprus Charlie in Richard Curtis’ ‘The Tall Guy’; Man Under the Microscope in Stephen Soderbergh’s ‘Kafka’ and Kamenev in HBO’s ‘Stalin’. Most recently as Dimitri in Sydney Underground Film’s ‘Nude Study’ which premiered this year. Emil’s many TV credits include Ricarlo in Granada’s ‘Lost Empires’, Beppo in Granada’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and Gerald in the now ‘deceased’, ‘The Bill’.

Acting: The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff. Mime: Etienne Decroux (mime) Paris. Tumbling: Tudor Bonno Gymnase du Cirque, Paris. Circus Skills: Fratellini School, Paris. Voice: Jess Walters, Royal Opera House, London. Vaudeville: Johnny Hutch MBE, London