Storytime with Storyville

Marika Aubrey is an actor and cabaret performer. She has performed across television, film, cabaret and theatre, with roles in Channel 7’s All Saints, Southern Star’s Spirited, Deadly Women for Beyond International, and the feature film Feed co-starring Jack Thompson and Alex O’Loughlin.

After gaining several credits on the independent theatre scene of Sydney (Poster Girl at The Old Fitz, 5 Ways at Griffin, Notes From The Underworld for Theatre Dwa Konie), Marika won the 2007 Showcase Award in the Annual Sydney Cabaret Showcase, and the following year appeared in the Short, Sweet + Song festival – for which she received a Best Actress nomination.

In 2008, Marika starred in three lead roles for Kookaburra: The National Musical Theatre Company’s productions of popular musicals I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Songs for A New World and The Emperor’s New Clothes. She has also regularly headlined at large scale benefit evenings such as Sydney Theatre Company All-Star Cabaret, Hats Off for World AIDS Day, Light The Night and ACON Concerts.

In 2009 she performed her critically acclaimed solo show CAUTION: Aggressive Birds, which saw her named Best Cabaret Performer 2009 by aussietheatre. Marika appears on the Generation WhY? album with Hayden Tee, and has recorded ‘Meadowlark’ on the second Showqueen Sessions live CD.

In 2010, Marika premiered Redhead in a sell-out season at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and toured to the NYC cabaret room Don’t Tell Mama. Whilst at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Marika performed alongside Natalie Cole, Donna McKechnie, and Caroline O’Connor and worked with Liz Callaway and Stephen Schwartz. Redhead then toured to Newcastle, Sydney and the Noosa Long Weekend. Marika was nominated for a GLUG award for ‘Best Actress in a Musical or Cabaret’ for her performance in Redhead.

Marika understudied Rachael Beck in the Australian tour of Jason Robert Brown Live in Concert, as well as working with internationally renowned composers Georgia Stitt and John Bucchino in concert. She was honoured to join the workshop cast of James Millar and Pete Rutherford’s A Little Touch of Chaos in 2011, playing Sue, before being cast opposite Rob Mills as Cathy in The Last Five Years. The Last Five Years received the honour of being nominated for ‘Best Musical’ at the Sydney Theatre Awards in 2011.

In 2012, Marika re-visited the role of Titania in A Midsummer Nights Dream in Centennial Park before an engagement as the celebrity host of Sing-a-long Sound of Music at the State Theatre, which she has been delighted to host three times. Marika performed a night of new song material for the Slide Cabaret Festival 2012; The First Draft of Something New and was nominated for the ‘Best Cabaret Performance’ GLUG Award for this show.

A long standing member of Actor’s Equity in both Australia and the UK, Marika also serves to coach and instruct young actor’s at the Australian Theatre for Young People, regularly running masterclasses in musical theatre and acting. In 2013, How We Do What We Do – an actor profile series written by Marika – was launched on popular national industry website aussietheatre, becoming the website’s most popular column in its history.

Marika played the head nurse in the Lincoln Center production of South Pacific, touring Australia. Her solo show The Last of The Red Hot Mamas premiered at the 2013 Adelaide Cabaret Festival and continued to tour around Australia through 2013 and 2014. In late 2014, Marika joined the star-studded cast of Miracle City by Nick Enright and Max Lambert, playing Eulella. She can be heard on the original Australian cast recording of this production, released April 2015. Her EP Redhead is available to download from iTunes, and she is a regular voiceover artist with RGM Voices.

Earlier this year, Marika played the fiery Aldonza in Squabbalogic’s sold-out production of The Man of La Mancha opposite industry legend Tony Sheldon. The live cast recording of this sell-out production is now available through Squabbalogic.

Marika is currently playing Mrs Wormwood in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Matilda the Musical, written by Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin and touring Australia.

Rowan is a native Queenslander who relocated to Melbourne three years ago. He has since appeared in numerous guest roles for some of Australia’s most loved TV series, and performed in a multitude of theatre productions for various companies across Melbourne.

He is a classically trained vocalist and was the 2013 Queensland Eistedfodd Champion Baritone. He has previously received the Victorian Drama League gold award for Best Actor in a Minor Role and was this year nominated for Best Leading Actor in a short film at the Melbourne Independent Film Festival. He is a founding member of Victorian arm of the Equity-run reading programme, Storyville, and currently reads to students of Debney Meadows Primary School in Flemington every Friday.

Felicity Soper has worked as an actor in theatre, film and television in Melbourne, Sydney and London's West End.

Melbourne credits include performing with Ranters, the Artisan Collective and Eleventh Hour. In Sydney, she has worked with Belvoir St, Griffin Theatre and the Ensemble Theatre. Her roles have included Rita in Educating Rita, Hermione in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Erica Yurken in Hating Alison Ashley and Ghost of Christmas Past in Scrooge: The Musical in London.

Film credits include WEST; the AFI award-winning feature, Romulus My Father; and the AACTA-nominated short, Adam’s Tallit. Most recent television credits include Time Of Our Lives and Winners and Losers.

Felicity has a degree in literature and philosophy,  has travelled widely and believes that truth-filled storytelling is a much-needed tonic for both children and adults as they navigate their way through an increasingly complex world.