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Perth Now
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
WA-raised star ready for her second act
Acting is a notoriously cut-throat industry to make a name in, but 10 years ago Fremantle-born Claire Lovering was a bona fide star on the rise. After graduating from the prestigious WA Academy of Performing Arts, in 2010, she hit the ground running enjoying the kind of dream run most aspiring actors would kill for. Straight out of WAAPA, she scored a role in Black Swan State Theatre Company's rendition of Tim Winton's play in 2011, Rising Water, in what The West Australian called a 'dazzling first-time performance' as a drunken backpacker led to more work with theatre companies across Australia. By her mid-20s, Lovering was the talk of creative circles when she won a coveted Blue Room award for her self-penned one-woman show, River, in 2015. She received the Mike Walsh Fellowship, so she could to travel to New York to study method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. But just as quickly as it seemed her trajectory was assured, the phone stopped ringing. And Lovering admits the sudden, unsettling silence, which came just before the pandemic, made her reassess whether she wanted to be a part of the acting industry at all. If you'd like to view this content, please adjust your . To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie Guide. 'I'd been kicking around for about eight years at that point, doing a lot of theatre, but I wasn't getting much screen work,' Lovering explains from South Australia, where she's spending time with her partner before heading to LA later this year. 'I'd won this award and I thought, 'oh wow, NOW I've made it. Everything is going to change'. And then I didn't work for a year and a half.' It led to something of an existential crisis — 'my Saturn's Return period' says Lovering, referring to the pop culture astrology term that believers think shakes up people's lives in their late 20s. As she began to navigate who she was if she wasn't going to be a performer, she made big changes, both physical and emotional. 'I had been dying my hair blonde — I thought that would get me more roles — so I stopped doing that, and I cut it all off,' she laughs. 'I deleted social media, and stayed off it for four years; it was about me kind of getting back to the base level of 'who am I, without acting?'' Actor Claire Lovering will star in the TV series Austin. Credit: Kate Williams At her lowest ebbs, Lovering says she considered quitting the industry she loved, but that didn't appear to love her back. 'I wasn't working and it becomes humiliating when you are trying, and you feel like you are failing,' she says. 'You start to feel like the only way you can put yourself out of your misery is if you throw in the towel, and that kind of makes the pain stop.' But she hung on and small roles turned into bigger ones, from Class Of '07 to Celeste Barber's Wellmania, stints on Home And Away and Wolf Like Me, with Isla Fisher and Josh Gad, then a starring role in the offbeat ABC comedy Gold Diggers. This week, she'll appear on the much-loved and buzzed-about ABC comedy Austin, which stars Michael Theo, who found fame as the breakout on reality dating show Love On The Spectrum Australia. Austin, which also features Bridget Jones's Diary star Sally Phillips and actor and writer Ben Miller, is a hit at home and in the UK. Claire Lovering plays Austin's literary agent, and potential love interest, Greta. Credit: Supplied In the second season, Lovering plays Austin's 'posh, poised and ruthlessly effective' new book agent, Greta, who is determined to turn her new client into a neurodivergent media brand and poster boy. For Lovering, who has played both comedic and dramatic roles, the gig was a relished opportunity to join an already acclaimed cast — even if she didn't know exactly what she was signing up for. 'I actually auditioned before I'd seen season one,' she explains. 'I was in LA last year, so I couldn't watch it without a VPN (virtual private network) and when I was finally able to watch it, I had already booked the role. 'I immediately thought, 'this is genuinely funny, delightful and very watchable'. Sometimes watching shows feels like homework or hard work, but I found that I really wanted to keep clicking through to the next episode. I'm pretty sure I watched it all in one night. 'It's just this lovely, charming show, and I was already a fan of Michael's from Love On The Spectrum.' Claire Lovering starred alongside Danielle Walker in the riotously funny, Gold Diggers. Credit: ABC / TheWest The role came at the perfect time for Lovering, who has lived something of a nomadic life these past few years. Five years on from her crisis of confidence, she has radically remade her life, including whittling her possessions down to two 23kg suitcases. She goes where the work takes her; this year alone that has included Bondi, Canberra, Hong Kong, South Australia, and soon LA. 'I don't really have a home anymore — I am location-less,' Lovering says. 'In January I had lived in Bondi for five years, and I had been in Sydney for over 10 years, and then the apartment building I lived in was being developed, so there was no choice but to move out.' At a crossroads, Lovering decided not to sign on for another place and instead 'live out of a suitcase and follow my nose for a bit,' setting her sights on returning to LA, where she'd been based the year before. Her nose led her to Canberra to film Austin, then home to Perth (including a week on Rottnest), off to Bali and then two months in Hong Kong. Lovering was in the Asian city filming a project called The Season, set on superyachts and produced by the same people behind Crazy Rich Asians. It also features her good friend, Last King Of The Cross actor Lincoln Younes. 'When I got that audition, I was like, 'this will be nice for whoever gets this role' — and then I got it,' she says. 'It was me — I was the lucky girl!' The wherever-the-wind-blows philosophy is paying dividends; The Season is due out later this year, as is a film she shot last year called Play Dirty, which stars Mark Wahlberg. For Lovering, it's been a dream run — and given the roller coaster of the past, she doesn't take a second of it for granted. 'Actually, I am really glad I went through it all,' she says. 'When work started to trickle back in, I could hold it lightly and not be like, 'this is everything',' she muses. 'Now, I just try to make peace with the unknown; downtime between jobs I try to embrace, and lean into the peace of it. 'I know I will be OK no matter what, whether it's two weeks between jobs, six months, or even two years. Life is good regardless.'
West Australian
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Drew Anthony Creative presents Footloose at Planet Royale with Humphrey Bower as Reverend Shaw
Perth acting stalwart Humphrey Bower is proving it is never too late to try something new. After years of treading the boards across Australian stages, including homegrown productions Mary Stuart and a cavalcade of Black Swan State Theatre Company works, the 61-year-old actor signed up for his first musical, starring as Reverend Shaw in Drew Anthony Creative's latest season, Footloose. Bower, who is also a sessional teacher at WA Academy of Performing Arts, admits he never anticipated adding musical theatre to his acting credits, but was approached by Drew Anthony after the director/producer saw him in Black Swan Theatre's 2023 play Things I Know To Be True. It was a performance Bower would go on to be honoured with a Performing Arts WA Award for Outstanding Performer in a Leading Role. 'He approached me then and asked if I was interested in being in a production that he was planning to do,' South Fremantle-based Bower recounts. 'I was intrigued by the possibility of being in a musical, so it was a 'yes' in principle. Then that production got postponed but it stayed in the back of my mind, and maybe in his (Drew's) mind too. 'When Drew announced his shows for this year, I was on his email list, and one of the productions was Footloose. I thought that I could make a fair fist of being the Reverend. It was an interesting character for an actor, and I felt like I could handle the songs, and I thought there probably wouldn't be too much dancing.' Based on the 1980s movie-musical starring Kevin Bacon, Footloose is set in a small rural town where dancing and other forms of fun have been banned in the wake of a car crash, which killed five teenagers under the influence of alcohol and drugs after a night of dancing. Bower refers to it as the classic fish-out-of-water scenario, where three years later, dance-loving main character Ren McCormack — played in this production by Ethan Churchill — arrives in town with his mum following his parents' separation and falls in love with Reverend Shaw's rebel daughter Ariel (Sienna Mackay). 'I like to think of Reverend Shaw as not being the villain but being the antagonist in the story because he's really the leader of the town elders and the town council,' Bower explains. 'His own son was killed in this car crash, so he has a personal stake in this law which Ren wants to change. The minister's story really is the story of a man who has not dealt with his grief. I mean, the whole town hasn't really dealt with the grief properly. 'They've just tried to stop something like this from ever happening again and it's a battle of wills between him and Ren as to whether or not the town is going to change and accept what's happened and move on.' The musical not only examines grief but is also a timely look at conservatism and generational clashes. 'The original movie was set in the 80s, so it was in Reagan's America, which was a time of conservative reaction and culture wars,' Bower says. 'Drew has set this production now and I think we are living through a time again, especially in America, but globally of culture wars, polarisation and the clash between progressive and conservative values between the younger and older generations. 'Even about evangelical Christianity. I don't think the musical is necessarily critical of evangelical Christianity per se, but I think it is looking at how that gets emotionally charged and mobilised.' Celebrating the power of rebellion, friendship and finding your voice, the rollicking rock'n'roll musical features iconic songs including Holding Out For A Hero, Let's Hear It For The Boy and title number, Footloose. While Bower can not remember ever having sung on stage before, let alone being in a full-blown musical, he admits it is the small amount of dancing required of him in the closing mega mix that has given him the most anxiety. 'Thankfully I'm pretty well in the back row of a big cast at the end for the closing number,' he says. 'The whole form of the musical is not one that I'm used to, so it's a challenge, but a really enjoyable one. It's a good test, switching between singing and speaking. I'm using my brain in a different way. 'And the role has its challenges . . . he's basically a decent guy, but, like all of us, he's fallible and he has to learn his lesson. We're living in an era when seeing an older, white, straight man learn his lesson, and admit that he doesn't know all the answers, is a good thing to witness.' Footloose is at Planet Royale, Northbridge until June 8. Tickets at
West Australian
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Peppa Pig's Fun Day Out Live! touring to The Regal Theatre starring West Leederville WAAPA graduate Zoe Crisp
Peppa Pig's Fun Day Out Live! director and writer Richard Lewis likens the stage show's titular character as the Taylor Swift for children. West Leederville-raised, WA Academy of Performing Arts musical theatre graduate Zoe Crisp absolutely agrees, having taken on the role in the Australian production currently touring the nation. 'She truly is a celebrity for kids,' the 25-year-old, Melbourne-based performer says. 'It's such a joy playing Peppa. She's outspoken and she's got a bit of attitude on her, which I think is quite reflective of that age of being four years old and finding your voice. It's quite fun being able to play a four-year-old to an audience full of four-year-olds.' Having grown up watching Peppa Pig herself with her surf-loving twin brother Harry, Crisp says they easily connected with Peppa and George's sibling relationship. 'My brother was quite a shy child, and I was very outspoken,' Crisp, who attended John Curtin College of the Arts, explains. 'I think it's just so relatable for everyone. It focuses on everyday family life, and I think parents can relate to it, children can relate to it, it doesn't matter where you're from. It's very simple, lovely storytelling.' While the production does not include the youngest member joining the TV series' Peppa Pig family this year, which has been on our screens since 2004, it does feature exactly what it states in the show's title — a fun day out. 'We go to the zoo, we go to the beach, we see all sorts of animals, there's a dancing scarecrow and we jump in some puddles,' Crisp says. 'It's very interactive and essentially like watching an episode of the TV show where the kids go and do an activity, and then we bring the audience along with us.' The beloved characters are brought to life on stage through the art of puppetry, where the Pig family are moved around on wheels in front of their hidden puppeteers, including Crisp as Peppa. A great amount of physicality and technique is required as the puppeteers control their mouths while talking, Crisp spending a lot of time perfecting Peppa's voice. 'It's very high pitched because she's four years old, so there's lots of warming up, and we're essentially speak singing the whole show, because kids do kind of sing while they're speaking,' she says. 'It's a very singsongy voice. I recorded myself a lot leading up to the production, just to double-check I was sounding like the TV show.' Crisp landed the role after working on her first puppetry job last year, puppeteering baby dinosaurs in Universal Studios' Jurassic World: The Exhibition, before jumping into the less family-friendly musical, Avenue Q. 'It was all hand puppets, and the show ran for about a month, so I got a pretty good sense of puppeteering by the end,' she adds. Peppa Pig's Fun Day Out Live! is at The Regal Theatre, May 23 to 25. Tickets at
Perth Now
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Joy in playing Peppa Pig
Peppa Pig's Fun Day Out Live! director and writer Richard Lewis likens the stage show's titular character as the Taylor Swift for children. West Leederville-raised, WA Academy of Performing Arts musical theatre graduate Zoe Crisp absolutely agrees, having taken on the role in the Australian production currently touring the nation. 'She truly is a celebrity for kids,' the 25-year-old, Melbourne-based performer says. Your local paper, whenever you want it. 'It's such a joy playing Peppa. She's outspoken and she's got a bit of attitude on her, which I think is quite reflective of that age of being four years old and finding your voice. It's quite fun being able to play a four-year-old to an audience full of four-year-olds.' Having grown up watching Peppa Pig herself with her surf-loving twin brother Harry, Crisp says they easily connected with Peppa and George's sibling relationship. Zoe Crisp. Credit: Supplied 'My brother was quite a shy child, and I was very outspoken,' Crisp, who attended John Curtin College of the Arts, explains. 'I think it's just so relatable for everyone. It focuses on everyday family life, and I think parents can relate to it, children can relate to it, it doesn't matter where you're from. It's very simple, lovely storytelling.' While the production does not include the youngest member joining the TV series' Peppa Pig family this year, which has been on our screens since 2004, it does feature exactly what it states in the show's title — a fun day out. Zoe Crisp as Peppa and Jacqui Dwyer as George. Credit: Supplied 'We go to the zoo, we go to the beach, we see all sorts of animals, there's a dancing scarecrow and we jump in some puddles,' Crisp says. 'It's very interactive and essentially like watching an episode of the TV show where the kids go and do an activity, and then we bring the audience along with us.' The beloved characters are brought to life on stage through the art of puppetry, where the Pig family are moved around on wheels in front of their hidden puppeteers, including Crisp as Peppa. A great amount of physicality and technique is required as the puppeteers control their mouths while talking, Crisp spending a lot of time perfecting Peppa's voice. Zoe Crisp as Peppa and Jacqui Dwyer as George. Credit: Supplied 'It's very high pitched because she's four years old, so there's lots of warming up, and we're essentially speak singing the whole show, because kids do kind of sing while they're speaking,' she says. 'It's a very singsongy voice. I recorded myself a lot leading up to the production, just to double-check I was sounding like the TV show.' Crisp landed the role after working on her first puppetry job last year, puppeteering baby dinosaurs in Universal Studios' Jurassic World: The Exhibition, before jumping into the less family-friendly musical, Avenue Q. 'It was all hand puppets, and the show ran for about a month, so I got a pretty good sense of puppeteering by the end,' she adds. Peppa Pig's Fun Day Out Live! is at The Regal Theatre, May 23 to 25. Tickets at
