THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE CAST 2024

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE CAST 2024

We are delighted to announce the cast for the 2024 Kirkman & Scott production of The Pirates of Penzance. We have selected some of the most highly trained and accomplished music and theatre professionals from across Queensland for the principal roles. The chorus is also comprised of a number of professional singers and the finest local talent. There has never been a musical theatre production on the Sunshine Coast with a cast of this calibre:

Liam Jackson - Frederic

Liam, a classically trained tenor, is currently honing his skills at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. He has a rich background in performing arts, embracing roles in musical theatre, plays, dance, and opera. Liam’s notable performances at the Conservatorium include Thisbe in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, John Styx in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, and understudying Lord Tolloller in Gilbert & Sullivans’s Iolanthe. Some of his professional highlights include playing Rudolph in Schubert's Der häusliche Krieg with the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program, as The Soldier in Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale, and working with The Australian Ballet in Swan Lake as a supernumerary. As a lifelong admirer of Gilbert & Sullivan, Liam is elated to fulfil his dream role.

Michelle Bull - Mabel

Vocalist Michelle Bull studied Classical Voice at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University. She combines her love of classical music with cabaret and musical theatre and has been a featured vocalist for The Italian Australian Film Festival’s ‘Spettacolare’ and ‘Serata con Sophia’, contemporary theatre shows Disturbia and La Morte de la Fontaine at Woodford Folk Festival and large public events and touring shows with pop-opera vocal ensemble ‘belladiva’. Michelle has also co-written and performed with cabaret collectives ‘Babushka Cabaret’ and ‘ChiChi DeluX’, touring productions throughout Australia and continues to perform both as a classical soloist and in various small ensembles across Australia and overseas. She also currently works as head voice teacher at Sunshine Coast Music school Tempo Allegro School of Music in Mooloolaba and as a Vocal specialist at Sunshine Coast Grammar School.

Lincoln Scott - The Pirate King

Lincoln studied at Queensland Conservatorium, Canberra School of Music (ANU) and Trinity College of Music in London and has had an international singing career in opera and musical theatre since 1996. Highlights have included Les Miserables, lead male vocalist in the NSW tour of Red Hot and Broadway, Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci, L’Arlesiana and Rigoletto with Opera Holland Park, London, a US tour of Die Fledermaus, La Traviata in France, La Cenerentola, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and The Mikado with Opera Australia and a UK tour of The Pirates of Penzance. He also did a season as lead male vocalist with Celebrity Cruises and performed regularly with The Three Waiters in the UK. He is also a singing teacher and vocal coach and was Musical Director and Vocal Coach for The Boy from Oz at Noosa Arts Theatre in 2022 and Musical Director of Sunshine Coast Choral Society in 2023.

Declan Dowling- Major General Stanley

Declan Dowling is an Actor, Singer, Writer and Director. Fresh to Brisbane, he is known for his work from Sydney to Newcastle, including; Dom Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) [Best Actor in a Musical Nominee, 2023 Sydney BroadwayWorld Awards], Jules/Greenberg (Sunday In The Park With George), Prof. Zoltan Karparthy (My Fair Lady), Arthur Kipps (The Woman In Black), Count Almavia Grande (TARS or; The Marriage of Figaro), and Detective Carl Hanratty (Catch Me If You Can) for which he was awarded The City of Newcastle Drama Award (CONDA) for Best Actor in a Musical.

In addition to serving time on the board of directors of the Newcastle Fringe Festival, Declan artistically directed The 2022 New VoicesFestival (SYD) and The 2023 Oxford Cabaret Festival (SYD).
An alumnus of The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Declan has completed workshops at the Stella Adler School of Acting (NYC) andStrasbourg Dramatic Institute (NYC). In 2020 he was awarded the coveted 'John Bell Award for Excellence in the Arts' by the Bouddi Foundation.

Matt Young - Sergeant of Police

Matt Young hails from Blackall, Queensland and is best known for film/TV appearances as James Cook in Captain Cook, Obsession and Discovery for the ABC and as Graham's Dad in Gayby Baby. A former Broadway dancer, he toured the USA and Europe in shows including A Chorus Line, West Side Story and On the Town. He was in the original Australian casts of The Producers, Yank! and Goodbye Miss Monroe. Other credits include Annie (GFO), Kiss of the Spider Woman and Hello Again (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), The Producers (Altitude Theatre in Brisbane), Mamma Mia (The Show Co), Circus Carnival Cabaret (Red Ridge Interiors) and Perfect World (Theareroo).

Gabrielle Deschamps - Ruth

Gabrielle Deschamps studied singing at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, completing both a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music Education, and she performed with a number of choirs including the Queensland Youth Choir, Conservatorium Chamber Singers, and Brisbane Chorale. She also studied Drama at the Queensland University of Technology, and she performed in Les Miserables with the Queensland Musical Theatre. Gabrielle has been a Music teacher for over twenty years, directing and coaching choirs in primary and secondary school settings, and working as vocal coach and musical director for several school productions. She has been a member of the Sunshine Coast Oriana Choir for nearly ten years, and she was a soloist in the Czech Republic and Italy during their two European tours. She has been a guest soloist with Kim Kirkman and the Inspiration Project Choir. In Pirates of Penzance, she performs her first principal role in musical theatre. 

Shane McLennan - Samuel 
(and 2nd tenor chorus)

Shane is an accomplished performer, performing arts teacher and life-long theatre maker.  He holds qualifications in music, drama, film, education and arts therapies.  Shane has directed musicals for independent and community companies and in school settings. He currently works as a performing arts specialist teacher in primary school and as a teacher–director at Acting Up Youth Theatre Academy on the Sunshine Coast.  In 2022, Shane won the best actor award in the Noosa Arts One Act Play Festival playing Oscar Wylde in A Wylde Night.  Shane has a great passion for creative developments, is an avid experimenter in characterisation and enjoys making props and masks for theatre.