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About Us

All our theatrical thoughts, from us to you!

Established by creator, Justin Clarke, Theatre Thoughts is a dedicated site to promote and share the latest news and reviews from theatre companies across Australia. The site also features content from our own podcast, The Theatre Thoughts Podcast where you can hear one on one chats with creatives from some of the biggest shows in Australia.

We are growing day by day, with a dedicated Sydney and Melbourne team ready to meet the demands of promoting shows from professional stages, through to independent theatres and even the community theatre scene. We aim to share our honest thoughts in a fair way that reflects the themes and ideas being shown on stage, and how it promotes a thriving and diverse world.

In 2019 our site began by reaching 1,500 theatre fans, in 2021 this jumped up to 10,300 visitors! In 2022, we have reached just over 23,700 visitors and that’s only halfway through the year. We have a long way to go yet.

If you’re interested in contacting our team for show promotion, interviews or to jump on the podcast, head to the contact page or email our team at theatrethoughtsteam@outlook.com.

Theatre Thoughts acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands on which we work and pay our respects to Indigenous Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded and acknowledge the ongoing efforts to recognise those who have come before.

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Meet The Team

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Justin Clarke

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Founder & Reviewer (NSW)

Justin has always had a love for theatre and the spontaneous, leading him to seeking a career in drama teaching which took him to teach in the United Kingdom for three years where he nabbed himself a cheap West End ticket every weekend he could. Justin has developed his writing for publishers such as Theatre People and ArtsHub. His past theatre credits include directing Stiles and Drew’s Soho Cinders, the ‘brave’ Sir Robin in Spamalot for Arcadians Theatre and the French Taunter/Tim in Spamalot for Springers UK, and his debut role as Muldoon in Jurassic: That is One Big Pile of Musical which took out the audience favourite award in the Sydney Fringe Festival 2015.

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Lillian Gerlach

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Reviewer (VIC)

Lillian spent three years studying a Bachelor of Creative Arts: Performance at the University of Wollongong, only to realise she really, really didn’t want to be an actor. She leapt off the stage and started writing plays, short productions and small festivals with Merrigong Theatre Company, ATYP and the Q Theatre. She is new to the world of reviewing but thoroughly enjoys the chance to be in the thriving heart of Melbourne, putting her knowledge of performance making to the art of reviewing.

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Astrid J

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Reviewer (VIC)

Astrid is a theatre maker, writer and dancer from Naarm (Melbourne). She is fond of reading screenplays with her friends, fresh flowers and digital curation. In the digital realm, you can usually find her @girlglimmer on Instragram. P.S Don't ask her about Moulin Rouge - she'll never shut up about it.

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Caitlin A. Kearney

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Reviewer (NSW)

Caitlin is a theatre actor/maker, classical soprano, and almost inordinately moody poet. She has been on stage since a very young age but has had opinions about theatre from birth- a condition exacerbated by almost seven years working front of house on large-scale productions. She first began reviewing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which is her Quidditch World Cup.

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Annika Loci

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Reviewer (NSW)

Passion for performing arts has been part of Annika’s life since childhood, starting with marching around the backyard with mum’s scarf pretending to be one of the von Trapp family. Throughout her youth and adulthood, she spent time in grassroots amateur companies experiencing all aspects of theatrical creation, including sets & stage-management, direction, or onstage. She has performed in plays, musical’s, operetta, and currently enjoys being part of a contemporary choir. 

You can find Annika on Instagram (@melb.theatregirl), and out enjoying  promoting as much theatre arts as she can. 

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Juliana Payne

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Reviewer (NSW)

At her school in Perth, WA, many centuries ago, Juliana used to hide in the toilets and read books rather than go to sports classes. With a lifelong love of the arts, she naturally now has a minimal income but knows a lot about theatre and literature. She clawed her way to first class honours in English Studies at Edith Cowan University, and they even paid her to do a Masters degree there too. She spent many happy evenings watching plays for free and writing the reviews for the campus magazine and is delighted to be doing the same thing for Theatrethoughts. In between going to the theatre, the cinema, book launches and arts festivals, she has had the odd job for various government departments and industry associations so you can see why she needs to escape into another world.

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Claira Prider

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Reviewer (NSW)

Claira Prider is an Adelaide born creative. Trained in opera at the Elder Conservatorium of Music and at WAAPA, she's also studied screen acting and had the opportunity to pitch a semi-autobiographical web-series at Vidcon. Now based on Gadigal land (Sydney), Claira is soaking up all the variety and soul nourishing goodness that the local arts scene has to offer. 

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Ally 

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Content Creator (VIC)

Hi, my name is Ally! I’m 20 years old and a musical theatre lover. I am super passionate about capturing memories and love taking photos and videos! Combining these interests resulted in creating my theatre account @theatrelovesmelbourne where I post all things musical theatre with this amazing community. I am so excited to share content with the TheatreThoughts community!

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Karen Illesca

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Reviewer (NSW)

Karen is a wife and mother and is extremely passionate about all things arts. She has worked in and around theatre and film, in drama and music education and has a decades worth of experience working in Marketing Communications in the tertiary sector. Earlier this year she launched a brand-new company in partnership with Phillippa Webb – 2Kats Productions – who currently have their first screen arts project, the Whirld Web Series, in postproduction.

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Saskia Johnson

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Reviewer (VIC)

Saskia is an actor, singer, creator and life-long-self-confessed theatre nerd. With a BA in Music (Music Theatre) and Fine Arts (Visual Arts), her passion for all things creative knows no bounds. Following the pandemic, she has made it her mission to spend as much time in a theatre as is socially and legally acceptable.

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Martha "MJ" Latham

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Reviewer (VIC)

Martha is a part time theatre maker and a full time theatre lover. She is tall, loud and will talk about literally everything with the utmost passion. You can find her on most platforms under her nom de plume SadGoldfish. @sad_goldfish Instagram

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Tessa Miles

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Reviewer (NSW)

Tessa love for theatre and performing started at the age of 5 when she begun dance classes. Like most sad dance tales go, a knee injury ended her 18 year journey with performing. After completing her Master of Arts Management degree at the Australian Institute of Music, Tessa begun working in marketing in the musical theatre and the radio industries and begun reviewing musical’s to fill the gaps of the radio stations digital magazine. When Tessa isn’t at a musical, she spends her time working at an animal shelter, helping furry friends find forever homes.

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Kat Pech

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Reviewer (NSW)

Kat Pech (she/hers) is an inner west local who grew up in the community theatre scene and is a still a regular participant. Kat graduated from Macquarie Uni in 2019 and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature with a minor in Creative Writing. She is passionate about performance, writing and being part of her local community. 

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MaryAnne Reid

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Reviewer (NSW)

From a foundation in journalism, MaryAnne has built a diverse career in the arts, public policy and strategic communications. Her previous roles Executive Director of the not-for-profit membership organisation the Australian Copyright Council, and Policy and Communications Manager for the Australian Film Finance Corporation (now Screen Australia), the Government's primary agency funding film and television production (2000-2008).

Guest Writers

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Vaanie Krishnan

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Theatre Enthusiast

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Chantelle

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Toasting Aussie Theatre

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Charlotte Smee

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Kaleidoscope Arts Journal

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