Big Bad Wolf

The most misunderstood character in fairytale history.

About

  • AGES 5 10
  • 50mins

He’s the most misunderstood character in fairytale history. Put simply he has no friends. But then he does have incredibly sharp teeth, yellow eyes and his own ideas about personal hygiene, and he is the infamous Big Bad Wolf after all. No one likes him. Luckily one girl is brave enough to double check this wolf’s bad press and an unlikely friendship is born.

This hilarious, table-turning tale will have you wondering why you were so scared in the first place.

Click here to access an audio version of this information

Meet the Cast and Creative Team

Matthew Whittet

Writer

Matthew is an actor and writer who has worked extensively in theatre, film and television for over twenty years. As an actor, Matt has performed for Belvoir many times in productions including CinderellaThe Book Of Everything, Conversation Piece and Atlantis. His plays Old Man, Cinderella and Seventeen have also premiered at Belvoir.

Matthew has been a recipient of the Philip Parsons Fellowship (Belvoir), The Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship and the ATYP Foundation Commission Award for his play Fight With All Your Might the Zombies of the Night. The 2014 Adelaide Festival trilogy of plays with Windmill are School Dance, Big Bad Wolf and Girl Asleep which Matt adapted to screenplay and resulted in an award-winning feature film.

Rosemary Myers

Director

Rosemary Myers is the Artistic Director of Windmill Pictures. In 2021, she co-created and directed Beep and Mort.

In 2015, her first feature film Girl Asleep opened the 2016 Berlinale Generation 14plus and went on to win the MIFF Age Critic Prize 2016, the Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Seattle Film Festival, 2016 CinefestOZ Film Prize and eight AACTA Award nominations including Best Film and Best Director. In 2020, the film was nominated for the Byron Kennedy AACTA for Best Indie Film of the past decade.

Before her role at Windmill Pictures for over 14 years, Rosemary was the Artistic Director of Windmill Theatre Company. A multi-Helpmann Award nominated theatre director, her productions have toured to prestigious venues and festivals across the world, including Giffoni Film Festival, Rooftop Film Festival New York, Sydney Opera House, New York’s

New Victory Theatre and London’s Southbank Centre, among others. In 2017 she was awarded the prestigious Australia Council Theatre Award.

Jonathon Oxlade

Designer

Jonathon is an award-winning designer for theatre, film and television. He is the co-creator, production and character designer of the Windmill Pictures and ABC Kids children’s television series, Beep and Mort. In 2023, he won the APDG Award for Best Production Design for Beep and Mort Series 1. He designed for Windmill’s debut feature film, Girl Asleep and won the ACCTA Award for Best Costume Design with a nomination for Best Production Design, as well as two APDG Awards for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. He has also won multiple Helpmann, Matilda, Greenroom and Ruby awards, a Sydney Theatre Award, PAWA award and is a Sidney Myer Creative fellow.

Jonathon has designed for major theatre companies across the country including Windmill Theatre Co, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, State Theatre Company of SA, Black Swan State Theatre Company, Belvoir Theatre, LaBoite, Bell Shakespeare, Is This Yours?, Aphids, Arena Theatre Company, Polyglot, The Real TV Project, Polytoxic, Men of Steel, Lemony S Puppet Theatre, Terrapin Puppet Theatre, Vitalstatistix, Barking Gecko, The Border Project, Dead Puppet Society, The Last Great Hunt, The Escapists and Sandpit.

Harry Covill

Sound Designer

Harry creates eclectic music/sound design for screen and live performance. In 2017, he graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts. Recent work includes composing the original score for ROBOROVSKI, the animated short film directed by Dev Patel and Tilda Cobham-Hervey which premiered at the 2020 Adelaide Film Festival. Other notable works include composing the original score for the feature film Girl Asleep, directed by Rosemary Myers and the short film, A Field Guide to Being a 12 Year Old Girl directed by Tilda Cobham-Hervey (Crystal Bear).

Harry scored Atlantis as a part of the Belvoir Upstairs season (Belvoir) and has an ongoing collaborative relationship with Back to Back Theatre, where he composed the original score for the internationally acclaimed video project, The Democratic Set and the third iteration of the video series, Radial, created in collaboration with the National Theatre of Scotland. He also created the score and sound design for Windmill Theatre Company’s Big Bad Wolf.

Harry is currently developing the original score for Wandering Stars, an immersive public sculpture/sound work for the inaugural Rising Festival in 2021.

Chris Petridis

Lighting Designer

Chris is a lighting and video designer from Adelaide, working across theatre, dance, and other live events in Australia and internationally.

Chris has worked with renowned arts organisations including State Theatre Company of South Australia, Theatre Republic, Is This Yours, Australian Dance Theatre, Brink Productions, Restless Dance Theatre, Slingsby Theatre Company, Force Majure, Windmill Theatre Company and Vitalstatistix.

Chris recently worked on the inaugural Illuminate Adelaide Festival’s Light Cycles in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens crafted by the world-leading studio, Moment Factory. Other recent credits include Carla Lippis’ Mondo Psycho for WOMAD 2022, Theatre Republic’s How Not To Make It In America and Windmill Theatre Company’s Creation Creation.

Carol Wellman Kelly

Movement

Carol was made in Australia and studied dance at the Victorian College of the Arts. She has extensive experience in performing, teaching and choreographing both nationally and internationally. From 1992 – 1999, she worked as a freelancer in London.

She was the assistant director for Garry Stewart and ADT (2000-2008), rehearsal director for Tasdance, Artistic advisor and Project manager Restless dance Theatre, Movement lecturer Flinders University Drama department, member Board of Directors, Australia Council, Ausdance and SA and Audio Describer for theatre and dance. Carol’s work with Windmill Theatre Co includes The Wizard of Oz, Girl Who Cried Wolf, Pinocchio, Big Bad Wolf  and Rumpelstiltskin.

Patrick Graham

Performer

Patrick has previously worked on Windmill productions including The Wizard of Oz, Boom Bah! and Big Bad Wolf. For floogle, an independent company Patrick co-founded, he has performed in One Long Night in the Land of Nod, Black Crow Lullabies.

His portrayal of Lenny in floogle’s The Homecoming earned him an Advertiser Oscart Award. For State Theatre Company South Australia Patrick has appeared in Blasted, Buried Child, Three Sisters, The Misanthrope, Lion Pig Lion, Equus, and The Dark Room. Patrick’s television credits include Blue Heelers, Stingers, Fergus McPhail and McLeod’s Daughters. Film credits include The King is Dead (Rolf De Heer) and Angela’s Decision (Matt King).

Emma J Hawkins

Performer

Emma has a flair for flamboyant, serious and whimsical productions. This plays to her strengths as a feisty, charismatic thespian with a knack for subversive, escapist comedy, high-octane dramatics and brilliantly versatile circus showcases.

Her movements between the many worlds of fantasy, musical and children’s genres credit her with storytelling-based acrobatics, singing, dancing or slapstick. She is equally at home in the ironic, contemplative tragedies of Shakespeare, bringing joy and laughter as the Fool in King Lear, climbing the heights as a tap dancing, stilt walking acrobat in the critically acclaimed Circus Oz or sinking into the dark depths of a murderess in classics like Jean Genets The Maids.

Ellen Steele

Performer

Ellen Steele is a theatre maker, performer and director based in Adelaide. She is a founding member of isthisyours?, an all-female collective committed to creating new and unconventional performance. Since their inception in 2007, isthisyours? have created five original full scale works, toured nationally and won multiple awards.

Ellen has toured extensively throughout Australia, Asia and North  America with companies including Windmill Theatre Company (Girl  Asleep, Big Bad Wolf, Grug, Beep, Grug and the Rainbow, Hiccup!), State Theatre Company of South Australia (David Williamson’s The Club (An  All-Female, Three Actor Version), After Dinner, Between Two Waves, Holding the Man, Maestro), Vitalstatistix (Love, Ruby Bruise), Slingsby (Wolf), Belvoir (Girl Asleep), The Border Project (I, Animal, I Am Not An Animal), and Patch (Mister McGee and the Biting Flea, Lighthouse, Me and My Shadow).

As an independent maker Ellen has developed work with Aphids, Terry and The Cuz, Spilt Second and Zoe Meagher for Next Wave Festival, Misery Children and Sanctum Theatre.

In 2019 – 2020, Ellen was recipient of an Arts SA Fellowship, understaking research into cross-cultural theatre making practices in Beijing and Adelaide alongside the development of a new cross-cultural work, The Friendly Games.

Ellen’s latest work See You at the Dance is currently in development and supported by Brink Productions.

 

Highlights from the Show

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

"A clever, warmhearted parable that... lights up the imaginations of its target audience. It’s an ideal introduction to theatre."

THE AGE

"Windmill’s collaboration with Whittet continues to thrive... producing zany works that are also open-hearted and unfailingly positive. A whimsical, gently persuasive tale of friendship and acceptance."

THE AUSTRALIAN

"South Australia's Windmill Theatre Company are masters of their trade, and Big Bad Wolf has all the hallmarks of people who know exactly what they're about."

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN

"Greeted with delight from both children and adults..."

THE GUARDIAN

"An education in how to charm kids and adults in fifty fun minutes."

CRIKEY.COM

"Rosemary Myers’ direction keeps the action flowing swiftly and with a mischievous sense of fun."

THE AGE
1. Big Bad Wolf. Patrick Graham. Photo by Tony Lewis10. Big Bad Wolf. Emma J Hawkins. Photo by Tony Lewis11. Big Bad Wolf. Emma J Hawkins. Photo by Tony Lewis12. Big Bad Wolf. L-R Kate Cheel, Emma J Hawkins, Patrick Graham. Photo by Tony Lewis13. Big Bad Wold. Kate Cheel. Photo by Tony Lewis14. Big Bad Wolf. Patrick Graham. Photo by Tony Lewis15. Big Bad Wold. L-H Kate Cheel, Patrick Graham. Photo by Tony Lewis16. Big Bad Wold. L-H Emma J Hawkins, Patrick Graham. Photo by Tony Lewis2. Big Bad Wolf. L-R Patrick Graham, Kate Cheel, Emma J Hawkins. Photo by Tony Lewis3. Big Bad Wolf. L-R Patrick Graham, Emma J Hawkins. Photo by Tony Lewis4. Big Bad Wolf. L-R Emma J Hawkins, Patrick Graham. Photo by Tony Lewis5. Big Bad Wolf. Kate Cheel. Photo by Tony Lewis6. Big Bad Wolf. L-R Patrick Graham, Emma J Hawkins. Photo by Tony Lewis7. Big Bad Wolf. L-R Patrick Graham, Emma J Hawkins. Photo by Tony Lewis8. Big Bad Wolf. Patrick Graham. Photo by Tony Lewis9. Big Bad Wolf. L-R Emma J Hawkins, Patrick Graham, Kate Cheel. Photo by Tony Lewis

Credits

  • Writer Matthew Whittet
  • Director Rosemary Myers
  • Designer Jonathon Oxlade
  • Sound Designer Harry Covill
  • Lighting Designer Chris Petridis
  • Movement Carol Wellman Kelly
  • Performer Patrick Graham
  • Performer Emma J Hawkins
  • Performer Ellen Steele

Acknowledgements

Big Bad Wolf is a Windmill Theatre Company production.

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