Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
I have the privilege of leading one of Australia's most prolific arts organisations, working with artists and musicians to bring music and stories of the highest quality to audiences across the state of Queensland and beyond. My work in opera, theatre, and outdoor performance has been presented in major festivals, opera houses, showgrounds and city streets in Australia and abroad. They are often remarked upon for the seamless way they combine video, live music and action, conjuring visually rich, highly original theatrical worlds. In 2015 I was awarded an Australia Council Fellowship to research and develop ideas about outdoor performance and the relationship between extreme physicality and storytelling. My productions have been presented by Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, WA Opera, State Opera of South Australia, Sydney Chamber Opera, Seattle Opera and New Zealand Opera, the Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth Festivals, Queensland Music Festival, London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Sydney and Melbourne Theatre Company, Belvoir St Theatre, Griffin Theatre, and NORPA.
"Nolan wisely allows Pratt enough freedom to bring her signature role to the Brisbane stage for the first time, honing her performance and those of her fellow cast members to create a cohesive world populated by utterly believable and well-rounded characters. One for the ages, it’s not to be missed and definitely worth a trip to Brisbane." Jansson Antmann Limelight Magazine "Direction by Patrick Nolan enabled the story and captivating lyricism to take centre stage. The choice to have subtitles projected on the wall behind the performers ensured that a second of onstage action was not missed." El Waddingham Theatre Hause
"this is an absolute cracker of a performance, one that had the audience in gales of laughter, with terrific comic turns from all six leads...you’ll laugh more at the excellent physical comedy here than at any other opera you’ll see any time soon. Absolutely worth seeing." Paul Ballam-Cross, Limelight "The production by Opera Queensland which opened last night is a triumph... an evening of great fun and profound questioning, in which music and theatre constantly interweave and complement each other. Not to be missed!" Nicholas Routley, Australian Stage
"Australian director Patrick Nolan has created a revelatory new production of Janacek’s “Katya Kabanova” – an opera about the toxic relationship between a widow and her daughter-in-law that ends in the latter’s suicide." William H Burnett Opera Warhorses
"Director Patrick Nolan’s 1980’s Russian update for Sydney Chamber Opera is equally impressive. Aboveground Man’s story is played out on a bare, white platform, reflecting his sterile, civil servant existence. The orchestra plays behind a white veil, their contemporary costumes acting as if we (and he) are almost, but never quite able to get a grip on the real world. Underground Man occupies the lower foreground, a glass of scotch always within reach of his wretched armchair, squatting in a tiny sitting room packed with the tell-tale detritus of a psychological hoarder. Genevieve Blanchett’s striking design is simple, spare and effective, allowing Nolan to create memorable pictures, from a convincing taxi ride across St. Petersburg (effective video design by Boris Bagattini) to a lap dance club where a louche attendant rotates a glitterball by hand (enhancing Nicholas Rayment’s excellent lighting design)... For an evening of thoughtful, compelling music drama, powerfully staged and finely sung, Notes from Underground is another feather in the company’s cap and deserves to be taken up at an international level." Clive Paget, Limelight Magazine
The Fellowship explores the following areas: i. the development of a specialised outdoor theatre practice in Australia that supports the creation of new works to tour nationally and internationally ii. the place for and role of the extreme physical performer in text based theatre I have always had a passion for outdoor performance. All live theatre thrives on the dynamic tension between the performer and the audience. In an outdoor context, the intensity of this relationship is amplified many fold as both performers and audience find themselves discovering each other and the space for the first time, out of the safety of the theatre - there is no fourth wall - the stage is everywhere and the audience has the freedom to come and go as they please. Performance that chooses the built environment as its stage can happen anywhere. It draws together audiences from untapped sources by making ‘theatre’ less intimidating because the audience owns the space as much as the artists. It then surprises them by turning the familiar into a place of wonder, intrigue and celebration.
Tale of Samulnori is an exuberant celebration of the energy that is generated when two cultures work together to create something new. Passionate music, powerful images and virtuosic acrobatics, combine in a spirit of adventure and inventiveness to offer audiences a new way to experience stories in the theatre. Inspired by a Korean fable about four siblings who save the world from an Ash Monster that is blocking out the warmth and energy of the Sun, Tale of Samulnori is simple story about creativity and ingenuity overcoming enormous difficulty.