REVIEWS:

https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike-1

https://ccc-canberracriticscircle.blogspot.com/2026/05/vanya-sonia-masha-spike.html

https://ccc-canberracriticscircle.blogspot.com/2026/05/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike.html

CAST:

Vanya – Chris Baldock

Sonia – Tracy Noble

Masha – Helen McFarlane

Spike – Darcy Worthy

Nina – Lily Welling

Cassandra – India Kazakoff

PRODUCTION TEAM:

Director – Steph Evans

Assistant Director – Gabrielle Purcell

Stage Manager – Gabrielle Purcell & Steph Evans

Technical Operation – Lottie Leahy

Set Design – Chris Baldock

Set Realisation – Chris Baldock with Steph Evans, Gabrielle Purcell

Lighting Design – Rhiley Winnett and Steph Evans

Sound Design – Gabrielle Purcell

Costumes & Props – Chris Baldock, Steph Evans and cast

Intimacy Director – Steph Evans

Photography – Zac Bridgman

FOR MOCKINGBIRD THEATRICS:

Artistic Director & Head Tutor – Chris Baldock

Technical Manager – Rhiley Winnett

Publicity, Graphics and Photography – Chris Baldock

Associate Directors – Zac Bridgman, Steph Evans, Céline Oudin

THANKS TO:

Anni, Christopher, Paul & the Belconnen Arts Centre staff, Helen Musa & CityNews, Emma Bickley & ABC Canberra, Zac Bridgman and Goodwin Village Dickson

MOCKINGBIRD SUPPORTERS:

Special Friend of the Theatre: Jane Ahlquist, Tracey Pulli, Paulette Montaigne

Season Supporter: Sarah Byrne & Peter McDonald, Anonymous

Season Patron: Liz St Clair Long

From the Director:

Having grown up in a very comedic household, it feels fitting that the first show I ever directed was a farce. Through that production, I fell in love with comedy – not only for its ability to give audiences a few hours of laughter and escape, but for the way it sneaks up on us, allowing us to explore difficult and deeply human ideas that we might not otherwise. Returning to comedy for my 20th production therefore feels incredibly special, and I could not think of a better play than the ACT debut of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.

For a comedy to win the Tony Award for Best Play is rare, and I think that speaks to the emotional truth sitting underneath all the chaos! Christopher Durang’s play is outrageous, chaotic and absolutely hilarious, but beneath the absurdity is a story full of heart. It asks what happens when people become trapped by the lives they think they have missed out on, the roles they have been given, and the stories they keep telling themselves about who they are. It is about people who desperately want to be seen, even when they do everything they can to avoid being vulnerable, and it gently reminds us that to be known, we have to be willing to let others know us.

My deepest thanks go to Chris for introducing me to this fabulous play and trusting me to direct it, and to the cast and crew for bringing so much heart and playfulness to this production. And, of course, a special thanks to Gab – thank you for being my closest friend and creative partner in all things. There is no one I’d rather take this journey with, and I’m excited to see where we head next.

I hope this production gives you what you need today: whether that is laughter, a break from the real world, or a reminder that it is never too late to change, to begin again, and to open yourself up to new people and possibilities.

Vanya – Chris Baldock

A multi-award winning actor, director and designer, Chris’ onstage roles has been as varied as Oscar Wilde in both The Judas Kiss and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Jack in Queers, various characters in The Laramie Project Plays, Ronald in Absurd Person Singular, Roo in Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Gene in Side Man (Victorian Drama League Award – Best Actor in a Drama), Col. Jessup in A Few Good Men, The Actor in The Woman in Black, both Roy and Henry in Cosi, George IV in The Madness of George III, The Bullfrog in Honk!, Tom in Farragut North, Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, Ian in The Other Place, Michel in God of Carnage, Mathew in Scenes From A Separation, The Duke in Big River, Snoopy in both You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown and Snoopy! The Musical, Arkady in A Month In The Country, Peck in How I Learned To Drive, Moonface Martin in Anything Goes, Lennie in Of Mice and Men and The Dentist (and others) in the NZ premiere of Little Shop of Horrors + many, many more.

He worked at The Street developing Clean, a play detailing the history of the AIDS epidemic in Canberra. His voice can be heard as part of the permanent In Their Own Words exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. He also role-plays for student assessments at CIT, RACGP and ANU School of Medicine. Chris is the owner and Artistic Director of Mockingbird Theatrics. Last year he appeared as Gabriel York in When The Rain Stops Falling (CAT Award – Best Monologue) and Angus in The Drawer Boy (CAT Award – Best Leading Actor in a Play and Canberra Critics Circle Award) for Mockingbird. He was also awarded the Gold CAT Award for “acting, directing, design, technical work, producing, training and theatre management through his work in Mockingbird Theatrics”.

Sonia – Tracy Noble

Tracy is thrilled to be returning to Mockingbird after the successful 2025 production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. She is incredibly grateful to finally stage Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike with such a superb cast and creative team. Tracy has performed continually on Canberra stages over the past few years, last seen in Come From Away with Dramatic Productions and Present Laughter at ACT HUB. Other ACT HUB credits include August Osage County, The Importance of Being Ernest, Holding the Man, and Hayfever. 2024 saw Tracy make her Mill Theatre debut as the understudy for the successful run of The Shoe-Horn Sonata and playing the Presiding Judge in Terror. Other Canberra credits include CYT’s How To Vote, Echo Theatre’s Ruthless at The Q, The Last Five Years in Belconnen, Canberra REP’s Romeo & Juliet and Absurd Person Singular, Free Rain Theatre’s Mamma Mia! & Shrek, Assassins for Everyman Theatre, Budding Theatre’s Pride and Prejudice, and Strictly Ballroom with Philo.

Tracy has performed many leading roles over her years on stage, including in Steel Magnolias, The Witches of Eastwick, The Little Mermaid, Chess, Oklahoma, Joseph…Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, A Little Night Music, and Passion. Other professional credits include South Pacific, Phantom, Singin’ in the Rain, Carousel, Oliver, and A Chorus Line. Other performances of William Shakespeare’s works include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice.

Masha – Helen McFarlane

Helen has a BA in Musical Theatre from WAAPA and spent ten years performing professionally as a cabaret artist at His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth, co-writing and performing in corporate and touring cabaret shows across Western Australia.

Recent performances include Dear Departed and God at the Mill Theatre. The Torrents and a collaboration with Lexi Sekuless on the self-devised cabaret Some Like It Marilyn (2010 and 2017), returning to the role again in 2024. She has also worked with acclaimed Australian director Julian Meyrick in Good Works by Nick Enright.

Additional stage work includes performances with Everyman Theatre (Company, Richard III, The Ides of March, Home at the End), ACT Hub (Emerald City, Steel Magnolias, 2022), and Free Rain Theatre’s Mamma Mia! (2021). For Canberra Repertory she has appeared in The Threepenny Opera, Arcadia, Speaking in Tongues, Pride and Prejudice, and delighted audiences by juggling thirteen male roles in the comedy romp The 39 Steps (2017). She also played Dogberry and Don John in Lakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (2018).

Helen’s most recent musical theatre performance was as salsa-dancing cougar Tanya in Mamma Mia! — a role for which Helen received both a CAT Award and a Canberra Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Theatre Performance.

This is Helen’s first appearance with Mockingbird Theatre and what a play! What a role! Wonderful to work alongside some familiar actors and some new and up and coming young Canberra talent.

Spike – Darcy Worthy

Having recently ignited a passion for theatre, Darcy Worthy is eager to showcase that passion. Guided under the training of Christopher Baldock, he is excited to be appearing as Spike in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, marking his second Mockingbird production after making his debut earlier this year as Ned Alleyn in Shakespeare in Love. Darcy is thrilled to be part of this production and looks forward to growing as an actor.

Cassandra – India Kazakoff

India began her career as an actress at the Australian National University in 2022. She has enjoyed appearing in numerous Shakespeare productions, most recently as Queen Elizabeth in Richard III (2025). Her history with Greek tragedies, such as her role as one of the Bakkhic women in Bakkhai (2022), have lent much to her portrayal of Cassandra. Her acting credits in more modern plays include Gibson in Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play (2024) and Vic in Away (2023). This production is another in a long line of collaborations with the directing team of Steph and Gab – India has previously starred in their drunk Shakespeare plays as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (2024) and John Falstaff in Merry Wives of Windsor (2025).

India is also a keen writer of fiction and her stage-writing credits include comedies inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear and Hamlet.

This is India’s first production at Mockingbird, after having taken Chris’ acting class in 2025, and she is very excited to take the stage with this incredible cast and directing team.

Nina – Lily Welling

Lily Welling is a Canberra actor who enjoys performing on both stage and screen. In 2023 Lily completed the Autumn Semester program at LAMDA in the UK, and in 2025 Lily completed the Actor’s Open Studio at NIDA.

Lily is immersed in the Canberra theatre community with a diverse range of credits to her name, working with companies such as Mockingbird Theatre Company, Free-Rain Theatre, Chaika Theatre, Canberra REP, Canberra Youth Theatre, Budding Entertainment and Child Player’s ACT, both on the stage and behind the scenes as a Director and/or Tutor. Most recently Lily took on the role of Jill Mason in Free Rain Theatre’s production of Equus. Lily has also enjoyed being part of the Canberra and Sydney film community and has enjoyed working on various TV commercials, ABC and ABC ME productions, as well as local short and feature films. Lily thoroughly enjoys any opportunity to perform.

Steph Evans – Director

Steph is a Canberra-based Director and Intimacy Director who relocated to Canberra in 2022 to pursue a career in Law, before quickly shifting focus – to both her and her parents’ surprise – to pursuing a career in the arts, with a side interest in law! Steph loves theatre’s power to explore and amplify diverse voices and experiences and, over the past 4 years, has worked on more than 35 productions in a variety of roles. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike marks Steph’s 20th production and 26th production as an Intimacy Director.

As she wraps up her Bachelor of Laws, Steph is continuing her Intimacy Director/Coordinator training through the international organisation Intimacy Directors & Coordinators and looks forward to pursuing further opportunities as a Director, Intimacy Director/Coordinator, and, hopefully, in entertainment law.

Steph’s directing credits at Mockingbird include Consent (2025), Perfect Match (2025), A Hundred Words for Snow(2026), with further directing credits including The Real Merry HouseWives of Windsor (2025 – director & co-writer), Rumors (2023), Then I’ll Be Brief (2023 & 2024) and Romeo & Juliet (2024). In 2025 she also assistant directed Mockingbird’s award-winning production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, as well as Meteor Shower and The Wolves.

Her other credits span intimacy direction, stage management, producing, production management, production design and theatre society leadership. Up next, Steph is directing Mockingbird’s production of Posh, showing 11–14 November.

Gabrielle Purcell – Assistant Director

Originally arriving in Canberra to study, Gabrielle has enjoyed exploring her lifelong creative interests in a number of theatre productions. Gabrielle began in theatre as an actor, performing in various productions including Bakkhai (2022) and Rumors (2023). She returned to the stage briefly in 2025 for The Real Merry HouseWives of Windsor, which she also co-wrote. Since 2023, Gabrielle has transitioned to backstage and show development roles. These include stage-managing for shows such as The Taming of the Shrew (2023) and Then I’ll Be Brief (2023 and 2024), and assistant directing The Comedy of Errors (2024).

Gabrielle’s keen interest in comedy has also led her to write for and perform in ANU Arts Revue: Goodbye Yellow Schmidt Road (2023) and co-direct, write for, and perform in ANU Arts Revue: De Birds and De Grees (2024). She has also worked on multiple other revues since 2022 in various capacities.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is Gabrielle’s third production at Mockingbird, having previously assistant directed Consent (2025) and A Hundred Words For Snow (2026).

In the future, Gab intends to continue writing for the stage as well as working on other writing and theatre projects.