“A life-long passion for  theatre, music, languages and education has resulted in the birth of  Theatre LOTE”   Louise Hall, Artistic Director.

 

 

Theatre LOTE Fantastique!  is an Australian theatre company providing innovative bilingual Performances for theatre festivals and schools.

 

Our productions are “boutique” in nature, (with casts of two to three multi-skilled performers) and have strong music-theatre, visual and physical theatre components.

 

In our unique Theatre LOTE style we have woven English seamlessly with another language into our text.

 

 i.e. French/English; Italian/English; and German/English.

 

International theatre festivals interested in bilingual theatre with an Antipodean flavour may book a Theatre LOTE performance.

 

Primary and Secondary schools teaching these languages who wish to enhance their teaching program and provide an enriching and entertaining in-school LOTE (Languages Other Than English) experience for their students have us visit once or twice a year.

 

Our Mission…

 

v    To acknowledge and celebrate the cultural connection between Australia and other cultures.

 

v    To foster and encourage an appreciation for cultural diversity

 

v    To encourage bilingualism

 

v     To entertain, move, inspire and challenge our audiences.

 

v    To stimulate the development of communication and listening skills for students of LOTE.

 

v    To provide artistic opportunities for performers and other theatre professionals in the following areas:

-         performance making and research

-         LOTE education

-         new skills development

-         set & costume design

 

A little bit of history…

 

Theatre LOTE Fantastique! was founded in the year 2000 by artistic director and producer Louise Hall.

During the same year, the company was supported by the Italian Institute of Culture to tour Western Australia with their production of “Le Avventure di Pinocchio.”

Since then, the company has continuously toured four states of Australia - New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

In 2002 and 2005 the company received “Frater awards” from the Performing Arts Unit from the NSW Department of Education and Training for “outstanding feedback from schools.”  

 

Artists

 

Louise Hall, B. Mus Ed, A Mus A, Flute.

Artistic director/Writer/Producer

Louise spent her early childhood in the South of France and Paris and grew up in Melbourne. She studied French, Italian and music throughout her school years, and returned again to live in France and Italy for a year in 1987.

Louise has 18 years experience as a teacher and performer, writer, composer and director, and trained and performed with Arthouse Theatre in Melbourne, Actors Centre, London and at école Phillippe Gaulier, London. She studied at Université de Montpellier and has performed in Australia, France and the UK.

 

Kerry Casey, B. Arts.

Director/Writer/Performer

Born in wagga and bred in Bondi, Kerry is one of Australia’s most versatile actor/performers and performance-makers. His work spans a 25-year career to date in works ranging from the avant garde, to physical theatre and popular theatre, including extensive experience in bilingual theatre. Kerry has worked with such companies as Bell Shakespeare and Australia’s leading physical theatre company, Legs on the Wall. Film appearances include roles in Moulin Rouge and George of the Jungle. Kerry is also deeply committed to his work as a teacher of physical acting, and is currently based at NIDA and AIM. 

David Herrero BA (University of Sydney)
Writer/Director/Performer/Composer
A multi-skilled Australian artist of Spanish background, David began to pursue his interest in theatre-making and languages at Sydney University. In 2002 he created Weill Women (Blue Angel Productions) with Cath Moore and Luisa Hastings Edge, winning the Best of the Melbourne Fringe Award (director) in 2004. David recently worked as a principal puppeteer on the short film Single White Farmer with Barry Otto. David began his involvement with Theatre LOTE in 2002, as a performer in L'Amour et bizarre! In 2005 he wrote, directed and composed original music for our first German production, the highly entertaining Der Schock; Struwwelpeters Welt.

Pierre van Sint Jan

Writer/ Composer/Performer

Born of Belgian parents, Pierre was discovered by Louise performing in his duo Seratonin at Chez Benny Café in Coogee, Sydney. A completely bilingual performer (French/English), Pierre has worked extensively as a singer/guitarist and street performer in Australia and almost 30 countries world-wide. He has appeared in 3 Theatre LOTE shows to date including the Frater Award-winning Sur la route, the hilarious one-man show written by himself and Louise about his bilingual up-bringing.

 

Performers

Our performers are fully professional, highly-skilled actors and musicians, often from bilingual or multi-cultural backgrounds. Many of our performers have trained at Australia’s leading acting schools i.e. Victorian College of the Arts and Theatre Nepean, University of Western Sydney.

Past and present Theatre LOTE performers include: Maylise Dent, Karlis Zaid, Karissa Lane, Janet Chiarabaglio, Michael Butcher, Cameron Sharp, Lisa Strano, Jeremy Wolf, Kath Daniels, Adam Murphy, Suzan Kunzendorf and Joel Pieterse.

 

 

 

See the Info For Schools for booking information, or e-mail: Louise Hall,
 theatrelote (at) gmail.com

 

Last updated 21/02/2023