I don’t like labels. If someone tries to put me in a box then I try to break out of it as quickly as I can. Write, direct, act, produce, I want to do it all. Indeed the people I admire most are multi-skilled. But, recently when I called Club Tivoli (Melbourne’s German Club) to organise rehearsals for the musical ‘Audrey Hepburn and I Consider Our Assets’ the German girl on the other end of the phone said…
“Hallo…? Ja, you’re that theatre guy. I remember you.”
I’m that theatre guy, I thought!
After I hung up the phone, I found myself thinking long and hard about that label. Sittin’ at the Railway Hotel in Windsor I found my mind questioning, while drinking a beer, that statement…I’m that theatre guy? Theatre has dominated my life. Sometimes, the shows I’ve been performing or directing have dramatically mirrored my life experience so closely that I often found it hard to finish the rehearsal. In the middle of the play ‘Fitzroy Romance’ for example, which played successfully at La Mama several years back…I was having a relationship breakdown, and I was directing a show about…guess what? A relationship breakdown!
Recently I’ve drifted back to my other great love, film…directing two season’s of the award winning dating show NEXT: Date Addict vs Date Phobic, and the odd music video. I love directing film, I even enjoy the editing process, and hope to direct a classic horror film someday. I always loved horror films as a kid. I still don’t like labels but as this year draws to a close, I think my label has changed. The label that describes me best now is…showman.
Over the last 10 years, my creative journey has played out for everyone to see on Facebook and other social media sites. I have approximately 10,000 followers, and reckon none of them like labels either. Honestly, (I’m still thinkin’) I don’t want to be put in a box, would you? But, hell, I’m that ‘showman’ I guess!
Hugs Noel x
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Published by Noel Anderson
Meet writer/director/producer/performer - Noel Anderson started acting as a teenager and once was the stand-in for Hollywood film star William Holden (Noel at the time was the same shirt size and height as Holden) star of the classic 'Sunset Boulevard'. Noel completed NIDA's Playwright Studio in 1996 and his written work includes: Germ Warfare (Bondi Pavilion, Sydney), Kylie Kastle Throws a Party - an educational piece performed in schools across Australia, Sammy and Dave (Stables Theatre, Sydney) and The Carer (Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney). In 2008, Noel’s short play Pulling Out won 'best writing & best production' Pink Shorts (Gasworks, Melbourne) and in 2012 his work featured in 'Love Letters' at the Melbourne Arts Centre. In 2013 Noel’s play Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes of Fame played to sellout crowds at La Mama Courthouse, returning 2015 to the Jewish Museum of Australia along-side Warhol’s exhibition 'Geniuses - Famous Jews of the 20th Century'. Other work includes the musical Audrey Hepburn and I Consider Our Assets (Melba Spiegeltent, Melbourne) and his play on the AIDS epidemic, Dark Victory (Playtime finalist Midsumma Festival 2016). Noel has directed over 50 theatre productions. These include Oliver (Gold Coast Performing Arts Complex), Arthur Miller's 'Two Way Mirror' & Sylvia Plath's 'Letters Home' (Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney) and 'Especes Menacees' performed completely in French (MFTC). Moving to film, Noel worked on the first-ever Australian aboriginal sitcom for SBS, 'The Masters' and in the past twelve months, directed the web/TV series 'Next' season 1 & 2 (Foxtel, Apple TV, We-Are TV) and the music video 'Travellers in Time' filmed at Bakehouse Studios (12,000 views on YouTube). Noel is a member of Melbourne Writer's Social Group and his story 'Unfinished Symphony' is featured in MWSG Anthology 2017. Noel has 8000 followers on social media who he reckons all 'believe in the power of pop music and Campbell's Soup' just like him.
Noel Anderson invites you to Love Kills 2017 as he performs his own breakup story, the 'Kylie' pop-tastic 'Confide in Me'. Does your relationship make you feel like you've been reassigned on YouTube? More info: www.noelanderson2014.com or Twitter @Randyandy42
Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes of Fame available @ https://australianplays.org/script/ASC-1542
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