1B08 A Rehearsed Reading of ‘The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s Production of Macbeth

Tutor/Facilitator Karen Wakeham & Lisa McVilly

When
Date: on/from Mon 9 Feb 2026 to Mon 20 Jul 2026
Frequency: weekly
Class time: 10:30-12:30

Delivered F2F

Where
Betty Day Community Centre, Hall

Other information

Interested in Theatre? Want to be part of a rehearsed reading to an audience? Want to try out adding sound effects (including live music if we can!) You’d have two terms to prepare it, so it can’t be that scary!
If you are a budding actor or just want to ‘give it a go’, join Lisa and Karen (who have been directors, designers and actors in their lifetime) to work on a rehearsed reading of a comedy script with it’s incredibly long but amusing name: The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s Production of Macbeth. (Despite the title, the roles are not exclusively for women)
You may only be interested in being part of the SFX (special effects) team, and/or can play an instrument? Yes. We want to add the sound effects! How do we do that? Ever heard of creating Foley sound?
It’s always exciting to do a performance, even if you are just sitting down, and that’s what we’d be doing. Of course, we would be looking at creating the characters and their voices, looking at comic timing, and enhancing the humour, and even the pathos, with effects.

REQUIREMENTS: Writing materials and laptops or tablets for SFX and research.

TUTORS: Karen’s background is in literary study, and education brought her a working life as a teacher of senior Theatre Studies and English at Melbourne High School, but she was also involved with Community and Independent theatre for many decades as an actor, producer and director. Companies include: La Mama, Metanoia, Chapel off Chapel, and the Malvern, Pumpkin and Heidelberg Theatre Companies. She was a VCE performance exam assessor for both Theatre Studies and Drama for over twenty years, and also initiated a series of play-reading opportunities to encourage established and local writers. As director, Karen began collaborating with Lisa McVilly in 1997 and together, they brought to the stage many shows including West Side Story, The Dresser, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and most recently, the premiere version of Welcome Home.
Lisa is/was a professional Theatre Designer. Having started like all of us in amateur theatre, she trained as a secondary teacher majoring in Theatre, Theatre Design and English, to then, eventually train in Theatre Design at NIDA in Sydney. She then began designing shows for major companies in Melbourne and Sydney including a long stint with Melbourne Theatre Company organising the touring of shows throughout Australia. Later she workshopped at Melbourne University, taught design at The Malthouse, for Drama Victoria and many and varied teaching institutions throughout Victoria. Lisa was also an actor in a successful corporate theatre group which she remembers with great fondness. Her ‘final’ foray was as Head of Performing Arts at Marcellin College for 11 years in which she realised her love for boys. Before venturing into retirement, she completed a Masters in International Education. At present, Lisa is taking the subject “Let’s go to the Theatre” at U3A Port Phillip with a group of very enthusiastic theatre goers who want to learn about theatre and its processes and to attend theatre regularly as a group.

Note: Course will continue into Term 3 for two weeks, finishing on 20 July.

Enrolments / Bookings

U3APP MEMBERS, please login.

Login with your email address and password. If you haven't used the system before, your password is also set to your email address. If you've changed it but forgotten what you changed it to, send an email to webmaster@u3app.org.au and we will reset your password for you.

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC, please register to attend a Public Event open to non-members (listed on our Public Events page).