Article: WA Today: Wednesday June 10th, 2009

William McInnes jumps back into the saddle for Equus

• Daile Pepper
• June 10, 2009

Author William McInnes will star in Equus. Photo: Lorrie Graham

He's jokey, he's Aussie blokey and about to step back onto the stage to play one of the most challenging parts in modern theatre.

William McInnes, Australian Film Institute award winning actor, loves to share a laugh and tell a tale.

Like the time he needed to ride a horse for a job and flailed about atop the animal brandishing a stockman's whip after the horse's backside was pinched and it raced off. There was no useable footage captured.

Or when he took part in a dodgy Perth play back in the day and a peacock "went off its trolley" after a coffin was dropped on its babies.

Or being scoffed at by a "wanker" bartender at The Queens years ago when he asked for a Stella Artois but failed to pronounce the second word in a suitably stuffy manner.

The actor was trained at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and has fond memories of the State.

"One of the funniest nights I've had in Perth, was when I lived in Bennett Street and there was a little Macedonian club in North Perth," he said.

"There was a Swiss night and they were all dressed up in lederhosen and yelling Woo Hoo! They did something with milk barrels. It was surreal, I had a great night."

Mc Innes will return to Perth this September to play the lead in one of the most well-known provocative plays of modern times, Equus.

The contemporary classic by Sir Peter Shaffer will be brought to town by the Perth Theatre Company and His Majesty's Theatre - the first time the work has been performed outside Broadway and London's West End for about 30 years.

The story, recently performed to critical acclaim by Richard Griffiths and Daniel Radcliffe on Broadway, is a provocative and challenging piece of drama.

McInnes will play psychiatrist Martin Dyrst, who works with a younger man who has an unhealthy fixation with horses following a horrific attack by the boy on a number of the animals.

"It's always good to test yourself out with a role this size, give yourself a bit of fright and get back in the saddle," McInnes said during a short trip to Perth.

"Not that I want to use the horse metaphor too much."

McInnes will star with young Austalian actor Khan Chittenden, who has most recently been seen in Packed to the Rafters, Dangerous and Clubland.

He said it was exciting to get back on stage after spending more of his time writing books and doing less challenging jobs in film and television.

"This is a play that puts big ideas out there for people to think about," he said.

"It's about what life is and how you live it, how you should live a life. What is important. It's a really fascinating play, some of it's pretty macabre and out there.

Equus will be the first time he has stepped onto the stage since performing in My Fair Lady a few years back. He makes no apologies for the confrontational themes, saying theatre was not all about songs, smiles and fart jokes. Though it was important to not get caught up in believing the work was so important it wasn't necessary to be entertaining.

"It's a big play, and it deals with big themes. It's a really good workout for an actor. A real wrestle," he said.

"It's an entertaining play but it's a drama. And it's not happening anywhere else in Australia."

Equus comes to His Majesty's Theatre on September 12. Tickets are available through BOCS. 

Article: WA Today, Friday May 15th, 2009

Equus coup brings provocative play to Perth

Daile Pepper

The Perth Theatre Company has won exclusive rights to bringEquus - the controversial play in which Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe appeared naked on stage - to Australia.

The company scored exclusive southern hemisphere rights to the play. The September season of Sir Peter Shaffer's work will be the first time Equus has been professionally performed outside of Broadway and London's West End for nearly 30 years.

Actor William McInnes, who won the best actor Australian Film Institute award last year, will star as psychiatrist Martin Dysart in the confronting play about the professional's treatment of a stable boy who commits a horrific act of violence against some horses.

Equus is the story of the 17-year-old boy, to be played by Khan Chittenden from Packed to the Rafters, and the sexual and religious mystery behind his actions. It delves deep into the psyche of the young man.

During its recent Broadway season the show received rave reviews, with Radcliffe starring alongside fellow Harry Potteractor Richard Griffiths. The part of the psychiatrist has also been played over the years by actors including Anthony Hopkins and Richard Burton.

The initiative to bring the play to Perth was a joint one by the PTC and His Majesty's Theatre.

His Majesty's Theatre general manager Rodney Phillips said their collaboration on Shaffer's Amadeus in 2006 had led to the two organisations working together again on Equus.

The Perth Theatre Company's general manager, Tony Bonney, said Equus was one of the greatest plays of the twentieth century.

"Equus will be the most notable event in the Australian theatre calendar this year," he said.

"The fact that we have this opportunity over far larger companies across the country is testament to the company's commitment to text-based theatre."

Article: PS News, Tuesday May 12th, 2009

House goes MoAD over museum of democracy

The new Museum of Australian Democracy has been officially opened in Canberra at the Old Parliament House.

   Billed as the first and only museum in Australia dedicated to telling the story of Australia’s democracy the MoAD was opened by the only Prime Minister to serve in both the old House and the new, Bob Hawke.

   Mr Hawke was joined for the ceremony by the Chairman of the MoAD Advisory Council, William McInnes and Special Minister of State, Senator John Faulkner. 

   According to organisers, a network of dynamic exhibitions in the new Museum will connect Australians with more than 2000 years of history and heritage.

   It will trace democracy from its earliest origins.

   Among the attractions at the museum are the writing set and inkstand of founding US President George Washington, the first edition of Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man which was published in 1791 to support the French Revolution, and a mosaic of film footage showing how Australians see democracy playing a role in their life.

Another attraction is the Cabinet-in-Confidence display which offers an insight into some of the dilemmas to have faced Australian Cabinets, such as attempts to ban the Communist Party and the 1976 refugee crisis. 

   Director of the Museum, Jenny Anderson said it had been designed to appeal to visitors of all ages.

   “It will present a balanced view on our democracy,” Ms Anderson said.

   “People will be able to decide what we have done well, what we could have done better and the challenges that lie ahead of us as a democratic society.” 

   She said the museum would be constantly evolving to remain fresh and new.

   Mr McInnes described it as more of an adventure than a ‘finger-wagging’ exercise in democracy.

   “It will be a place where Australians can come and renew their knowledge of our history and be inspired and indeed challenged,” he said.

   “There is a need for everybody, whatever age, whatever part of life they are from, to re-acquaint themselves with the history of Australia’s democracy to understand where we have come from and where we might be headed.”

   More information on the new Museum of Australian Democracy is available from the Old Parliament House websitewww.oph.gov.au

Source

Article: The West Australian, Tuesday May 2nd, 2009

McInnes Rides into Town for Equus

Australian actor William McInnes will play the lead role in the first Perth production of Peter Shaffer’s provocative play Equus in more than 30 years. 
   
The WAAPA-trained McInnes will play psychiatrist Martin Dysart, whose sessions with a disturbed stable boy takes the form of a detective thriller as he explores various sexual, religious and social taboos. 
   
Rising Australian star Khan Chittenden (Packed to the Rafters) will play the youth Alan Strang, a role for which Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe recently dropped his pants on Broadway. 
   
The Perth Theatre Company has billed the September 12-26 season at Majesty’s Theatre a “southern hemisphere” exclusive because the rights to Equus are tightly guarded and it has not been professionally produced outside London or New York for three decades. The play was last seen in Perth in 1975. 
   
McInnes, who filmed The Shark Net in Perth in 2002, said he was thrilled to be coming back to take on one of the most significant roles in contemporary theatre. 
   
“His Majesty’s is a wonderful venue and I’m really looking forward to working with all the mob at the Perth Theatre Company to bring this great piece of theatre to as many people of Perth as possible.” 
   
STEPHEN BEVIS

William In Drag

From an article in yesterday's AdelaideNow:

William McInnes makes a surprise appearance in My Year Without Sex as a transvestite.  "It was just a regular night out at the footy club," McInnes jokingly said at the opening.

To read the full article, click here.

Article: NineMSN News, Thursday 19th February, 2009

McInnes Thrilled With Democracy Museum

by Melissa Jenkins

All rugged up to brave the bitter Canberra winter as a boy, William McInnes' first brush with democracy didn't follow the script.

He had arrived at Old Parliament House - then Australia's functioning federal parliament - after a 48-hour bus trip from Queensland on a school excursion to the nation's capital.

The plan was to meet with his local member but unfortunately he was off doing "politician's business".

"But in his place was a large tray of sandwiches and to me, that has always been a fond memory of mine," McInnes told reporters in Canberra.

The actor, who has raised the pulses of many women across the nation, is best known for his turns as Sergeant Nick Schultz in Blue Heelers and Max Connors in Sea Change.

Now he can add another string to his bow - chair of the Old Parliament House Advisory Council, replacing former deputy prime minister, Doug Anthony.

McInnes was centre stage at Wednesday's announcement of a new Museum of Australian Democracy, to open at Old Parliament House on May 9.

The museum, to include objects such as George Washington's writing set and lamp, will have a multi-media focus and document how democracy evolved both internationally and in Australia.

"It will be a place, I think, where Australians can come and renew their knowledge of our history and be inspired and indeed challenged," McInnes said.

"It's a museum which won't lecture people, it won't talk down to people ... it's not a finger wagging exercise."

Australians should not take democracy for granted, the father of two said.

"You've got to look after it, like a garden, you've got to cherish it. Because if you don't look after it weeds will grow and it won't be able to function."

"It's just a moment, a chance, that some people struggle all their lives for, to say this is something we should cherish."

The museum will include exhibitions `Australian Democracy-more than 2000 years in the making' and `Living Democracy: the power of the people'.

One of the objects to feature will be a cast of a Bust of Pericles, from the 2nd century AD. Pericles introduced many political reforms, including payment for political and jury service and the participation by the Athenian people in the governance of their city.

A piece of the Berlin Wall and a GetUp Climate Torch from 2008 will also be on display.

Article - Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday December 23rd 2008

Bring on the mad charge of the credit card brigade
William McInnes

In search of a Christmas present I found myself standing in a line.

Noise. Children screaming. Piped music. Voices over speaker systems. And a voice close to me.

"You weren't in Underbelly," said the large woman in front of me at the checkout. A couple of bored shoppers turned to look. A price check was in progress so we had time to kill.

I smiled.

"You weren't in Underbelly," she repeated, pointing in a slightly accusing manner with a George Foreman Fat Beating Grill. "No, I wasn't was I?"

I clutched a collection of underpants and socks, the all-purpose stocking fillers. Dean Martin crooned Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer from the store's sound system, this year's Yuletide shopping anthem that haunts you from shop to shop.

Nobody said much as we listened to a long-dead singer from an age of full employment and post-World War II certainties. Then her partner spoke. "I saw Australia … you weren't in that either."

He was even larger than she was. He wore a baseball cap with BAD emblazoned on the brim.

"No," I admitted, as Dean warbled away. "I wasn't in Australia."

Bad Hat nodded. "Yeah, you weren't in that one," he said sagely.

"Bloody long," said Grill Purchaser, shaking her head. "You buying some undies?" she asked. "I am."

"Well, you always need undies," said Bad Hat. The price-check cleared and we all moved on.

"You getting much work? Play acting?" asked the Griller.

And she sounded a little concerned, as if I hadn't been in enough she had seen. "Well, enough to keep me in undies," I reassured her.

They laughed. "Finished your shopping?" I asked. They laughed a bit louder.

It sounded like a scene from Robin Hood. Everyone was laughing. Maybe it was just Christmas.

"No, way to go yet. Got his," and the George Foreman Fat Beating Grill was proffered in the direction of Bad Hat.

"But we've got to spend the rest of Kev's cheque," said Bad Hat.

"Well, good luck," I said.

"Yeah mate, you too," said the Griller, and they disappeared off in the throng to spend the rest of Kev's cheque. Spend to keep the economy ticking over.

Maybe I should be buying a little more than undies and socks. Perhaps I shouldn't wait for Kev's cheque. I should charge into the shops with my credit card flying like the flag of the 7th Cavalry, here to save the day. To buy up big, to save the economy. My daughter had an idea. She came up with a copy of That'd Be Right by William McInnes. "Maybe you should buy it, Dad," she said helpfully.

Perhaps instead of the Seventh it was more the Credit Charge of the Light Brigade, just some mad sod's shot at glory. Well, in any case, at least the Light Brigade got a poem out of it.

Maybe a latterday Tennyson will write an epic ode to the Christmas shoppers of 2008 who tried to buy up big in the face of the GFC. The Global Financial Crisis.

When something is serious, letters describe it, but only by the people who never saw it coming, the brokers, the commentators and bankers and all their fellow travellers who got things so wrong. I bet they aren't buying up big this Christmas.

And then I think to myself, it doesn't matter. People don't buy things at Christmas just for the sake of it. They do it because they want Christmas to be fun. To be good, to be happy.

Maybe somebody somewhere cottoned on to the idea that this spirit of generosity was an opportunity to make a dollar. But all in all, I like it.

Not standing in checkout lines and shopping and the whole commercialisation, but I don't care how daggy it is - I like Christmas. I like people giving stuff to others and I like people thinking outside themselves.

After another hour of shuffling through the mall and being chased by Deano's Red-Nosed Reindeer, I stumble through the car park back to my car. Big four-wheel-drives cruise past like sharks, looking for a park.

I turn down a line of bays to see a jam of cars. A group of trolleys and bags are strewn about. At first I think somebody might be hurt, there's been some sort of accident.

I get closer and see I see Bad Hat, a bloke in a suit, a tradie in King Gees and the George Foremen Griller. They're all pushing a car.

It's driven by a harried looking woman wearing a burqa with a load of kids. "She left the lights on," explains the tradie.

I put down my items and join in. We push, the car chugs into life and the woman smiles and waves her thanks.

"Merry Christmas," she calls out.

"Merry Christmas," says the man in the suit. And he smiles to himself.

"Yeah," puffs Bad Hat. And he turns to me, shaking his head: "You weren't in Underbelly."

Merry Christmas to you Bad Hat, and Merry Christmas to all of you.

Article: Scoop, Saturday 20th December, 2008

William McInnes Stars In My Fair Lady

Two-time Logie Award and 2008 AFI Award winner announced to star in NZ season of My Fair Lady

Star of Australian stage-and-screen, William McInnes (Blue Heelers, SeaChange, A Country Practice) will make his New Zealand stage debut as the world’s most-loved curmudgeonly misogynist, Henry Higgins, in the Broadway musical, My Fair Lady.

This spectacular production will play a strictly limited season at Auckland’s The Civic, THE EDGE® from 25 March 2009.

McInnes will star alongside Taryn Fiebig, who has been critically acclaimed around Australia for her performance in one of the most coveted roles in musical theatre history, Eliza Doolittle.
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s musical, My Fair Lady, is an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion.

Featuring some of the most memorable Broadway hits of all time, the magic of My Fair Lady continues to endure. Few can forget ‘The Rain in Spain’, or be able to resist singing along to ‘I Could Have Danced all Night’, ‘Get Me to the Church on Time’, and ‘Wouldn’t it be Loverly’.
Transporting audiences to the lively heart of London, My Fair Lady features a delightful mix of comedy and romance. This international production comes to New Zealand after return seasons in Sydney and Melbourne and rave reviews across Australia.

With a stellar cast, extravagant sets, outstanding performances, a virtuosic chorus and a veritable fashion parade of stunning costumes – My Fair Lady is a guaranteed night of pure theatre magic.

William McInnes – Professor Henry Higgins

William McInnes is one of the most accomplished and popular actors on the Australian landscape today. In 2006 William was awarded the Sydney Morning Herald, Sun Herald and the Age Australian Star of The Year Award. Equally at home in theatre, film and television, comedy and drama, he has played countless lead and supporting roles in some of the most successful and memorable productions Australia has had to offer and has multiple AFI and Logie nominations for this extensive body of work, this year picking up the AFI Award for Best Actor in a Feature Film – Unfinished Sky.

In television, William has shone in dramatic lead roles in The Shark Net, My Brother Jack, Blue Heelers, Stepfather of the Bride, Seachange and more recently in the critically acclaimed and ratings success ABC telemovie Curtin, about Australia’s wartime prime minister and in the hard hitting SBS television series East West 1-0-1

William’s work in Australian Cinema is also widely acknowledged, by both industry peers and audience alike. The feature film, Look Both Ways, saw William achieve a nomination for best lead actor by the Australian Film Institute and receive the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor. He can be seen currently in the film Unfinished Sky and has just completed filming on Prime Mover.

His many lead roles on the stage only further highlight William’s remarkable career. His performances include Don Juan for Sydney Theatre Company, Macbeth and Ray’s Tempest for Melbourne Theatre Company and Darcy for both company’s landmark productions of Pride and Prejudice.

William is also the author of two best selling books. A Man’s Gotta Have a Hobby, winner of a 2006 Australian Book industry award and Cricket Kings, which is a 2007 Australian book industry award nominee. His third book That’d Be Right has just been published.

Taryn Fiebig – Eliza Doolittle

Taryn Fiebig graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1993 with a Bachelor of Music in Cello performance after which she commenced vocal training with Molly McGurk and later with Megan Sutton.

It was her particular interest in early music repertoire which won her two scholarships to the Dartington International Summer School in 1995 and 1996, studying with Emma Kirkby, Evelyn Tubb and Anthony Rooley continuing her studies with Evelyn Tubb in 1999 on an Arts WA Scholarship. Further study with Jane Manning was made possible by a Churchill Fellowship in 2000. She completed the Emerging Performers Programme at the Australian Opera Studio in 2003, having studied with Gregory Yurisich and Patricia Price.

As a soloist, she has performed the 15th Century Masterpiece El Cant de la Sibil-la with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra for their popular Noël Noël Christmas concerts.

Internationally, Taryn has performed in Los Angeles with the contemporary music ensemble L.A. EAR unit, in England with the English Chamber Orchestra in St. John’s Smith Square, London and on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 in the radio dramas Southland and Pembroke, Arcadia.

Her operatic work includes several leading roles for the Australian Opera Studio, Marie in Lindsay Vickery’s opera-noir Rendez-vous (Tura Events 2001), Mary Magdalen in Les Saintes Femmes au Tombeau (1999 York Early Music Festival, UK) and Angel in Plainsong (2000 Perth International Arts Festival/Black Swan Theatre Co.)

In 2005, Taryn Fiebig joined Opera Australia's as a principal soprano. Her roles with this company have included Zerlina in Don Giovanni, The Plaintiff in Trial by Jury, Papagena in The Magic Flute, Rose in Lakmé, Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito, Karolka in Jenufa, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance and Gianetta in The Gondoliers. In 2008, she sang Clorinda in Cenerentola, Musetta in La bohème and the leading role of Eliza Doolittle in the national tour of My Fair Lady.
In 2009, Taryn will perform Musetta, Galatea in Acis and Galatea, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, Anne in A Little Night Music and Yum-Yum in The Mikado for Opera Australia. She will also appear for Pinchgut Opera and in concert with the Queensland, Adelaide and West Australian Symphony Orchestras; she will also take the soprano solos in Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s Mozart Requiem.

Taryn Fiebig’s discography includes French Baroque Cantatas, The Concert Français and Old American Songs for ABC Classics.

Further details of the star-studded cast of My Fair Lady to be announced soon.

Tickets on sale now from THE EDGE®Phone 0800 BUYTICKETS or www.buytickets.co.nz

William wins AFI Award

Last night William won the AFI award for Best Lead Actor, for his role as John Woldring in Unfinished Sky.

Articles:

Courier Mail

ABC

More to follow.

Article: The Courier Mail, Tuesday 11th of November, 2008

William McInnes leads double life in The Informant
Erin McWhirter and Siobhan Duck

TO HIS children, Richard Button is just a daggy dad, trying to navigate his way through family life and financial worries the best he can.

He has an outspoken wife, two teenagers facing the usual coming-of-age torments but, generally speaking, Button's life appears as normal as those of the friends and family he mixes with at backyard barbecues.

But digging deeper we find someone much more enigmatic; a man whose life is under the microscope every second of every day as a secret informant for the Australian Serious Crime Agency (ASCA).

Button is living a double life – family man one minute, crime-stopper the next.

Logie winner William McInnes portrays Button in Channel 10 telemovie The Informant.

With a top-notch cast including the exceptionally gifted and witty Stephen Curry as "grumpy copper" Simon Ford, Anita Hegh as Button's wife, Christine, Colin Friels as a "strong, direct, cop" and Leeanna Walsman as surveillance agent Heidi Oliver, McInnes is in good company.

With intriguing twists, the fact is no one, not even his wife, knows the mystery behind Button.

"For all intents and purposes Richard Button and his wife, Christine, have got all the hassles of trying to pay off credit cards and make ends meet . . . as well as trying to solve major corporate crime and murders," says McInnes, 44, whose showbiz career began with a recurring part on A Country Practice in 1990 and later led to roles in SeaChange, Kath & Kim and Crashburn.

"As a piece of entertainment, I think it's a terrific concept."

Hegh, 36, says it's interesting to watch the secret life of her character's husband unravel but still remain so guarded to the point where Christine is shut out.

"She knows not to ask too much about what he does," the 1994 NIDA graduate says.
Inspired by true events

Written by Greg Haddrick, one of the masterminds behind critically acclaimed telemovie The Society Murders, The Informant is inspired by true events.

It was during Haddrick's digging for other crime television series over the years that he uncovered many international agencies have used civilians to infiltrate organised crime networks.

Legally and morally there are some things undercover police can't do that a member of the general public can.

From there The Informant was born.

Fans of Bryce Courtenay novel Jessica, which Ten adapted into a mini-series for the network in 2004, will remember Walsman in the title role.

Now, she's back on the box attempting to tackle crime and convincing her ASCA colleague Jim Sivilich (played by newcomer Don Christopher) that Button is a white hat.

Perhaps this has something to do with professional admiration for the agent bordering on a crush.

"I think Heidi thinks Richard is really good at what he does and ultimately her gut instinct is that he is one of the good guys – that maybe he has worked overseas as a special agent," Walsman explains. "There are conflicting views that maybe he is part of major crime.

"What was interesting about The Informant is that Heidi is the only female but also that idea of listening in to someone's life and being part of it and not being part of it – being a bit removed."

The Informant, Ten, November 14, 8.30pm