Shakespeare’s

Julius Caesar

directed by E.R. Kinnear

The performance will run for approximately 2 hours & 20 minutes (including a 20 minute interval).

CAST

Grace Edwards – Brutus

Jason Dohle – Cassius

Nick Mountain – Mark Antony

Prashanth Gunasekaran – Julius Caesar

Roisin O’Neill – Lucius

Gabriele Maluga – Portia/Soldier

Mitch McAullay – Octavius

Jade Chilcott – Casca/Titinius

Elysha Hayes – Metellus Cimber/Cato

Bardia Babaei – Decius/Merellus/Dardanus

Jess Wake – Calpurnia/Popilius/Clitus

Crew

Director - E.R. Kinnear

Stage Managers - E.R. Kinnear

Production Manager - Tony Petani/Merri Ford

Lighting Designer - Fiona Reid

Costume Designer - Merri Ford

Sound Operators - Fiona Reid

Fight Choreographer - Nastassja Norwood

Production photography: Emma Richardson/Davide Zamboni

Grace Edwards

Grace is an award-winning actor with over fifteen years’ experience performing across Perth. This is her second time conspiring against Caesar, having previously played Cassius in Roleystone Theatre’s production of Julius Caesar. It is also her second time being directed by ER Kinnear, after appearing as a one-woman Chorus in GRADS’ 2024 production of Antigone.

Grace has performed in a plethora of productions on the New Fortune stage, including Henry IV(Hotspur), As You Like It (Rosalind), Othello (Emilia), Richard III (Elizabeth), Romeo & Juliet (Benvolia), The Comedy of Errors (Dromio of Syracuse), The Merchant of Venice (Portia) and Twelfth Night (Feste). She also directed Macbeth for GRADS earlier this year. Highlights from her more contemporary theatrical credits include Breaking the Code (Pat Green), The Bear (Elena), My Fair Lady (Eliza Doolittle), Arcadia (Hannah), Sweeney Todd (Beggar Woman), Clue (Miss Scarlet), and Pride & Prejudice (Caroline Bingley/Mr Wickham).

Jason Dohle

This is Jason’s tenth production with GRADS, having previously performed in this year’s Macbeth and Sure Thing along with previous shows of Richard III, As You Like It, French Without Tears, Romeo & Juliet, Henry IV, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and The Boys in the Band.

Jason graduated and is currently teaching at Murdoch University. At Murdoch, Jason worked on productions of Arcadia, Dracula, The Devils, Thaw, Apocalypse Perth, and Werewolf Priest, along with productions of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, and Twelfth Night. Jason has performed in Red Silk and Closer at Koorliny, Arcadia, Wuthering Heights, and Lizzy, Darcy & Jane at Harbour Theatre, Clue, Twelfth Night, Sense & Sensibility, and Emma at Melville Theatre, Dial ‘M’ for Murder at Roleystone Theatre along with Radium Girls, The Man from Earth, and Amadeus at The Old Mill along with directing Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Nick Mountain

Nick completed his training as an actor at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where he developed a strong foundation in both classical and contemporary theatre. During his studies, Nick appeared in a range of roles, including King Leontes in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, and Oliver in Sam Steiner’s Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons.

Most recently this year, Nick has appeared at the Jonesway Theatre as Patrick in the chaotic Fringe show Kitchen Caper, as well as Breaking the Code by the Melville Theatre Company as John Smith. Passionate about storytelling and character work, Nick continues to refine his craft with each performance. He is delighted to be making his first appearance with the GRADS Theatre Company and is excited to be part of the continuingly relevant story that is Julius Caesar

Roisin O’Neill

Roisin is a History and English student at UWA who spends most of her time procrastinating uni work by acting and dancing around Perth. She is a member of the WA Youth Theatre Company and has appeared in Grads Production of Macbeth directed by Grace Edwards and WAYTCOs annual 24 Hr Play Generator. Most recently, she worked with Melville Theatre Company as their choreographer for Captain Moonlite. Roisin is a classically trained dancer and spent a week with Sydney Dance Company at the start of the year which reignited her love of performing. She is excited to extend her Shakespeare experience in Julius Caesar!

Prashanth Gunasekaran

Prashanth Gunasekaran is a Malaysian-born film director and stage actor with roots in New Zealand and Malaysia. His stage directing and acting credits include Gum & Goo (2008), Indian Dating, Charandas Chor (2010–2012), and Objectum Sexuality (2016) for the New Zealand Short + Sweet Theatre Festival.

Early in his acting career, Prashanth played Don John in Much Ado About Nothing, winning the National Award for Best Supporting Actor at the Sheila Winn Shakespeare Festival. He subsequently played Jose Vargas in the 2005 readaptation of Fame the Musical and went on to win Best Actor for his one-man performance as Biff Loman in Death of a Salesman. Most recently, he portrayed two contrasting roles in the Roxy Lane Theatre production of Community Garden.

Prashanth’s screen credits include the feature films Brave Love and Last Star, as well as co-directing his second feature, Stranded Pearl, released in 2024. He continues to embrace theatre productions in Perth, with Julius Caesar marking his third local production.

Gabriele Maluga

Gabriele Maluga is delighted to be making her debut with the UWA GRADS Theatre Company as Portia and Chorus Soldier in E. R. Kinnear’s production of Julius Caesar alongside a phenomenally talented cast and crew for her first performance of one of Shakespeare’s works. She has a long-running passion for performance in theatre and musical theatre. Gabriele previously starred in a German-language production of Goethe’s Faust I as Margarete, performing in the UWA Bradley Studio in 2019.

Outside of acting, Gabriele is a Director, Solicitor and the Head of Criminal Law Department at Janssen + Maluga Legal, and Personal Assistant to the Honorary Consul for the Federal Republic of Germany in Western Australia.

Jade Chilcott

Jade has long had a passion for the performing arts, starting acting and dance from a young age and going on to persue theatre. She has performed in various regional productions, and is excited to perform with GRADS for a second time.

Mitch McAullay

Catching the theatre bug at the end of high school, Mitch McAullay jumped headfirst into the arts never looking back.He then went on to study at Notre Dame University with a double major in film and theatre studies. While studying he was involved with a musical theatre club performing as a lead in a dukebox musical, reinforcing his love for performing in more and more capacities.

He continued his studies until being accepted to study the Diploma of Acting at WAAPA in 2022, training under many industry professionals and appearing in Love and Information, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui as well as performing in the Short and Sweet

This is Mitch’s third performance directed by E.R Kinnear, after Precious Little Talent and the GRADS production of Antigone. Mitch is excited to bring an explosive performance of Octavian and gain revenge for his dearest Uncle Caesar.

Francesca Yovich

Francesca Yovich is incredibly excited to be making her GRADS debut in the roles of the Soothsayer, Messala and Ensemble. She has previous experience in high school and university theatre, including as an ensemble cast member in Twelfth Night in 2022 and as Cadet Rosemary Hale in UDS original production Laika Moon Dog in 2024. Francesca completed her Bachelor’s in English & Literary Studies in 2025 and is currently working on her Honours Dissertation

Elysha Hayes

Elysha is a Perth based actor who had a passion for the arts growing up. She completed a Bachelor of arts degree, majoring in theatre arts at Curtin University where she wrote, directed and acted. Some of her most notable performances include Michael McCall’s production of William

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (2022), Footfalls by Samuel Beckett (2022) and Precious Little Talent (2023) by Ella Hickson. She is excited to bring Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare to life with the direction of E. R. Kinnear.

Bardia Babaei

Bardia has been an actor since 14, with his first appearance being Caliban in a Shakespearean compilation called Good To Be Bard (2022). Since then, he has performed in various shows, Including Little Shop of Horrors (2023), Oliver! (2024), School of Rock (2025) and WAYTco’s 24 Hour play generator (2026). Julius Caesar will be Bardia’s Return to Shakespeare since his very first theatre production. Bardia has also trained With Western Australian Youth Theatre Company’s (WAYTco) Senior ensemble program throughout 2026 after training in Drama throughout high-school.

Alongside Theatre, Bardia is pursuing film acting through Ali Roberts Studios and through Producing his own short film in 2026! He’s also a Classical Musician Trained in Both Classical Guitar and Classical Voice, training and performing with the UWA Guitar ensemble and UWA Symphonic Chorus.

Jess Wake

Jessica Wake began her theatrical pursuits in 2015 whilst living in Brisbane. She undertook training at Brisbane Arts Theatre and was cast as Elizabeth in “When the Rain Stops Falling” by Andrew Bovell. She also competed in the South East Queensland Drama Festival playing Lisa in the one act play, “Being Norwegian” by David Greig. After relocating to Sydney she undertook a certificate course through Sydney Theatre School. she continued training throughout her time in NSW and also performed for The Guild Theatre’s productions; “Where Angels Fear to Tread” by E.M. Forsterand “The Crown Matrimonial” by Royce Ryton. Since returning to her hometown of Perth, she was cast as Helena in the Actor’s Workshop Shakespearean production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for the city of Melville. This will be her first time performing with Grad’s Theatre Company.

Jo Lamont

Jo has been stomping around the New Fortune Theatre stage for GRADS (and dodging the Peacock guano) for over 20 years in a myriad of Shakespearean roles.

Jack of all character and comedy roles and Masters graduate from WAAPA, Jo’s other hobbies include frequent scenery chewing, unsolicited singing and the occasional stabbing.

Jo is grateful to the illustrious E.R Kinnear and her fellow cast and crew for allowing her to be Their “Spakfilla” (registered TM) spare parts actor of choice for Their vision of Julius Caesar Red October 2026.

Every year she keeps saying she is DONE with theatre, but theatre NEVER seems quite done with her..... Buggerit!

Director’s Note

Julius Caesar has never just been a mere political drama to me, nor do I feel it is a cut and dry “remove the dictator” story, and I feel both of these interpretations sell this gorgeous text short.

I feel, Julius Caesar is instead one of the most painfully human stories the bard has ever put to stage. Brutus so truly believes that the death of their friend is the only way to preserve the democracy and freedom they hold dear. Cassius believes Caesar has become an undeserving god who will trample all beneath him, and the people wish to be free of him. Caesar believe his constancy is the only true pillar of Rome, and without him it will crumble. And the beauty of it is they are both right and wrong. The death of Caesar triggers a war that leads to the establishment of an empire. Thousands die. The people revolt against those who killed Caesar, as Caesar for all the faults he possessed, had vastly improved the life of the common people. There are no true good or bad guys in Julius Caesar. They are all shades of grey. Nobody really wins.

It’s a story about how we hold humans as the pillars of ideals, and how believes, morals and honour can be twisted and manipulated into weapons that turn friend against friend, man against man, and city against city. All of these characters read so painfully human and that’s the beauty of this play.

In transplanting this show into a late Cold War setting, I hope to reflect how the paranoia of belief has continued to be weaponised and twisted throughout the ages, from the end of the Roman Republic to the fall of the Berlin Wall and beyond.

E.R. Kinnear (or Ellis if you’ve brought him a beer or two) is a Boorloo-Based Director and Attemped Writer with a strong passion for modern re-interpretations of Classic Texts. Originally entering theatre as an actor, he pivoted to directing after discovering a passion for it in University, making his debut with the Award winning 2022 production of Radium Girls at the Old Mill Theatre. He followed this up with acclaimed productions of Precious Little Talent at Harbour Theatre and Antigone with GRADS (2023 and 2024). After taking a year’s break for some stupid unfathomable reason, he has returned to direct Julius Caesar at GRADS, and hopes you enjoy this show as much as he and the company have crafting it.