Ensemble Theatre

History

It is Australia's longest continuously running professional theatre group, having given its first performance in Cammeray Children's Library on 11 May 1958. It relocated to the current premises in the old boatshed on the shore of Careening Cove in 1960.

The theatre was founded by Hayes Gordon AO OBE along with the Ensemble Studios acting school, which introduced Stanislavsky-influenced method acting to Australia. Ensemble Studios was Australia's longest surviving acting school when it closed in 2009. Gordon passed on the position of Artistic Director of Ensemble Theatre to Sandra Bates in 1986, but remained Principal of the acting school until his death in 1999. Bates was joined by Mark Kilmurry first as her deputy and then as co-director, with Kilmurry replacing Bates upon her retirement in 2015.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, the Ensemble had to postpone their 2020 Season - the company allowed ticket holders to convert their ticket to a credit voucher.

Tributes

The Ensemble complex honours veteran stars Lorraine Bayly, incorporating Bayly's Restaurant, in recognition of her long-running commitment to the theatre (she was a founding member), to mark her retirement from the stage in June 2003; and Henri Szeps, with the Henri Szeps Room.

The Sandra Bates Director's Award

Incoming artistic director Mark Kilmurry initiated the Sandra Bates Director's Award (SBDA) in honour of Sandra Bates, who held the position for 30 years before her retirement in 2015. The award is sponsored by the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation.

Winners of the award include:

• 2016: Priscilla Jackman and Janine Watson
• 2017: Francesca Savige and Shaun Rennie
• 2018: Liz Arday and Felicity Nicol
• 2021: Ursula Yovich
• 2022: Danielle Maas and Sophie Kelly
• 2023: Margaret Thanos and Emma Canalese
• 2024: Julia Robertson and Miranda Middleton

Notable productions

As of 2016 the most successful play in the theatre's history was Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, a two-hander which in 2006 paired Todd McKenney, in his first non-musical play, with Nancye Hayes. The pair reprised these roles ten years later, reuniting with Sandra Bates in her final directorial role. The play was taken on tour, in collaboration with Christine Dunstan Productions, and won the 2007 Helpmann Award for Best Regional Touring Production.

In 2016, the company produced the Sydney premiere of Jane Cafarella's e-baby, a two-hander "quietly feminist play that asserts a heartfelt approach towards matters of infertility, adoption and motherhood." Caferella's first full-length play which was world premiered in 2015 at the Chapel Off Chapel theatre in Melbourne. The production was directed by Nadia Tass, and starred Danielle Carter and Gabrielle Scawthorn; Carter and Scawthorn were described as bringing "such life to their roles" and being "utterly believable – in equal parts loveable and frustrating – [so that] the heartbreak, when it comes, is visceral". Tass, described e-baby as "a play for today – the advances in medicine create a new world that allows new possibilities – in e-baby we enter that world and explore the raw truth, the unbridled joy and the paradox of surrogacy through a carefully woven story of love, generosity and a newborn child."

References

References

1. (25 November 2013). "Ensemble Theatre 2014 season: The Ensemble unveils a season a blockbusters". Time Out Sydney.
2. "About Ensemble".
3. "Sandra Bates to Retire From Ensemble".
4. "Coronavirus Info".
5. "About Bayly's Restaurant".
6. Watts, Richard. (25 July 2025). "Vale Henri Szeps OAM, remembered for Mother and Son and a storied stage career".
7. (24 July 2025). "Australian TV actor Henri Szeps dies aged 81".
8. Wild, Stephi. (18 February 2022). "Danielle Maas And Sophie Kelly Awarded Ensemble Theatre's 2022 Sandra Bates Director's Award".
9. (1 March 2018). "The Sandra Bates Directors Awards".
10. (6 November 2017). "2018 Sandra Bates Director's Award recipients announced".
11. (13 November 2020). "Ursula Yovich awarded Ensemble Theatre's 2021 Sandra Bates Director's Award".
12. (2022-11-09). "Margaret Thanos receives prestigious Ensemble Theatre director's award".
13. (2023-11-13). "2024 Ensemble Theatre Sandra Bates Director's Award Winners Announced".
14. Huntsdale, Justin. (17 February 2016). "Theatre legends Todd McKenney and Nancye Hayes unite for heart-warming play". [[ABC News (Australia).
15. Hallett, Bruce. (13 February 2006). "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
16. Hook, Chris. (3 February 2016). "Ten years later, McKenney and Hayes bring Six Dance Lessons play back for another spin on stage". [[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney).
17. (2016). "Helpmann Awards – Past nominees and winners". [[Helpmann Awards]].
18. Tobin, Patricia. (16 March 2015). "Review: e-baby". Performing Arts Hub.
19. Blake, Jason. (20 October 2016). "E-Baby review: Gestational clock ticks on tale of ethical complexity". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
20. My, Myron. (8 March 2015). "REVIEW: Jane Cafarella's E-BABY: A tale of two women". [[Theatre Press]].
21. Sebag-Montefiore, Clarissa. (27 October 2016). "E-baby review – an endearing but haphazard romp into the complex world of surrogacy". [[The Guardian]].
22. Tass, Nadia. (2016). "Ensemble Theatre Program (13 October 2016 – 13 November 2016): e-baby by Jane Cafarella". Ensemble Theatre.