RESUME
Benjamin is a director, producer, actor, MC, musician, writer and all-round performer. They have been working for more than 20 years, have hosted programs for ABC Radio and toured stage shows around the world.
Benjamin is currently the artistic director of Preachrs Productions - the company that had the largest amount of shows for any South Australian company in both the 2021 and 2022 Adelaide Fringes.
Benjamin has been in over 75 plays/musicals with tens of thousands of performances and has been interviewed for radio and TV numerous times. They attended vocal and acting training through various institutions including NIDA, SA Casting, Heesom Casting and Urban Myth Theatre. Benjamin has been singing and playing the piano since a young age and has also completed dance classes to increase their range of abilities. Benjamin graduated the AMEB Speech and Drama course with honours and studied speech and drama through Trinity College UK for 18 months.
Benjamin has written, directed, produced and performed in numerous sell out shows at the Adelaide Fringe across 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. They also performed one of their own shows at the 2014 Melbourne International Comedy Festival to great critical acclaim (4 1/2 Stars - Herald Sun). Benjamin also produced two special one-off shows for events in Australia - Oz Comic Con and the Dalek Builders Union. They wrote, produced, directed and performed in these as well.
In the Adelaide Fringe 2015 Benjamin directed, produced, adapted and performed in the critically acclaimed premier production of Great Detectives! They was then seen in the Adelaide Rep’s critically acclaimed production of The Cripple of Inishmaan. As part of the 2016 Adelaide Fringe Benjamin adapted, directed and performed in Preachrs Podcast OnLine & OnStage’s world premiere production of Matthew Reilly’s Ice Station Live. To date this is the only official adaptation of one of Reilly’s works.
Benjamin between 2016 and 2018 toured a new version of Great Detectives! It received 6 Broadway World Sydney Theatre Nominations including, Best Actor - Benjamin, Best Director and Best Play. Benjamin adapted, produced, directed and performed in the tour across its multi-year run. They were also a supa-star guest MC at Supanova between 2017 and 2020.
Benjamin directed, produced, adapted, performed in and completed the sound design/editing for the official audio drama adaptation of The Phoenix Files. The audio drama trilogy, based off the best-selling YA novels by Chris Morphew are available for streaming and download on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. The series stars BAFTA nominee Paul McGann and Chaser Andrew Hansen. There is also a bonus soundtrack album available featuring Sean Braithwaite’s original score, which Benjamin has produced. The project can be streamed online via iTunes/Amazon/Spotify etc.
Benjamin directed the professional premiere of Anne of Green Gables: The Musical, which opened in SA in December 2018 to critical acclaim. They also directed/produced a sequel to Great Detectives, Great Detectives 2! which premiered to 5-Star reviews in the Adelaide Fringe 2019 and 2021. Benjamin was one half of the comedy duo, Bunny Pastards. #BunnyPastards - Hardly Trivial Trivia sold out their show in the Adelaide Fringe 2019. They also performed in the Australian premiere of the American musical Sex and the Musical, as well as the improvised show Tales of Adventure.
Benjamin was also a guest comedian on a variety of panel and game shows across the Adelaide Fringe, including [Late Night] Panel Show and Gameshow of Thrones. Benjamin also hosted the Hutt St Variety Hour, which was a charity gala benefiting the homeless community of Adelaide. Over the 2019 Adelaide Fringe Benjamin performed in 55 shows.
Across 2020 Benjamin debuted the 5-Star solo show, (Please) Validate Me, produced Andrew Silverwood: Call Me Janice, appeared in and produced Disney Delights and [Late Night] Panel Show and also directed and co-produced Dr Selflove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Thighs. While the tours of both (Please) Validate Me and Call Me Janice had started in Australia the majority of dates were cancelled due to COVID-19.
Benjamin has also directed and produced the audio version of the award nominated Socially [un]acceptable, which was released on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Spotify and Apple Music on April 24.
Benjamin produced & curated the largest local program in the Adelaide Fringe 2021 with 12 productions and hundreds of performances. Shows included Great Detectives 2!, Disney Delights, Bella Green is Charging For It, It's Rabbit Night!!, Pretending Things are A Cock, [Late Night] Panel Show, Jon Bennett vs Jason Donovan, Jon Bennett: Playing with Men, Rich Jay: Being Rich but Dying Trying, JP: Normal People Are Just People You Don't Know That Well, Naked Cabaret and Triple Bypass
Benjamin directed, co-produced and stared in the critically acclaimed 2022 new production of RENT at The Queens Theatre.
Benjamin is always working on new and exciting productions - so follow Benjamin on Facebook, Twitter. and Instagram for more details!