ABOUT THE PROJECT

The idea for Cygnet & Swan's production of RavenMad was conceived from the brilliant minds of Olivia French and Alexandra Meerbach.

Their goal with this project is to combat the the problem with Edgar Allan Poe's works that many people find it daunting or inaccessible due to the complex nature of his writing, the period in which it was written and the perception that literature and poetry are simply too hard. By adapting his literature with visual creations, they hope to provide audiences with insight, as well as to inspire and encourage a love for the beast that is gothic literature.

Ballarat Arts Foundation
Jack Anderson Award for Filmmaking

Each year the Ballarat Arts Foundation (BAF) offers grants to emerging artists through a suite of Named Awards and BAF Genre Awards. These grants support artists who have lived, studied or worked in Ballarat to undertake a project of any genre as their next step towards a career in the arts.

The Jack Anderson Film Award was awarded to our creative director, Olivia French, to help bring the works of Gothic literature master, Edgar Allan Poe, to life using theatre performance via visual and audio multimedia.

Visit the Ballarat Arts Foundation Website

Olivia French
Creative Director & BAF Grant Recipient

As a high school Literature teacher, Olivia has a fierce love of Poe and Gothic writing. She has been in several Ballarat National Theatre productions including Catherine in The Best Man, Sybil in Daisy Pulls It Off, Harriet in Nobody's Perfect, Don John and featuring roles in Act Like a Girl, the witty Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Shelby in Steel Magnolias.

Olivia has also been actively involved in online theatre. She was the co-creator, narrator and Elizabeth Bennet for Ballarat National Theatre's Pride and Prejudice podcast (a 2021 Webby Award Honouree for Scripted Fiction) and subsequently their Peter Pan podcast as co-director. She was also a voice actor in Someone New Theatre Company's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes podcast.

In 2023, Olivia will be narrating Cygnet & Swan's audiobook adaptation of Jane Eyre.

Alexandra Meerbach
Creative Director & Production Manager

A co-founder of Cygnet & Swan and formerly the President of Ballarat National Theatre, Alexandra completed a Bachelor of Performing Arts at the Arts Academy in 1999.

Since then she has appeared on screen, directed and acted in numerous theatre productions in Melbourne & Ballarat, experimented with anonymous and immersive theatre, written several plays for youth, designed costumes and masks, and weekly directs and participates in Mad Swan Harmonics, a community choral speaking choir. She provides tuition in Speech and Drama; and has extensive experience as a simulated patient for teaching communication skills to medical students and practitioners.

In 2023, Alexandra will be directing Fantastic in Plastic at La Mama as part of their Explorations season, Dust & Ruin with Ballarat National Theatre, as well as Cygnet & Swan's audiobook adaptation of Jane Eyre.

Mary-Rose McLaren
Guest Director

Dr Mary-Rose McLaren is a professor in Education with the College of Arts & Education, Victoria University.

She is the co-founder of Cygnet & Swan productions has been involved in many theatre productions in Ballarat, including writing and directing One Boys War, co-writing and directing Honorable Mentions with Peter Nethercote, directing Steel Magnolias, Daisy Pulls It Off and A Christmas Carol and acting in Little Women, The Best Man, Much Ado About Shakespeare and Falling from Grace — all with Ballarat National Theatre. She also co-directed Land and Home at La Mama in 2016 and is acting in Louisa's Dawn, directed by Ann Chadwick, at La Mama in August 2022.

In 2023, Mary-Rose will be directing Noise! at La Mama as part of their Explorations season.

Marli van der Bijl
Musical Director, Sound Editor & Designer

Marli has worked as a singer and actor for the past decade and has been involved in stage, screen, music and audio productions across four countries. She holds a Masters Degree in Drama and Theatre Arts and received classical voice training at the Odeion School of Music in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Since moving to Melbourne in 2020, she has appeared in various performances for Melbourne Writers Theatre and worked as a voice actor and on the production team for audio productions such as Pride and Prejudice and Peter Pan for Ballarat National Theatre, as well as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Death and I for Someone New Theatre Company.

Elizabeth Bradford
Production Assistant, Designer & Sound Editor

Elizabeth is a director, sound editor and production coordinator for dramatised audiobooks. She studied writing, editing and acting at Federation University.

She has worked on several productions including Ballarat National Theatre's Peter Pan and Pride and Prejudice (2021 Webby Award Honouree for Limited Series Podcast - Scripted Fiction), as well as Someone New Theatre Company's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Elizabeth is a part of the Someone New team as the Production Coordinator for their SNTC Presents projects, as well as handling the company's social media and marketing. She has also recently joined Cygnet & Swan.

Jacob Thompson
Sound Editor

After studying the sound engineering course at Oxygen College for two years to attain an Advanced Diploma of Sound Production, as well as obtaining hand on experience through a range of sound editing and mixing techniques, Jacob has since sought experience in creating soundscapes in post-productions for audio projects such as Ballarat National Theatre’s Peter Pan and SNTC’s Sherlock Holmes podcast series.

Jacob hopes to continue pushing myself and working on bringing Edgar Allan Poe’s works to life as a sound editor on RavenMad and collaborating with a range of other talented artists.