About Nicholas

Nicholas is experienced in screen, theatre, puppetry, voice acting, improv, cabaret, and stand-up comedy, and is also a fairly decent human being according to several sources*. From 2018 to 2022, he toured with Interactive Theatre International (ITI) and could be found at many dining establishments (and festivals) flexing his improvisation muscles as Manuel in Faulty Towers: The Original Dining Experience, and as Ricky and Ray in Confetti and Chaos – two highly successful and internationally-acclaimed immersive and interactive theatrical experiences.

From 2012 to 2017, Nicholas provided the voice and puppetry for Hoot the Owl on the ABCKids wrapper program Giggle and Hoot (Dir: Karin Fitzhardinge, Ian Munro & Bryson Hall). Funnily enough, during this period of time Nicholas also provided the voice and puppetry for Hoot the Owl in Giggle and Hoot‘s live shows – Giggle and Hoot and Friends (AKA Productions, 2013); Giggle and Hoot and Friends (Live Nation, 2014-2016); Jimmy Giggle’s Christmas Party (Live Nation, 2015); and Giggle and Hoot’s Magical Christmas (Live Nation, 2016). Due to a scheduling conflict with the new cast, Nicholas was delighted to return to the role one last time for the most recent version of Giggle and Hoot‘s live show: Giggle and Hoot’s Hootastic Concert (Live Nation, 2018). All of which were directed by the extraordinary Luke Joslin.

Nicholas recently returned to the realm of immersive theatre, joining the team at Convict Footprints to bring the town of Forbes’ history to life in Knees Up! in 2023 and Gold Rush! in 2024. In keeping with the theme of breaking the fourth wall, he took on the role of Placebo, the lead and quasi-narrator of Something Wicked’s commedia-inspired The Italian Comedy. Returning to stand-up comedy in 2024, Nicholas produced and performed his first solo comedy show Swipe Left at the Adelaide Fringe Festival – a show of stories, songs and stand-up that grumbles about Bumble, gets unhinged about Hinge, and takes Tinder out with the trash.

Taking his skills and years of experience in live performance, Nicholas has been transferring these skills to performing on-screen by taking part as a student in the Actor’s Workout since mid-2022, under the guidance and mentorship of Matt Levett (The Devil’s Playground, A Place To Call Home, Wolf Creek). Matt has also taught at NIDA, The Hub Studio, The Actors Centre, ATYP, and Screenwise. During this time, Nicholas landed supporting roles in independent feature films, and due to some specific coin-handling skills, he was also cast as a hand-double in the TV Series The Artful Dodger (Disney, 2023).

 

In the world of puppetry, and far removed from the adorable blue ball of high-pitched fluff and feathers that entertained children all over Australia, Nicholas had the exciting opportunity of getting his hands up inside a couple of the delightfully offensive (and offensively delightful) characters of Avenue Q (LW & NS Productions, Dir: Jo Turner) in a short season at Enmore Theatre as part of the Sydney Comedy Festival in 2015. Nicholas portrayed the good-hearted slacker Nicky (no relation, of course) and the porn-obsessed Trekkie Monster (again, no relation), with the puppetry assistance of the fabulous Julia Dray and the fantastic Owen Little.

To throw a strange irony in the works, Nicholas portrayed a puppet himself, taking on the role of Pinocchio in a 2018 production of Shrek the Musical (Packemin Productions, Dir: Craig Stewart & Jessica Fallico). Nicholas was quite thankful that Pinocchio is a marionette, not a hand puppet. Ouch.

When not hiding behind or portraying puppets, Nicholas has been involved in many productions, some of which involved singing and dancing – often at the same time. In 2016, Nicholas portrayed Boq in Sydney’s first pro-am production of Wicked (Packemin Productions, Dir: Neil Gooding), and in 2014 he portrayed the beautifully neurotic and neurotically beautiful Leo Bloom in The Producers (Regals Musical Society, Dir: Meg Day). In 2013, Nicholas joined Abbie Hartman and Emu Productions to portray Lt. Thomas Parsons in the remarkable and thought-provoking play Narrow as the Line (Dir: Nathan Finger) as part of Sydney Fringe Festival.

Before his more recent involvement in children’s theatre, children’s television, live performing and musical theatre, Nicholas worked on several independent film projects, such as the role of Matt in the Australian comedy web-series In Transit (T. Butler Productions, 2012), which won much international acclaim and several awards including Best Costume Design at the Indie Soap Awards 2013; and Outstanding Ensemble Cast (Dramedy) at LAWebFest 2013. As a result, the series automatically qualified for the Marseille Web Fest 2013. Nicholas has also starred in several short films such as Angry (Dir: Jimmy Khouri, 2013), The End (Dir: Donovan Renn, 2012) and Little Things (Dir: Luke Loseby, 2011).

Nicholas has also been working towards making a name for himself as a voice artist, having been involved in several commercial and non-commercial projects. Some of these include the Meet the Monies series found on Eagle Waves Radio; several shows with Future Classic Theatre (a company which took radio plays to the stage with live readings and live foley), as well as projects such as announcements for theatres, and providing the voices for several Scare Maze characters in Luna Park’s Halloscream 9.

 

Nicholas was proud to be touring with Brainstorm Productions in 2010, performing as Toby in the award-winning anti-bullying production Sticks & Stones for both primary schools and high schools along the East coast of Australia, as far North as Gympie in Queensland down to Rosebud in Victoria. Prior to this, Nicholas spent a lot of time involved with community, youth, and amateur theatre groups such as the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), New Theatre and Regals Musical Society. His involvement with ATYP led him to contribute towards the writing as well as perform in The Windows Project (Dir: Jason Langley, 2004) and Songs for the Numb (Dir: Andrew Davidson, 2005). Working with ATYP also allowed Nicholas to take part in the opening celebration for Oxfam’s International Youth Partnership’s Kaleidoscope 2007.

Nicholas’ involvement with New Theatre includes having performed in Oh, What A Lovely War, Mate! (Dir: Roseanne McNamara, 2007), as well as Pushkin’s Mozart & Salieri (Dir: Elaine Hudson, 2007) as part of the Banned Plays series. He also performed in New Theatre’s 75th Anniversary Celebration Show and Victoriana 2013.

Regals Musical Society have had Nicholas star in lead roles of several of their productions including The Producers as Leo Bloom (Dir: Meg Day, 2014); The Wizard of Oz as Scarecrow (Dir: Lauren Nalty, 2008); Sweeney Todd as Anthony (Dir: Meg Day, 2009) and the Sydney Premiere of Spamalot as the ever-faithful, coconut-toting Patsy (Dir: Craig Stewart, 2009). Nicholas reprised the role of Patsy with Bankstown Theatre Company’s 2017 production of Spamalot (Dir: Simon Fry).

In 2007, Nicholas created and performed a one-man, ‘mini-cabaret’ show titled My Quarter-Life Crisis as part of dStudio’s Look At Me Now showcase. In 2008, he also performed in dStudio’s Here’s Where I Stand showcase. If the maths on the quarter-life crisis checks out, he stands to live until the ripe old age of 88.

 

 

 

 

*Sources unidentified… most likely his mum.