On this episode of Backstage, Regina Botros is joined by Trisha Starrs and Roderick Chambers for a compelling conversation with one of Australia's most celebrated actors, Pamela Rabe.

Currently starring as Sister Aloysius in John Patrick Shanley's Doubt: A Parable, Rabe brings her formidable intelligence, emotional depth and commanding stage presence to a role that sits at the heart of one of modern theatre's most gripping dramas. Together, we explore the play's enduring themes of certainty, suspicion, faith and power, and discusses why this Pulitzer Prize-winning work continues to resonate so strongly with contemporary audiences.

Insightful, erudite and endlessly engaging a remarkable production—this is an episode not to miss.

Yve Blake's new play Mackenzie takes Shakespeare's Macbeth and gives it a gloriously camp, darkly comic makeover. Best known as the award-winning creator of FANGIRLS, Blake turns her attention to the cut-throat world of child stardom, stage parents and celebrity obsession.

Mackenzie is 13 and has just landed her first television role. It's only a small part, but her ambitious mother is convinced greatness awaits. When a make-up artist delivers a prophecy that Mackenzie will become the world's biggest pop star, a chain of events is set in motion that echoes Shakespeare's classic tragedy. Directed by Virginia Gay, the play mixes comedy, music and horror to explore what happens when ambition takes hold.

In this conversation, Yve Blake joins Backstage to discuss the origins of the work, her decision to reimagine Macbeth through the lens of early 2000s celebrity culture, and the themes of ambition, power and corruption that continue to make Shakespeare's play resonate today. She also reflects on balancing comedy with darkness, and why Mackenzie might leave audiences laughing one moment and deeply unsettled the next.

Yve Blake is a writer, composer, lyricist and performer whose hit musical FANGIRLS has become one of Australia's most acclaimed new theatre works. Her latest play, Mackenzie, is a hilarious and macabre exploration of fame, family and the costs of getting exactly what you wish for.

On this episode of Backstage, award-winning director and lighting designer Alexander Berlage, currently directing Sonder joins Regina.

Alexander has become one of the most distinctive voices in Sydney’s independent theatre scene. He is a two-time Sydney Theatre Award winner for Best Direction of a Musical, for American Psycho and Cry-Baby at Hayes Theatre Co, and won Best Direction of an Independent Production in 2023 for A Streetcar Named Desire at the Old Fitz Theatre. From 2020 to 2023, he served as Co-Artistic Director of Redline Productions at the Old Fitz.