This play contains material that may be sensitive or triggering for some audience members, including ~ Blood & Gore ~ Depictions of intimacy ~ Depictions of Mental Illness ~ Scenes of manipulation & coercion ~ References to Self-Harm Ideation ~ Themes of Mortality and Death ~ Depictions of Outdated or Offensive Language and Attitudes ~ Viewer discretion is advised.
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This play contains material that may be sensitive or triggering for some audience members, including ~ Blood & Gore ~ Depictions of intimacy ~ Depictions of Mental Illness ~ Scenes of manipulation & coercion ~ References to Self-Harm Ideation ~ Themes of Mortality and Death ~ Depictions of Outdated or Offensive Language and Attitudes ~ Viewer discretion is advised. 〰️
Director’s Notes
"Primitives" was conceived about eight months ago after Leah and I first moved to Melbourne. We took a small getaway to a goat farm near Monegeetta, where we sat in a field painting each other over a bottle of wine. A fascinating conversation about art sparked the initial ideas for this play. Since then, it has undergone significant development with the help of some wonderful and talented people.
Growing up with a photographer father, I was often surrounded by portrait sessions. This inspired me to create a play that serves as a highly detailed portrait of two characters. My interest in art history—and how it reflects wider social and philosophical developments—also influenced this work.
The play is designed as one long conversation, much like a classical painting is a detailed depiction of a scene. It's intentionally constructed to create a sense of distance, encouraging you to reflect on your own thoughts and feelings about the content. I wanted to explore how modern anxieties aren't so different from the troubles of a hundred years ago and prompt you to question whether things have really changed—or if this is simply the human condition.
I hope you find "Primitives" to be as thought-provoking and infuriating as a visit to the NGV.
—Willem
FEATURING
Leah Fitzgerald-Quinn as Alice
Willem Whitfield as Van Brandt
Co-Directed by Veronicka Devlin & Willem Whitfield
Stage Manager Seonaid Sewell
Production Design by Leah Fitzgerald-Quinn
and GORE by Harry Holden
Our Team
Willem Whitfield
Willem Whitfield is an award-winning director, producer, writer, actor, and graphic designer based in Brisbane.
Since graduating with a Bachelor of Creative Industries in 2016, he has pursued a career managing diverse creative projects across the performing arts, cinema and festival environments. Recently he worked as Associate Producer for The Fae, an immersive puzzle experience, at the Woodford Folk Festival between 2022-2024. He also served as Production Manager for the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble's production of Macbeth and the interactive murder mystery Wedding and a Murder for FeverUp!
He has also held the position of Festival Director for the 48 Hour Film Project since November 2020, where he manages the entire Brisbane leg of the international competition, including graphic design, marketing, and social media outreach.
He maintains an independent artistic practice, consistently producing original theatre and film content across South-East Queensland. In 2021 he wrote, produced and performed in his debut play, Hello, Gaz Rhumbo! and trained as an Apprentice with the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble (QSE). Soon after, he won Best Director and Audience Choice at Short & Sweet for his original work ‘Honey, I’m Home!’. In 2022 he won the Anywhere Pick award for his immersive performance “Chat With Lucifer”.
In 2023 he worked as a Director with the La Boite Assembly program and as the marketing coordinator for Anywhere Festival.
This year he performed alongside Gideon Mzembe in ‘IAGO’ at Midsumma Festival in Melbourne and is in post-production for his debut short film, ‘Ballooming’, a surrealist homage to Buster Keaton.
Leah - Fitzgerald-Quinn
Leah is a multidisciplinary designer, performer, and producer with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drama) and a Certificate IV in Small Business and Entrepreneurship in 2023.
In 2019, she completed her apprenticeship with the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble before being accepted into the company’s Core Ensemble in 2020. There she wore a multiplicity of hats, transitioning between roles in performance, design, finance, and production management. She has also trained with the Melbourne Shakespeare Company, Zen Zen Zo, Vulcana Circus, The Mask Family, Pipi Cucu Movement and D.I.V.E Theatre Collective.
Leah has recently co-founded Whitfield Studio, a versatile design and production studio servicing theatre, film, and live events across Naarm (Melbourne) and Meanjin (Brisbane).
Career highlights include performing as Hellena in The Rover (Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble, 2022), designing costumes for Macbeth (Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble, 2022), leading a team of costume makers at the Woodford Folk Festival and being a finalist in the Northern Beaches Environmental Art and Design Prize for her wearable art, SeDUCTress.
Veronicka Devlin
Growing up along the beautiful and rugged coastline of lutruwita (Tasmania), Veronicka found joy in music, dance, acting, and visual arts. This led to further studies in Printmaking and Photography at Utas, where she truly started her artistic journey. At FedUni, Veronicka grew as an actor and performer, loving the process of developing and creating characters and performances full of depth and duality. A highlight was collaborating and devising theatre as part of Federation University’s Exquisite Corps: Neon District, directed by Laura Burzacott and musically directed by Ant Crowley, which married her performance skills with her creative knowledge as an artist. Veronicka enjoys a diverse range of theatre and has been involved with Cabaret Festivals, Spiegeltent, Musical Theatre as well as productions of Realism and Shakespeare, performing as Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Olga in an adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters.
Seonaid Sewell
Seonaid Sewell is an actor, dancer, and stage manager.
With a love for being on stage and in front of an audience Seonaid grew up on the Central Coast NSW, and started performing at an early age.
She began her training as a stage manager at the Melbourne French Theatre in Carlton with her most recent production being La Surprise De L’amour.
She is a graduate of the Howard Fine Acting Studio Full Time Program. During this time she also completed a playwriting course at the same institute.
Thanks to…
Stephen Vagg, Cracked Actors Theatre, Ad Astra, Ruben Francis, Rebekah Schmidt, Janaki Gerard, Samuel Liddell and all of the goats at Monegeetta.