Liz Arday

Liz Arday | She/Her
◦  www.lizarday.com

Liz Arday is an Australian theatre and film director currently based between London and Athens. 

A graduate of the VCA Theatre School Melbourne, Liz has spent the last eight years freelancing as a director and assistant director for theatre and film in Australia, the UK and Europe.

Liz was the 2018 recipient of the Ensemble Theatre's Sandra Bates Director's Award (Sydney) and spent the year on attachment as resident assistant director for the company. Assisting projects included the new female comedy Unqualified by Genevieve Hegney and Catherine Moore (director Janine Watson) & Alan Ayckbourn's comedy trilogy The Norman Conquests (directed by Mark Kilmurry). Liz also led a script development of Tracey Trinder's Killing Katie: Confessions of a Book Club which was presented as a public moved reading as part of the BoatShed Projects.

Liz specialises in leading new writing projects, specifically works that venture into the post-dramatic and centralize on feminist, post-colonial, working-class and/or queer stories. Visually, Liz has a taste for bold & audacious design and her work has also become increasingly intersected with choreographic and cinematic elements in an attempt to move away from the domination of dialogue in storytelling.

These interests are the core dramaturgical focus of her work with LZA Theatre, a nomadic OFFIE nominated independent theatre company she founded in 2016. The company has produced five full-length works which have been staged in Sydney, London and Athens.

The company's current work is King (Ο Βασιλιάς) by Dennis Matsikas, a searing satirical monologue about life as an economic migrant in post-Brexit England. The work has been adapted and translated to be performed in both English and Greek. Ο Βασιλιάς premiered in Athens at Fabrica Theatre's Handmade & Recycled Theatre Festival in October 2021, and King will (finally) premier in London at The Hope Theatre in January 2022 after being Covid Cancelled. A hybrid of stand-up and dramatic monologue, the work is a confronting, poetic and hilarious account of what it really means to be an economic migrant living in London.

Liz is also currently directing Magda by Tako Natsvlishvili which will premier a VAULT Festival in February 2022. Magda is a 'coming of rage' story of two young women who meet in a psychiatric facility in Tbilisi, Georgia. Burdened by their past and their oppressive futures, they struggle to emerge into true identities within a culture riddled with idolism and moral extremism. Natsvlishvili's brave and raw feminist text is fused with projection, live music and choreography in an explosive kaleidoscopic new work.

Liz is keen to collaborate on projects in Australia, the UK and Europe. She's always super keen to meet new collaborators and talk about potential new projects, so if you like the vibe say hi.

Credits

◦  Director, Magda, VAULT Festival London, 1 week, 2022
◦  Director, King, The Hope Theatre London, 1 week, 2022
◦  Director, Ο Βασιλιάς, Fabrica Theatre Athens, 1 week, 2021
◦  Director, My Father’s Shed (Short Film), The Hope Theatre, 1 week online, 2020
◦  Director, King (Covid postponed), The Hope Theatre London, 1 week, 2020
◦  1st AD, Life After Death (short film), ScreenJam London, 2 weeks, 2019
◦  Director, Gravity (R&D), PLAYLIST/Seymour Centre Sydney, 1 week, 2019
◦  Director, Everyone I’ve Ever Loved or Slept with or Both, Sydney Fringe, 1 week, 2018
◦  Director, Killing Katie , Ensemble Theatre Sydney, 1 week, 2018
◦  Director, Yours the Face, LZA Theatre/BloodMoon Theatre Sydney, 2 weeks, 2018
◦  Director, Debris, LZA Theatre/BloodMoon Theatre Sydney, 2 weeks, 2018
◦  Assistant Director, Table Manners (Norman Conquests), Ensemble Theatre Sydney, 10 weeks, 2018
◦  Assistant Director, Living Together (Norman Conquests) Ensemble Theatre Sydney, 10 weeks, 2018
◦  Assistant Director, Round and Round the Garden (N. Conquests), Ensemble Theatre Sydney, 10 weeks, 2018
◦  Assistant Director, Unqualified, Ensemble Theatre Sydney, 5 weeks, 2018
◦  Director, The Eisteddfod, LZA Theatre/Etcetera Theatre London, 3 weeks, 2017
◦  Director, A Woman Alone LZA Theatre/Etcetera Theatre London, 3 weeks, 2017
◦  Director, Jesus (short film), LZA London, 2 weeks, 2016
◦  Director, Ride, Camden Fringe/Red Scarf London, 1 week, 2015
◦  Director, Red Black and Ignorant, Victorian College of the Arts Melbourne, 1 week, 2013
◦  Director, Trip the Light Fantastic (R&D), Victorian College of the Arts Melbourne, 1 week, 2013
◦  Assistant Director, Beached, Griffin Theatre Sydney, 5 weeks, 2013
◦  Assistant Director, Romeo & Juliet, Victorian College of the Arts Melbourne, 2 weeks, 2013
◦  Director, This is Baby Doll, Factotum/TAP Gallery Sydney, 3 weeks, 2012
◦  Director, Three Sisters, Factotum/TAP Gallery Sydney, 3 weeks, 2012
◦  Director, Jesus, Factotum/TAP Gallery Sydney, 1 week, 2012
◦  Director, Lovely Ugly, Griffin Theatre Sydney, 1 week, 2012
◦  Director, Hedda Gabler, Factotum/TAP Gallery Sydney, 3 weeks, 2012
◦  Assistant Director, Circle, Mirror, Transformation, Ensemble Theatre Sydney, 4 weeks, 2012
◦  Assistant Director, The Lunch Hour, Darlinghurst Theatre Sydney, 3 weeks, 2012
◦  Assistant Director, The Voices Project: The One Sure Thing, ◦ Australian Theatre for Young People, 3 weeks, 2012
◦  Assistant Dirctor, As You Like It, Carriageworks/Siren Theatre Sydney, 3 weeks, 2011
◦  Director, Your Heart is my Piñata, Factotum/TAP Gallery Sydney, 2 weeks, 2011
◦  Director, Hands (short work), Griffin Theatre Sydney, Josh Forward, 24 hour comp (winner best director), 2011
◦  Director, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Elanora Players Sydney, 2 weeks, 2010

Training

◦  Post Graduate Diploma in Performance Creation, Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Melbourne
◦  Bachelor of Arts (English Literature, Philosophy & Modern History), Macquarie University Sydney
◦  Graduate (Acting, Meisner), The Actor's Pulse, Sydney

--
◦  Advanced Directing | Katie Mitchell/Young Vic
◦  Directing Intimacy in Theatre | Ita O'Brien/Actor's Center
◦  Masterclass (Dance Theatre) | Danielle Micich/Force Majeure
◦  Bogart’s Viewpoints & Composition | Sam Strong/Tanya Goldberg/Griffin Theatre