A well-versed opera performer has joined The University of Western Australia to teach students the art of acting, singing and dancing as part of a new Music Theatre major.
Chair of Music Theatre Matt Ward brings a depth of experience after performing around the world including with English Touring Opera and the West Australian Opera and is currently artistic director of multi-artform performance company Breaksea.
“I have an unusual set of skills that has opened up the doors for lots of opportunities,” Ward said. “I spent a while on the stage and in the past seven years I've been a director and a writer of production.
“Music theatre – the training in singing, acting and dancing – and the unique work I did with education and outreach programs really informed the unusual set of skills I now get to use as part of this course.”
Students take part in music theatre workshops that explore all aspects of performance, join the Broadway Choir, explore music theatre history and work closely with UWA’s Conservatorium of Music to learn musicology, music theory and oral skills.
“I thought it was a really fantastic opportunity to contribute to the development of young people who are starting their adult lives,” Ward said.
“Whether they want to be a professional performer or not, the skills they learn are really transferable and in addition, there are many wonderful benefits from being part of a group with movement through dance and self-awareness through acting.”
Ward, who grew up in Albany, is passionate about taking arts to the regions and in 2017 founded the organisation Breaksea to champion regional artists and communities and tell the rich and diverse stories of Western Australia.
In semester one, students created their own cabaret show and in semester two were involved in a music theatre production.
This year students got to hone their skills in a performance alongside Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse in Breaksea's Aliwah Bardinar!
The new children’s production celebrated the nyttiny (creation) story of how the Bardinar (Western Rosella) got its colours and was presented by the AWESOME Festival and Barking Gecko Arts at Heath Ledger Theatre.
“It is a really beautiful thing to make new music theatre from the extremely ancient and old tradition of storytelling from this Land,” Ward said. “It creates opportunities for non-Aboriginal people to be able to learn more about place.”
The course can be taken alongside almost any other major at UWA and this year the intake included students studying a diverse range of disciplines from medicine to electronic music.
“There are a number of people who may have disqualified themselves from being able to participate in music and the performing arts as an adult,” Ward said.
“I think this gives them permission to explore their personal journey in terms of ‘yes, I'm doing international relations, but I really love to sing and dance so I'm going to do music theatre and become the best I can – maybe I'll write my own cabaret shows or write a musical and be in Fringe Festival’.
“Bespoke, tailored pathways and support for people to be able to do lots of things in life is important as well as supporting people with ambitions to be professional performers.”
Image top: Matt Ward (centre) with the first cohort of music theatre students.