Following many years service overseas as an Australian diplomat, Ian returned to the
Canberra stage in 2019 in Canberra Repertory’s To Kill A Mockingbird (Sheriff Heck Tate). Since
then he has acted in Peter Wilkins’ The Deadly Game Of Marbles (Gough Whitlam) and Canberra
REP’s Rope (M. Sabot), Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead (Polonius) and Amadeus (Baron van Swieten). Ian’s acting reaches much further back with roles in Bill Macilwraith’s The Anniversary (1969), Murder In The Cathedral (1970) and Jesus Christ Superstar (1980). Ian worked with Hutt Repertory in New Zealand 1981-83, acting in productions of The Lion In Winter, Equus and Twelfth Night, and directed several English classic plays in Denmark and Belgium, including, T. S. Eliot’s The Cocktail Party, Terence Rattigan’s The Browning Version and John Mortimer’s Edwin, which won First Prize for Short Play at the Festival of European Anglophone Theatrical Societies in Antwerp in 1987. Ian is inspired by being a member of the talented team of this production of the ancient Greek tragedy Antigone, a play which explores deeply the human condition, the frailties of hubris, political overreach and abuse of power, and
which set the pattern for Shakespeare, Marlowe and others for their own theatrical tragedies. “In a rapidly changing contemporary world, the lessons to be learnt from Antigone remain highly relevant,” Ian said.