Dr Russell Fewster

Russell has directed theatre for near 40 years including work with professional actors, students, young people, artists who identify with a disability and the socially disadvantaged. He studied at Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris in the early eighties and then assisted Jacques Lecoq , Monica Pagneux and Phillipe Gaulier in the 1990s establishing his methodology in play, complicite and physical-based theatre. In 2000 he completed a Masters by Research in rehearsal decision making at the Centre for Performance Studies in the University of Sydney. In 2010 he completed his PhD examining the use of video in performance through the University of Melbourne. His mis-en-scene emphasises the actor supported by minimalist design and well integrated video.

In 2024 he wrote, produced and directed the work Two of Them for the Adelaide Fringe which was  praised as “a breathtakingly immersive commentary on human identity.”  See https://www.festmag.com/adelaide/theatre/two-of-them. 

In 2018 he wrote and directed Earshot an opera that dramatised the healing nature of WW1 battlefield pilgrimage. The production partnered with Tutti Arts, with funding from Veterans SA. This was a second collaboration with Tutti Arts and featured a vision impaired performer in a lead role. See review here: http://www.thebarefootreview.com.au/menu/theatre/119-2014-adelaide-reviews/1789-earshot.html

Russell has worked extensively in Japan. He adapted and directed The Glass Rabbit by Toshiko Takagi. This true story of a survivor of the wartime bombing of Tokyo premiered at the Come Out Festival for Young People in Adelaide and toured to Japan where it was performed in front of Toshiko Takagi (1999). He also co-produced and directed the world English-language premiere of The Lost Babylon by Takeshi Kawamura (2006) for the Adelaide Fringe Festival - a collaboration with Tokyo-based company T-Factory (formerly Daisan Erotica). This was a theatre work exploring real and virtual representations of violence. It combined video projection and video game software developed at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology with actors from Japan and Australia.

He has a strong interest in the community/ensemble aspects of theatre workshops and productions. In 2012 he directed Perish the Thought by Susan Harris a moving stage portrayal of the effects of dementia on family life. His promenade adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Nosferatu The Undead premiered as part of the Adelaide Cabaret Fringe in 2014. In 2015 he directed the Australian premiere of the opera Six Swans a collaboration between the University of South Australia and Tutti Arts. This  production integrated artists with a disability with students. See review here: https://glamadelaide.com.au/theatre-review-six-swans/ 

In June 2019 he delivered an arts workshop program for the Soldier Recovery Centre which attracted the attention of Channel 7’s News. See TV report: https://7news.com.au/news/sa/war-veterans-using-performing-arts-to-treat-post-traumatic-stress-c-181818

He blends practice with research and has widely published in this area. His pedagogy is framed within industry frameworks through professionally simulated environments and partnerships with the State Theatre Company of SA and Tutti Arts

He is a Lecturer in Performing Arts in the Bachelor of Creative Industries (BCI) at the University of South Australia Magill Campus.

• Member of Intermediality and Performance Research Group within International Federation for Theatre Research
• Member of Australasian Drama Studies Association
• Reviewer International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media
• Member Digital Transformation Research Centre UniSA
• Associate Member Research Centre for Creative People, Products and Places UniSA

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy University of Melbourne

• Masters of Philosophy University of Sydney

• Bachelor of Science Flinders University

• Certificate in Mime Movement &Theatre Ecole Jacques LeCoq