Phil Brown
Brisbane News
15 July 2009
Sea Patrol star Ian Stenlake finds himself back where he began for Bille Brown’s latest production
When Ian Stenlake was 20 years old he arrived back in Brisbane from an overseas trip with a brainwave.
He would become an actor. His parents weren’t convinced. “They said, ‘That’s nice, son, but you get your degree first and then you can do whatever you want,’” Ian recalls. “So I went to UQ [University of Queensland] to study commerce-law and while I was there I started acting and that was it for me.” Now Ian, 40, who plays Lieutenant Commander Mike Flynn in the hit television series Sea Patrol on Channel Nine, is back in the city where it all began. He has a part in what promises to be the feelgood play of 2009 – Queensland Theatre Company’s production of Bille Brown’s The School of Arts. Brown, aka The Boy from Biloela, is a Queensland icon and this play is about a troupe of travelling players. It’s a farce, a whodunnit and a serious drama as well, set against the backdrop of the 1967 referendum to include Aborigines in the national census.
The storyline involves a production of Hamlet which runs into trouble when star of the show Byron Savage (Brown) decides to modernise Shakespeare’s classic, using live ammunition on stage with disastrous results. Bille Brown makes no bones about the fact that there are strong autobiographical elements.
“I’ve drawn from my personal history as well as Queensland’s,” Bille explains. “Growing up in Biloela in central Queensland, I recall seeing a travelling troupe of actors that included my friend and fellow actor Geoffrey Rush, who toured around the state with Bryan Nason’s Grin & Tonic Theatre Troupe. I thought a comic yarn about those days would be the best way to celebrate the company I’ve kept and the state I’m in.” The play is QTC’s Q150 event and Ian Stenlake says he’s thrilled to be in it.
“It’s great to be back where it all started for me,” Ian says.
“When I came back to Brisbane and had my epiphany that I wanted to be an actor, I went and auditioned for a part in ToadShow’s 1991 rock musical Phantoad of the Opera. I was one of 50 dancing pirates but it was a start and it immersed me in the scene here. My career just snowballed from there.” Ian’s talents were obvious and he soon began getting varied roles, eventually as a leading man.
His stage and screen resume is impressive. He has a reputation as a song and dance man and has starred in Oklahoma! and Cabaret, among other musicals and is married to another musical star, Rachael Beck (Les Miserables, Cats, Beauty and the Beast). The couple have two children, Tahlula, 2, and Roxie, six months.
In The School of Arts Ian plays Catholic priest Mike Walsh, which seems an appropriate role for the son of a preacher man.
Ian was born in Barcaldine, where his father was the local Methodist minister. Later the family moved to Dalby, Mackay and, eventually, Brisbane where Ian went to Kenmore State School, Brisbane Boys’ College and Indooroopilly State High School.
“Just being a preacher’s son doesn’t qualify you to play a Catholic priest,” Ian says, laughing. “But it might help a bit. I did manage to talk to a couple of dad’s Catholic friends when I was preparing for the role.” His own experiences in country Queensland probably help more.
“The play evokes heaps of memories for me,” Ian says. “Bille has captured the spirit of the country town school of arts halls that I remember from the towns I lived in when I was a boy.” It was in those halls that Ian did his first performing, karaoke to a small cassette player, although back then he had no inkling that he would ever be making a living from singing, dancing and acting. That came later, after the epiphany he talks about. And now he’s back where it all began.
“Acting just found me,” Ian says. “And it happened here.” The School of Arts , until Aug 1, Playhouse, QPAC, from $30, ph: 136 246.

Sea-Patrol.com

3 August 2009

Interview with Hal & Di McElroy by Sea-Patrol.com Webmaster, Hawker.

Sea Patrol Series 4 Cast Questions:

Q: Which members of the Sea Patrol crew will be back for Series 4.
A: Lisa (XO) and Ian (CO) of course, Mattie (Swain), Kristian (RO), Kirsty (Bomber) John (Charge) and of course Niko (2Dads).

Q: Are any regular cast members leaving at the end of Series 3?
A: Yes. Three. Jeremy Lindsay Taylor (Buffer), Saskia Burmeister (Nav) and Jay Ryan (Spider) are not returning.

Q: Were you shocked or disappointed?
A: Yes and no. Actors doing TV series are usually contracted for 3 series. So departures are always on the cards. Of course in Navy, postings are rarely longer than two year, so there are always regular crew turnover anyway. But of course we’ll miss them. All three are fine actors and we’ve become good friends.

Q: What do the rest of the cast think?
A: All the cast made their decision about staying or leaving at the end of last year. So they’ve accepted and respected each others’ decisions and moved on and we went on to shoot Series 3 as written, and we were very happy with the result.

Q: Will you be writing storylines that deal with them leaving?
A: We were able to make a brief reference to Nav moving on, but by the time Buffer and Spider told us they wanted to leave we had already written and were shooting Series 3 so we couldn’t create new storylines just for their departure.

Q: What does this mean for Sea Patrol Series 4?
A: The writers have been aware of the departures since last year and we’ve come up with some wonderful stories for next year – and some really exciting and intriguing new characters. There will be sixteen episodes, so there will be heaps to watch and enjoy.

Thanks to Hal and Di McElroy for clearing this up!

Sea Patrol
8:30pm, NINE

It’s R&R time for the crew of the Hammersley with Executive Officer Lt Kate McGregor (Lisa McCune) and Seaman Webb (Jay Ryan) snorkelling on a wreck, while Petty Officer Pete “Buffer” Tomaszewski (Jeremy Lindsey Taylor) and the new reservist lieutenant strip down to their shorts for a wrestle in the sand. As you do. But the fun is short-lived when a coastal trader promptly mows straight through the swimmers. Giving chase, the sailors find an empty ship running on autopilot and a logbook with a final cryptic entry that a stowaway had been found. A replacement crew is installed and the Hammersley steams off to rescue a yacht in trouble.. and then the fun begins. It appears the trader isn’t abandoned; someone is hiding in the corridors and cabins, poping up to disable the radio, eat, and generally scare the life out of those on board. And scared they should be, when they discover just who is hiding out. It’s none other than Ian Roberts, former NRL footballer turned escaped psychiatric patient with a penchant for killing people.

Holly Robertson

Port Douglas & Mossman Gazette

2 August 2009

$15 MILLION television series starring small screen darling Lisa McCune is slated to begin filming in Port Douglas and Mossman by this time next year.

The series has a working title of Hope’s Reef and will be the biggest Australian TV series to hit Far North Queensland in more than a decade.

Four-time Gold Logie winning actress McCune will play a doctor in the 13-episode series, which will be set exclusively in Port Douglas and Mossman.

As a co-producer of the series McCune, best known for her roles in Blue Heelers and Sea Patrol, was directly involved in the decision to base the series in the region.

Hope’s Reef executive producer Jonathon Schiff has had a home in Port Douglas for many years and said he was delighted to bring the production of a new show to the region.

Mr Schiff said the show had a potential audience of 100 million people worldwide which could have massive flow-on benefits for the region.

“It’s a special part of the world and with the show already being sold in Germany and distributed throughout the world by our German partners NDF, that has enormous benefits in the tourism spin-off as well,” he said.

Mr Schiff said negotiations were still under way with various television networks for the Australian broadcast rights.

“There’s interest from several places but it’s looking like it’s a really strong shot for filming next year and on air the year after that,” he said.

Writer Gareth Calverley said Hope’s Reef would be an action-packed medical series set in a small Far North Queensland hospital that combines the highly-charged glamour of emergency services with the warmth of family GP-style practice.

“It’s the best of both worlds … every once in a while you have to jump into a helicopter to go out to Low Isles and save someone,” he said.

Mr Calverley said the Douglas region was chosen for its unique beauty.

In a bid for authenticity, Mr Calverley said he would be collaborating with local medical practitioners, Mossman hospital and the indigenous community.

“The local people so far have been incredibly supportive, friendly and more than happy to give us advice and help with research,” he said.

A team of writers will arrive in Port Douglas next week to begin in-depth research for the project.