director’s note

The Mona Lisa Five was originally created by Atlas Adams and myself when we were looking for a way to capitalise on our improv expertise as well as avoid writing a screenplay. We decided upon a murder mystery, as Atlas was designing one himself, and the rest of the cast would not be told who the murderer was until the final scene. Atlas and I crafted the story and divided it into courses, allowing ourselves some breathing room between takes as the digital cameras we were using would automatically stop recording after 15 minutes. What happened on that Saturday 30th June 2018 no one could have predicted. In one day, with the incomparable contributions of Alice Furze, Tommy Green, and Jessica Murphy, we improvised over three hours of dialogue between these silly, silly characters. After about six months of editing we were left with an extremely sharp 70 minute film. Cut to early 2020. Two restaurateurs see our improv show and want to collaborate. I suggest The Mona Lisa Five as a dinner and a show and we perform with the current cast you see here. We receive wonderful comments and the cast are excited to perform again but, alas, it was just a one night show experiment. Thankfully, we’ve been able to remount it and give it a season it really deserves. I hope you enjoy!

James Hartley (editor/Director/arthur greaves-strigby)

James is an award winning director, writer, and actor of theatre and film. In 2013 he was awarded Best Director at Short+Sweet Sydney, the world’s largest short play festival. He has been involved in shows that performed in the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, and Australia. Most recently he has been involved in directed world premieres of new Australian works including This Modern Coil (2016), Fragments by Maura Pierlot (2018), and The Mona Lisa Five edited by himself and Atlas Adams (2020). He is also an award winning improviser winning Impro Australia’s Scriptless Cup with his team in 2018 and runs the Upper Crass Players improv troupe. He has created and starred in two improvised feature films (Get Help (2017) and The Mona Lisa Five (2020)) as well as the hour long improvised dramatic play Ibsen Improvised (2019).

atlas adams (editor)

Atlas Adams is an Australian actor and improviser best known for breaking the world record for longest improvised play. You may have seen him on TV: Atlas has starred in commercials for Telstra, Shell, Petbarn, Pepsi, and AAMI. He has appeared in “Rake”, “The Good Cop”, “The Unlisted”, three seasons of “Deadly Women”, and played a recurring role on SBS’ “The Weekend Shift” alongside Helmut Bakaitis (The Matrix) and Lee Lin Chin (SBS World News). Atlas loves planning and MCing murder mysteries. He’s hosted hundreds of events, including recurring events for Google, TAL, and Commbank. Recently Atlas designed and hosted the world's first online murder mystery party for over 30 guests. Atlas looks forward to organising the death of many more people.

aileen fang (designer/theatre designer)

Aileen Fang is a production designer and art department assistant for film, tv and theatre. She became interested in working in these fields after seeing a lack of positive representation in media growing up. She strives to create authentic worlds through visual storytelling using a keen attention to detail and creative problem solving skills. She was standby props on queer feature film Ellie and Abbie (And Ellie’s Dead Aunt), which won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film at Mardi Gras Film Festival. She's interested in working on a variety of projects that challenge people's perspectives.

Brenton Amies (bertram futheringham-smythe)

Brenton is no stranger to this vaudeville palaver, being a regular performer with the Upper Crass Players Improv Troupe, Johnny Cobra sketch comedy troupe and even ventured as far as LA with the short play “Out of the Woods”, co-written/performed with the dashing Cam Ralph. When not treading the boards, he can be found in the conservatory with the candlestick.

debBIE neilson (claudia bageltoast)

Debbie has a passion for film and graduated from Screenwise film school in Surry Hills. Debbie has been in Ambrosia by Rhiannon Bannenberg (Best Cinematographer award at Naples Film Festival) and Fragmentary by Jace Pickard (nominated for Horrorhound Film Festival USA). Debbie also has a passion for the stage and has recently just played the lead role in 42nd Street with Baulkham Hills musical society.

cam ralph (lord, count of buckfuttinghamshire)

Cam Ralph spent his childhood glued to the screen, watching countless movies and TV shows, idolising memorable characters and being inspired by standout performances. As he grew older, he realised that his favourite characters always had one thing in common. No matter how bizarre or otherworldly, their performance was always grounded in honesty.

For the past 8 years, Cam has performed as many beloved characters for stage and screen, including Blinky Bill (The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill), Giggle Fangs and Hootpa (Giggle & Hoot, Hoot Hoot Go!) and Nicky (Avenue Q - North Shore Theatre Company).

Cam enjoys the challenge of crafting a performance the audience will remember, imbued with both honesty and integrity, and he is very excited to play a part in this production of Upper Crass Theatre's The Mona Lisa Five.

emily tighe (millicent marmalade)

Emily began her love of drama at a very early age in her Grandmas lounge room when she discovered Cats and Grease. Her big breakout role was as Rumpleteazer at the 2003 annual Family Christmas lunch, much to her family’s dismay. Her love for overacting and attention took her all the way to Mackay where she graduated Central Queensland University with a Bachelor of Theatre. Shortly after she moved to Sydney where she has been fortunate to be involved in many TV and theatre productions and has enjoyed every second. She hopes you enjoy the show!

KAZE Productions (Lighting and Sound)

KAZE Productions is comprised of the individuals Kodie Amos and Zach Edmunds, two entertainment technicians that came together to make a mark on the Australian entertainment industry both locally and across NSW. They are based in the Greater Penrith Valley Region with over 10 years in amateur theater and operating the technical side of the King Street theater for five years between them.

“We came together with our 10 years of experience to create a business that provides our clients with all their function's needs: from birthdays to weddings, theatre shows to business conferences, you name it and we will source and organise the gear to make it go off without an issue.”