Interview | Actor, Singer and Dancer, Carly Quinn

Next up on our local artists segment is the lovely (and extremely talented) Carly Quinn. Actor, singer, dancer & all round dork, Carly is wildly mediocre in many aspects of performance. Her credits include Anything Goes - (Erma Latour), The Little Mermaid - (Ursula), The Hatpin - (Harriet Piper), Next to Normal - (Diana Goodman). Last year Carly won the Billie Brown Award for Best Emerging Artist at the Matilda Awards, and was also nominated for Best supporting female actor in a musical for her work in The Hatpin. Carly spent most of 2019 working in film & TV and studying vocal and acting techniques in order to prepare for a full on 2020 - Rona had other plans... She also performs with the band Absolute Suave around Brisbane & the Gold Coast and has spent most of 2020 doing online script reads that will hopefully eventuate into shows. Here's what Carly had to say...

VIRAG: How did you become involved with the world of theatre and performance?

CARLY: I guess you could say I've been a performer most of my life. If it wasn't school musicals or drama festivals, then it was the church choir or my parents lounge room! I think the big turning point was when I went to see Mama Mia at QPAC in high school. I didn't particularly like the show but I knew being a performer was what I wanted to be. I studied nursing, then after that, I went on to study theatre. It's a strange combination but it works for me!

VIRAG: How has the coronavirus impacted your own creative practice and the theatre companies you work with/manage?

CARLY: The show I was working on has halted production, which is frustrating when you've been working on a show since December last year! My commercial jobs have also dried up because every production company has closed temporarily.

I also perform with Absolute Suave - a Brisbane based band - and all of those gigs have been cancelled which has been difficult.

VIRAG: Have you been able to shift any of your creative practices onto an online platform? And if so, has it been a difficult change?

CARLY: I've actually been involved with 3 "Zoom" script reads, which, all going well will hopefully develop into something later in the year or next. It's been absolutely lovely watching all of my creative friends and peers being able to develop scripts and ideas they've had simply because they now have time to do so.

VIRAG: What would you encourage young artists/actors/creatives to do at home to keep them creative?

CARLY: Whatever they've thought "I'll do that when I have time". DO IT! Now is the time to write that script, to get those headshots, to film those scenes, because you now have time. In the last few months, I've had new headshots done, learnt a script, a dozen new songs and I've started playing the flute and the ukulele again, simply because I've had time. It's actually been rather rewarding!