{"id":7850,"date":"2019-12-03T07:53:08","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T23:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/curtin-student-lands-lead-role-in-new-abc-show\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T13:09:44","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T05:09:44","slug":"curtin-student-lands-lead-role-in-new-abc-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/curtin-student-lands-lead-role-in-new-abc-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Curtin student lands lead role in new ABC show"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wild shores of Albany are the dramatic backdrop to Itch<\/em>, Australia’s latest screen offering for tweens.<\/p>\n

Itch<\/em> follows the adventures of science-mad teenager, Itchingham Lofte, who sets out to \u2018hunt elements\u2019 of the periodic table \u2013 a surprisingly dangerous pursuit.<\/p>\n

And cast in the coveted lead role is Curtin theatre arts student, Sam Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible opportunity,\u201d Ireland says. \u201cAustralia has a history of making great television for young people. I\u2019ve grown up with so many fabulous shows like Blue Water High<\/em> and Parallax<\/em>, which I still talk about with friends to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cKids\u2019 dramas are what Aussies do best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ireland hopes to take on the same iconic status for the nation\u2019s next generation of TV-watching tweens.<\/p>\n

\u201cItch is a special character I really connect with,\u201d he says. \u201cHe\u2019s fifteen and has lots of hobbies but not many friends. I never felt like I didn\u2019t have friends, but I was very socially awkward. Acting really helped me with finding confidence \u2013 and finding myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SamThe talented actor describes long days of filming on location to create the ten-part miniseries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was exhausting, but amazing. I went down to Albany about ten days before we started shooting to organise costume fittings, do initial rehearsals and figure out what they were doing with my hair. They dyed it three times until they found the perfect shade of auburn!<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the lead, the first five episodes were manic. There were often days when I was shooting for a full ten hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his busy days as the series\u2019 main actor, Ireland is quick to point out he was \u201conly a cog in the machine\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI quickly realised that a [production] set is a huge working machine and you have to learn to just play your part,\u201d he explains. \u201cYou need to respect everyone\u2019s roles and expertise and let the machine work around you. There is so much amazing work that goes unseen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn one scene, there was a crazy rig set up to shoot in a cave, another day the art department was improvising with Nesquik to create a dirty truck!\u201d<\/p>\n

A budding playwright himself, Ireland was impressed with the quality of the scripts.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though the show is aimed at eight to 12 year olds, there\u2019s a wonderful amount of depth,\u201d he says. \u201cI constantly felt like I was stretching my acting \u2018muscles\u2019 and doing serious work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s love for drama stemmed from a high school performance of Shakespeare.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn year 11, I secured the lead romantic role in Twelfth Night<\/em>,\u201d he shares. \u201cIt took a while for the audience to warm up, but by the end they were laughing at everything, and we were improvising, going off the rails, it was incredible fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we walked out for our bows, we received an insane cheer and the rush that went through my body was indescribable. I\u2019d never felt anything like it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realised, \u2018Wow, this is special. This is something I need to pursue\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

Ireland enrolled in Curtin\u2019s theatre arts course, the longest running in Western Australia, on the recommendation of his school careers counsellor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great advice. Studying at Curtin has offered me the most incredible opportunities,\u201d Ireland says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amazing thing about the course is its practical nature and the chance to be in shows. In my first year I was ushering when I was snapped up by a third year to audition and perform. It gave me a great early introduction to the key culture of the course which spurred me on to further auditions and eventually to direct my own show, Ajar<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2018, the gifted actor won the sought-after student vote for Best Performer in a Lunchtime Show for his harrowing performance in Seawall<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so great to get that recognition from my peers,\u201d he says. \u201cIn Seawall<\/em>, I played a father who has lost his daughter in a tragic accident. I remember walking off stage after the second performance and I totally broke down. It\u2019s a hard thing to perform as an actor, especially when you’re twenty, trying to create this life within yourself and imagine your daughter, and what losing her would be like. In the end, I think the key is that the loss is impossible to fathom, and that’s where the pain comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he loves connecting with audiences on stage, Ireland has also developed a passion for production.<\/p>\n

\u201cA huge positive with the Curtin course is that you\u2019re educated in the technical elements of theatre too,\u201d he explains. \u201cI did Technical Theatre Fundamentals<\/em> in my first year and became passionate about lighting and design.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actor assisted with lighting design for S-27 <\/em>at the Fremantle Arts Centre, a show directed by Curtin lecturer Dr Teresa Izzard. His aptitude was quickly recognised and he has been promoted to lighting designer for the show\u2019s run at Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely keeping busy!\u201d he laughs. \u201cI\u2019m also working hard on a script called Destination<\/em> that I\u2019d like to direct in my final semester and next month I have a general audition for the Black Swan Theatre company. They\u2019re our State theatre company and I\u2019ve been watching them for years so it\u2019s very exciting!\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his hectic schedule, Ireland has his fingers crossed for a second season of Itch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have to see what the reaction is,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I can\u2019t wait to watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll occasionally cringe at my acting but you\u2019re always your own harshest critic!\u201d<\/p>\n

Itch airs on ABC ME in early 2020.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wild shores of Albany are the dramatic backdrop to Itch, Australia’s latest screen offering for tweens. And cast in the coveted lead role is Curtin theatre arts student, Sam Ireland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2670,"featured_media":7851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-7850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"Theatre Arts","qualification":"Bachelor of Arts","link":"https:\/\/study.curtin.edu.au\/offering\/course-ug-theatre-arts-major-ba--mjru-perfs\/","description":"","faculty":"Humanities"}],"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/ITCH_ABC_TV_Simon_Mayo_Nic-Duncan_1-edited.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Anne","last_name":"Griffin-Appadoo","display_name":"Anne Griffin-Appadoo"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 19:26:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2670"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7850"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=7850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}