On the Couch with Nadine Garner

Nadine Garner AAR On the Couch Who is Nadine Garner?
Nadine Garner.

What would you do differently to what you do now?
I’d probably choose to be more of a direct healer. I think performers help people heal. I think people seek story tellers to help them process their own trials and traumas – I enjoy that aspect of my job. At times it feels too abstract and I yearn for more direct involvement.

Who inspires you and why?
Many people outside my industry inspire me, but among my colleagues my friend and producer Sonya Suares greatly inspires me. A performer, producer, mother, theatre maker with a non Anglo background, Sonya gives voice and opportunity to many non Anglo performers, is sensitive and smart about the realities of their limited opportunities and is definitely the kind of producer this country needs to see as its future if we’re to keep up with the rest of the world.

What would you do to make a difference in the world?
I try to make small differences everyday by living with simplicity and kindness – by not adding to the mayhem of modern living.

Favourite holiday destination and why?
Tokyo – haven’t been there yet!

When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to, and why?
Botanical Gardens. Melbourne’s independent theatre productions happening every night all over the city.

What are you currently reading?
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I love American Pioneering and Indigenous history.

What are you currently listening to?
Listening to my son’s random playlist and the Broadway version of A Little Night Music.

Happiness is?
Growing vegetables.

What does the future hold for you?
Whatever the crystal ball says…

Nadine leads a stellar cast in Watch This’ production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre: 22 – 24 February; National Theatre Melbourne: 28 February – 3 March; and the Whitehorse Centre, Nunawading: 9 – 10 March 2018. For more information, visit: www.watchthis.net.au for details.

Image: Nadine Garner (supplied)