Who is Moira Finucane?
Moira Finucane is a writer, performer, creator, director, diva – a Queen of Provocative Variety and Hustler of Hope.
I am immensely proud of Finucane & Smith Unlimited, my tiny but mighty company in its 30th year. We create intimate theatrical spectacles – cabaret, drama, beyond-genre variety, installations and immersive works – hijacking myriad art forms, engaging unique and extraordinary artists, and lifting lesser heard voices to create indelible visions of humanity, hope, desire, defiance and a future we can all share.
In 30 years we’ve made a legacy of 36 full-length shows, presentations and commissions in 19 countries, touring and love-bombing 160+ regional and remote towns across Australia, 1,000,000+ audience members, 21 awards. With not a penny of ongoing funding. Ever.
What would you do differently from what you do now?
Everything I do in the future will be different to what I do now, in small ways and in large ways. I like to evolve. What I hope for my future is that I learn from my past. Eventually I will run out of future – so I intend to leave a big, beautiful back catalogue! And also on a more prosaic note, I would like just a little bit of downtime!
Who inspires you and why?
My partner in crime, art, life, hope and love Jackie Smith – because she is funny and clever. And she keeps coming along with me, on all our projects, massive and small, and never stops believing in me.
What would you do to make a difference in the world?
If I could click my fingers I would click them for people to hear each without fear, and see each other without the glasses of discrimination of all kinds shoved hard down on their noses. To look for beauty in others, to celebrate difference, to act with generosity, to send back to the kitchen the egregious empty calories of power through extraction, hoarding and subordination, and gorge on the lush fruit salad that is all we are and all we are part of and all we can be. That goes for me too. It’s a lifetime journey.
But because I can’t just click and collect, this is what we do at Finucane & Smith. We lift the lesser heard, every day, every show, and show the rich complexity and beauty of communities, of creatures, of this world we live in. We invite everyone into our worlds; big smoke, tiny town hall, under the desert sky; really importantly we offer our art to people who maybe think they don’t like people like us, or that we don’t like people like them.
Finucane & Smith shows are a bedazzled bridge for everyone to meet and chat on, and throw a few love lockets down. Everyone is welcome, everyone is cherished. Finucane & Smith are about hope, wonder and wildness, in every sense of the word. So our showgirls not only show good, but they do good! Our divas aren’t just hot, they’re transcendent.
Favourite holiday destination and why?
Three things: Firstly, I’d like to take a holiday. Secondly, it would need to be with my family. Thirdly, it would need to be somewhere beautiful, with lots of extremely long ambitious magnificent walks – otherwise I will be unbearable, and stuff up the first two things.
When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to, and why?
I’d take them to Luna Park! It’s one of the world’s last remaining heritage amusement parks, and an absolute icon of Melbourne! It’s survived two pandemics, has the world’s oldest continuously operating rollercoaster and the Southern hemisphere’s largest and most ornate carousel. LOVE! I’d fill them up with a bucket of chips, and then take them for a scenic spin on the scenic railway, with views across the bay.
If they are made of sturdy stuff, they can have a go on the spider or the dragon boat or one of the fabulously frightening rides, but I will stay on the ground and hold their handbags for that bit. Happy to hang out in the ghost train of course! When it’s time to go home, we would bundle into the 96 and trundle half price to our given destinations!
What are you currently reading?
I’ve always go a few things on the go. I just finished reading Power and the Passion: Our Ancestors Return Home by Shannon Faulkhead and Jim Berg. It is the unputdownable deeply Melbourne, but stretching meaning out everywhere, story of the reburial of Ancestral Remains in King’s Doman Garden.
It’s about caring for and returning the remains of Ancestors, about activism, human rights, dignity, respect. It is full of hope, power, passion, and I think about it almost every day. I also have recently dipped back into one of my favourite books from childhood, The Animals’ Merry Christmas, featuring the epic classic, The Lions’ Christmas which is about preparing for Christmas by creating utter celebratory unleashed chaos, which is how I like it.
What are you currently listening to?
My phone ring tone. It’s been going off lately!
Happiness is?
Happiness is a simple feeling. Sometimes I am lying on the grass with my family, and I start laughing at a really stupid joke, and it gets worse and worse until I am crying and can’t get up. I am really really happy then. Getting bigger picture than me in the grass, I think happiness is the lived experience of generous equity.
That’s when people can be most joyous, that’s where I want to go. I want to be able to be that stupid at 3am too; I want to walk down the street at 3am and laugh until I cry, rather than be hyper alert and watching carefully where I am going every moment.
What does the future hold for you?
Art. I am currently working on my PhD Art vs Extinction, talking to and listening deeply to incredible changemakers around Melbourne and around the world about when and how art attacks and defies extinction. And I am asking myself the question Is Hope the Weaponised Human Heart.
Moira stars in Finucane & Smith’s Dance Palace – which will be presented at Melbourne’s Luna Park from 20 August – 12 September 2026. For more information, visit: www.finucaneandsmith.com for details.
Image: Moira Finucane – photo by Jodie Hutchinson