G'day!
As per usual, let's get right down to the meat and potatoes of this post: our cast!
Here's the announcement in video form
We want to start off with a huge shout-out to our four studios - Original Score in Melbourne, ZigZag Post in Sydney, Innenhof in Vienna and Voiceover Soho in London. Making people on three continents sound like they’re in one room is *hard*, but our audio director Maize Wallin and their team have had some of the best quality sound to work with, thanks to the hard work of everyone around the world who collaborated with us!
Without further ado...
It’s finally, FINALLY time to announce our fantastic cast! We don’t wanna wait one second longer, let’s just do it.
First cab off the rank: this one's no secret. Reprising her role from our 2019 demo, we have the inimitable Anne Charleston in the role of Ida Vaughan! Although many of you have recognised her from her iconic role as Madge on Neighbours, Anne has had a stellar international career in theatre, film and TV across Australia, the UK and Ireland. Working with such a legend of the industry was such a joy!
We're so excited to introduce our Esther Fitzgerald - Michela Ledwidge! She's a director in her own right, working across all visual and digital media. Michela put so much consideration and research into her portrayal of our beloved Esther, and it shows - playtesters are already falling in love with this character!
We were honoured to work with Shane Clayton, playing the role of Ted Muir. Shane is a young Bunurong man, a performer, and an absolute delight! He brought spades of humour to the recording studio, and so much warmth and heart to the character of Ted.
Ahhhh, Mr Pruess. He's the character who has *easily* changed the most as a result of voiceover. When we wrote this character, we thought he was cold, inscrutable, solitary. But Erhard Hartmann infused Heinrich Pruess with such incredible joy, and truly brought the character to life - all the way from Austria! Erhard is a prominent actor in Austria and Germany, and we were so lucky to work with him - not least because he let us know that we had accidentally named one of our characters quite a rude word in German, which we were then able to fix!
It's been hard to keep this one to ourselves… the loquacious Neil Avery will be voiced by none other than living legend Michael Caton! You'll remember him from The Castle, or The Sullivans, or Last Cab to Darwin, but in truth, if you live in Australia and you own a TV, you can guarantee his face has been on it. Michael was so down-to-earth in the studio - quite the opposite of his character!
Next, another performer returning from our 2019 demo. Ruth Beaumaris will be played by Jenny Seedsman! Neighbours, Blue Heelers, State Coroner - you name it, she's been in it. Jenny brought a lot of care and warmth to the character of Ruth, even in her sternest moments!
The director of the hospital, Felix Pettigrew, is warm, energetic, and always immaculately dressed. Bringing his infectious effervescence to this role is Josiah Lulham! Josiah wears many hats, as a theatre actor, a facilitator, and an anthropology scholar. We could barely get a clean take with Josiah, with how much he was making us laugh in the studio!
Our Celtic Cuisinier may be shrouded in mystery in the game, but we can finally reveal his identity in real life. John Barrett is the voice of Devin the cook! John also helped us add some Irish language to the game, which was a real treat.
Sticking with hospital staff, nurse Lily Marshall will be played by Harriet Wallace-Mead! Harriet is an actor, a producer, and also a horticulturalist! Harriet is another actor that we worked with on our 2019 demo, and when we were casting for the final game, she was one of the first performers we decided on - Lily just wouldn't be Lily without this voice!
In Wayward Strand, Lily works closely with another nurse, Joe Tagliabue, played by the wonderful Peter Paltos. Apart from being an experienced and gifted actor, Peter also happens to be a healthcare worker! So he was able to bring so much wisdom and insight to this performance.
For some reason, we decided to record one of our saddest storylines on our very first day of recording. Thankfully, we were recording the delightful Jennifer Vuletic for the role of Dr Margot Bouchard, who brought so much power and humanity to one of our more heartbreaking characters (you'll see). From our first meeting with Jennifer, she was so positive about our work, which meant so much to us as a team. And I think we all shed a tear or two in the studio!
Dr Shen, our last staff member to reveal! Celine Shen is played by Renee Lim, who, believe it or not, is both a practising actor AND a practising doctor! So this role was a walk in the park for Renee, and she was another performer who was able to bring such a depth of subject matter knowledge to bear on her role.
Last, but certainly not least,
the player character; fourteen-year-old Casey Beaumaris. It is such an incredible honour to introduce you to Nancy Curtis. Intelligence. Humour. Work ethic. Nancy recorded a whopping 1200+ pages of dialogue in just 10 studio sessions. And she did it all with such ease. When we first heard a recording of Nancy, we thought Casey herself had escaped from the game and come to life. Working with Nancy was a true delight, and one of the highlights of making this game.
13 actors announced so far… are there any others? I guess you'll have to just wait and play the game to find out!
I can't believe we're just 4 weeks out from launch.
Absolutely so excited my socks are falling off.
See you there!
Lots of love,
Goldie.