Jo Bourke
Jo Bourke is a woman of many talents. In addition to years of theatre experience, she has been training as a singer since her teenage years. Her extensive vocal range is put to good use in the Alice productions in which she is asked to switch rapidly between vastly different characters. Jo has strong improvisational and performance skills that were built upon at her time at the University of Sydney. As an active member of Australia’s oldest continuous theatre company, Sydney University Drama Society (SUDS), Jo has experimented with numerous different types of theatre. Highlights from her time at University include a key role in the pantomime The Critic performed at the Cellar Theatre in 2007 and the lead role, a kindly nanny in the vein of Mary Poppins, in the self-devised From The Stars. This show was aimed at children and involved Jo operating puppets, singing and performing strenuous dance routines. In 2008, Jo was a key cast member of Princess Cabaret, directed by Brydie Lee-Kennedy and performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. At the 2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Jo proved her acting stamina (alongside our musician Sophie Miller) as she ran from Alice at 6pm to Doll’s Cabaret at 7pm, at Trades Hall. In 2009 the cast of Princess Cabaret reunited for a regional tour of NSW, followed by successful runs at the Bondi Pavilion and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and were invited to perform at Sydney’s newest comedy festival The World’s Funniest Island. In 2010 leading up to a return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Jo has been involved in The Adelaide Fringe Festival with exciting childrens shows Fairy Fail and Alice in Wonderland and the Sydney Comedy Festival with Princess Cabaret and Fairy Fail.
