CHRISTOPHER SAMUEL CARROLL

Christopher Samuel Carroll is an Irish theatre-artist based in Sydney & Canberra, trained at The Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin, and Ecole Internationale du Theatre Jacques Lecoq, Paris. Since moving to Canberra in 2016, he has become one of the city’s most prolific and celebrated performers, winning the inaugural Helen Tsongas Award for Excellence in Acting in 2019 for roles in Twelfth Night, Icarus, Howie the Rookie, and Metamorphosis.

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As artistic director of Bare Witness Theatre Co., he has produced ten shows to date, in Ireland, the U.K., France and Australia, winning a reputation for raw, pulsating theatre that ignites the imagination.  Described as “the master of the solo performance”, Christopher is renowned as a daring and skilled creator of one-man shows. His Butoh adaptation of Paradise Lost, described as “a culturally shattering event”, was developed at Belco Arts, before touring to the Adelaide Fringe and to Perth, where it was shortlisted for the Best Theatre award at Fringe World 2017. His wordless physical odyssey, Icarus, debuted at The Blue Room, Perth, winning the Fringe World overall award for Dance and Physical Theatre, before a critically-acclaimed season at The Street Theatre in 2019.

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Recent work has included dancing in MESS at Belco Arts; directing Carpe DM for Canberra Youth Theatre's Emerge Company; a solo adaptation of The Stranger by Albert Camus, hailed as “a form of theatrical and artistic genius”; and writing, directing and acting in the sharp-shooting showdown about the dark arts of marketing, Smokescreen, at The Q in Queanbeyan. He will be directing cocktail-inspired cabaret The Gentleman's Companion in March 2022, and will be directing, devising and acting in the Bare Witness production of I Have No Enemies in July 2022.

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As a teacher, Christopher is specialised in Movement for the Actor, as well as  teaching voice, acting, and audition preparation with students of all ages and levels. He has taught movement and acting with NIDA Open, Perform Australia, and Tuggeranong Arts Centre's Messengers program, and has previously taught specialist classes with students of Daramalan College, Chevalier College, and Kim Harvey School of Dance, and professional masterclasses through The Street Theatre, HotHouse Theatre and Belconnen Arts Centre. He currently teaches weekly workshops for Years 10-12 students at Canberra Youth Theatre, and is the Mentoring Artist for Canberra Youth Theatre's training and professional development program for emerging theatre makers aged 18-25, the Emerge Company.