Child performers get a big hand from good stage parents Nicole, Jai and Isabelle have all won parts in South Pacific that will play at the Advelaide Festival Centre in 2014. Source: Calum Robertson Source: News Limited Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington, admonished the great English playwright and composer Noel Coward. Yet every year, thousands of parents are faced with the challenge of how best to support and nurture the budding talents of their aspiring performer offspring. Others also see the benefits of dance, theatre or singing classes for boosting their children's confidence, presentation skills and ability to interact and work as a team. On the flip side, there are few things worse than those pushy "stage parents" who try to live out their own frustrated ambitions by forcing children to perform against their will or beyond their abilities. Most schools have some drama and music programs, and there are also many independent dance, singing and acting classes or youth theatre companies which specialise in fostering young talent. These talent schools also often act as the conduit for putting children up for auditions when professional productions, such as the upcoming Adelaide season of the classic musical South Pacific, require young cast members. Talent schools and agencies are advised of upcoming productions and will often also help to coach and prepare their students for the audition process. South Pacific associate director Neil Rutherford was himself a child performer, who began learning piano at five and joined the local amateur operatic society in Hertfordshire, England. He went on as an adult to perform in London's West End, including leading roles in Fiddler On The Roof (opposite the great Topol), City of Angels, Aspects of Love, Jesus Christ Superstar and Les Miserables. "I always like to look for children who are natural, engaged and confident," Rutherford says. They do not necessarily need to be from drama or stage schools, but they do need to understand what it is to play a character and understand the story they are part of. Children love telling stories so it's normally very easy for them to play characters. It's then about understanding repetition of scenes, and working hard in rehearsal. That takes a great deal of concentration, so I often seek children who will not get tired easily, and can maintain stamina during both rehearsals and performance. Rutherford says that, given the right impetus and direction, anyone can act so having attended talent schools is not essential - although experience is a benefit. "Often it's the backstage element that children find daunting, and so any experience of that is helpful," he says. It's easy to get a great onstage performance so long as you are clear in your direction, and the children are up for learning and wanting to play. At auditions, he will usually provide children with a short song and/or piece of script in advance, to test their memory skills. Then we also do some improvisation in the room; acting 'on the spot' so I can see how they use their imagination. Finally, we make them do a bit of performance in front of each other or with each other, in order to see how they interact with others. One may be a great actor, but horrid to the others in the group. I can guarantee that they won't be chosen. South Pacific usually requires two children born of a Tonkinese mother and French father, a rare parentage in Australia. "In Adelaide, I had no African American children audition, but all Asian and/or other mixed race children," Rutherford says. Ironically, they are actually closer in look to the original concept of Tonkinese islanders. There are strict rules about the use of children in professional theatre productions, which include alternating different cast members between performances. In Adelaide, two teams - each consisting of three children - will swap between shows, playing the offspring of French plantation owner Emile de Becque and assistant to the island's resident "wheeler-dealer," Bloody Mary. One team consists of three sisters - Taylor, Paige and Bridget Tran - and the other three unrelated children, Nicole Ly, Jai Varmaan and Isabelle Oppedisano. Nicole's mother, Alice Kao, said her 10-year-old daughter had been studying at Xcel Dance Studio for seven years and that her teachers had introduced her to singing. "This is her very first production, she's never done anything like this before, so she's very excited and very fortunate," Dr Kao says. I'm a medico and my husband's an accountant - there's no dancing and singing in the family. It's just a form of relaxation and her way of expressing herself. Jai's father, Ravi Varmaan, sings and plays in Adelaide reggae band One Planet. "Because of that we always have a lot of music going on in the house," he says. Jai, now nine, first performed in Miss Saigon five years ago and went on to do amateur theatre. "He gave up for a while, then when this audition came about, we took him to a singing coach for three months and got him prepared," Mr Varmaan says. We did ask him whether he wanted to give it a go, and he said 'Yeah'. For me, the parents support what the kids want to do ... everyone would be happy with something they love to do as a career. Joe Oppedisano said his daughter Isabelle, 12, had been dancing for about three years but only really began performing in theatre this year. She loves theatre and dance. It came about really by a semi-professional production of The Wizard of Oz (by Therry Dramatic Society), then she was in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang this year, and she also starred in a school theatre production as Annie, so it's been a big year for her. "Give them all the support they need, but just remind them at the end of the day that nothing is a guarantee," Mr Oppedisanso said. Have a good time, enjoy yourself and if it's meant to be, it will take off from there. As for other upcoming productions which need child performers, Neil Rutherford is currently casting The King and I - which will also feature South Pacific co-stars Lisa McCune and Teddy Tahu Rhodes - for its Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney seasons next year. "I can't comment about Matilda, although it's a wonderful piece and I hope it does come to Australia," he says. Generally schools, agencies, and talent schools find out through various casting services. But it's always good to find out in advance what the theatres are presenting from their season brochures; the professional productions tend to publicise many months in advance, up to a year. South Pacific is at the Festival Theatre from December 29 to January 26. Book at BASS.