Queensland Theatre's production of Calamity Jane has galloped into Brisbane, bringing a Griffith University alumnus and an intimacy coordinator along for the ride.
Having graduated from Griffith's Bachelor of Musical Theatre in December 2024, Juliette Coates plays a split role in the show, as both the fearless, larger-than-life 'performer-wannabe' Susan Miller, and the glamorous Hollywood-esque starlet, Adelaide Adams.
Having grown up watching musicals such as Singin' in the Rain, Oklahoma and Calamity Jane with her grandmother, and her mother even playing Calamity in high school, Mx Coates was no stranger to the characters, but their rigorous training at Griffith prepared them for the extra challenge of playing two.
"The most fun part is probably the two minutes where I run off stage after being Susan and very quickly get changed into a completely different look, then sprint back to appear as a different character in completely opposite colour palette, hair and make-up," they said.
"It's been a lot of fun exploring the different roles, with Adelaide Adams being successful and adored, and Susan Miller not, yet she is completely sure of herself and absolutely fearless.
"She's then got this fun and childlike curiosity when she falls in love with another aspiring performer, and they are just so beautiful together."
To facilitate the intimacy between those two characters and others, Queensland Theatre also brought in Program Director of Griffith's Bachelor of Acting, Jacqui Somerville, who specialises in intimacy coordination for theatre and screen.
Originally training under intimacy coordinator and movement director Ita O'Brien in the United Kingdom, Ms Somerville now runs regular workshops with Griffith's acting students to prepare them for difficult or confronting moments in plays or films.
Often only spending a couple of hours with actors, she makes a big impact creating safe and consensual productions.
"I come in if there's a kiss, a hug, an inappropriate moment that needs to be discussed or unpacked," Ms Somerville said.
"I'll start by asking who is leading the kiss, is it 50/50 or perhaps 70/30, and what the quality of it is to be.
"It's about working out people's boundaries and what everyone is comfortable with, but fundamentally, having them realise it is their professional body doing these things, not their personal body, and there is a difference.
"They'll talk about themselves in the third person, so they'll say 'my character would do this' and we'll talk through the stages of that movement."
Intimacy coordination is not limited to kissing or sex scenes, and can in fact include anything from fight scenes to those involving death, childbirth, or even parental interactions with children.
"It's really just navigating and sculpting the moment," Ms Somerville said.
"You're choreographing the moment to look spontaneous and as authentic as possible."
