29 Scenes is an emerging, independent theatre company founded by playwright Fleur Murphy, producer Fiona Stafford, and director Tom Royce-Hampton with a mission to develop, present, and tour new Australian work.
In 2022 29 Scenes launched onto the Melbourne independent theatre scene with their acclaimed first production; ‘Hearth’. In addition to stellar audience engagement, ‘Hearth’ was selected for the 2022 Theatre Studies Playlist and seen by over 20 schools across its two-week season at La Mama Courthouse and self-produced two-week metro/regional tour. In 2023, 29 Scenes presented its second world premiere offering 'The Fence' in partnership with Darebin Speakeasy. This vital and immediate one-woman play was met with rave reviews from audience and industry alike.
With a commitment to geographical and socio-economic access, 29 Scenes offers nimble, tour-ready productions to audiences in both metro and regional centres.
In 2022 29 Scenes launched onto the Melbourne independent theatre scene with their acclaimed first production; ‘Hearth’. In addition to stellar audience engagement, ‘Hearth’ was selected for the 2022 Theatre Studies Playlist and seen by over 20 schools across its two-week season at La Mama Courthouse and self-produced two-week metro/regional tour. In 2023, 29 Scenes presented its second world premiere offering 'The Fence' in partnership with Darebin Speakeasy. This vital and immediate one-woman play was met with rave reviews from audience and industry alike.
With a commitment to geographical and socio-economic access, 29 Scenes offers nimble, tour-ready productions to audiences in both metro and regional centres.
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Grants & Awards:
2023 - Australia Council Project Grant - THE FENCE 2023 - Australian Writers' Guild Monte Miller Award - Longlisted - THE FENCE 2023 - Darebin Arts Speakeasy Grant & Programming - THE FENCE 2022 - Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award – Shortlisted - THE FENCE 2022 - RAV & Creative Victoria Sustaining Creative Workers Grant - THE FENCE 2022 - Darebin Arts Speakeasy Development Grant - THE FENCE 2022 - VCAA Playlist Selection, Theatre Studies - HEARTH 2022 - RAV & Creative Victoria Sustaining Creative Workers Grant - HEARTH 2021 - Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award – Shortlisted - HEARTH 2021 - Besen Foundation Arts Grant - HEARTH 2021 - Creative Partnerships Australia MATCH Lab Fund - HEARTH 2020 - Merri-bek Flourish Arts Recovery Grant - THE FENCE 2020 - Theatre503 International Playwriting Award – Longlisted - HEARTH |
29 Scenes acknowledges the support of Auspicious Arts Projects.
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Originally from country Victoria and based in Naarm/Melbourne, Fleur is a playwright and theatre producer. Most recently her award-nominated play The Fence premiered as part of Darebin Arts Speakeasy’s 2023 mainstage season and is touring locally and nationally throughout 2024 and 2025. Her immersive theatre production ROARING premiered in July 2024 to sold-out performances and widespread audience acclaim.
In 2022 her play Hearth, which was selected for the 2022 VCAA Theatre Studies Playlist, opened at La Mama Courthouse in Melbourne and toured regionally throughout Victoria. The play was also longlisted for the Theatre503 Award in London, and shortlisted for the 2021 Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award. That same year her adaptation of Janne Teller’s award-winning young adult novel, Nothing, premiered at fortyfivedownstairs under the direction of Alonso Pineda.
Her other plays include Shadows of Angels, which premiered at the Adelaide Fringe Festival before travelling to Melbourne and regional Victoria in 2013. An immersive staging of the play was later produced by TBC Theatre in 2014 and was set within the historic gaol cells of Melbourne’s City Watch House. Shadows of Angels was later produced by Anglesea Performing Arts in 2021 and toured to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023. Other plays include My Country for a Peach (Vessel & Arts Centre Melbourne 2016), and Don’t Say Bubba (Anglesea Performing Arts 2022, and shortlisted Top 10 for the 2023 Lysicrates Prize).
Her plays have been nominated for various awards including the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights award (shortlist), The Lysicrates Prize (Top 10), The Griffin Award (longlist), The Monte Miller Award (longlist), and the Theatre 503 Award in London (longlist). Her short film, Rain for Morgan, won multiple awards around the world including Winner of Best Narrative Short (Festivus Film Festival Denver, Colorado 2011), Winner of Best International Short Film (Ireland International Film Festival 2010), and Winner of Best Sound Achievement in a Short Film (Australian Sound Guild Awards 2010).
Fleur is currently developing a new dramedy television series, alongside another immersive show and a stage play. She is a founding member of the independent theatre company 29 Scenes and is working with Director/Producer Tom Royce-Hampton of Brickwood Films on the film adaptation of The Fence which will star Louisa Mignone.
Fleur holds a B.A. in Theatre Performance – Acting and a Master's in Writing for Performance from the Victorian College of the Arts (2019). In 2020, she received Career Development funding from the Australia Council, which supported an 18-month mentorship with award-winning playwright Tom Holloway. She has also interned with the Melbourne Theatre Company's Cybec Electric readings and was a 2022 Theatre Works Associate Artist.
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Fiona Stafford: is a freelance producer based in Melbourne and has worked in the arts and entertainment industry for over 15 years in a number of roles, from artist management to immigration, publicity and marketing, and event management. Currently, she also works as the Operations Manager at Sidney Myer Music Bowl. 'HEARTH' (29 Scenes) was her debut independent theatre production, giving her the opportunity to expand her skills and pursue her passion for supporting emerging independent theatre-makers in developing, staging and touring new Australian works. Fiona will continue to work with 29 Scenes in the presentation of future projects and productions.
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Tom Royce-Hampton is a director, actor, creative producer, and artist based in Melbourne/Naarm. A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts School of Music, Actors Centre Australia, and most recently of the VCA’s 2020 Master of Theatre (Directing), Tom began his career as a member of Taikoz, Australia’s leading taiko ensemble, touring nationally and internationally for over a decade and performing with artists and companies as diverse as Lingalayam Dance Company, Matthew Doyle, Kaoru Watanabe, Douglas Dunn + Dancers, Sandy Evans, Synergy, Eitetsu Fuun no Kai, and Kodo, as well as concerto performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Western Australia Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and Dresden Sinfonika. During his time with Taikoz, Tom travelled extensively to Japan to study with traditional masters of many various styles of Wadaiko (Japanese drumming), dance, and theatre.
Since 2015 Tom has been prolific as an actor and director. His theatre credits include: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Michael Cassel Group; Hamlet, Bell Shakespeare; Moby Dick and Antigone, Sport for Jove; Pericles, Bell Shakespeare. Television credits include: Good Cop Bad Cop, Stan; La Brea S2, Universal Pictures; The Quest, Productions on Rye; and Miss Fisher’s MODern Murder Mysteries, Every Cloud Productions. Tom’s directing credits include: Bernhardt Hamlet (Assistant Fight and Movement Director), Melbourne Theatre Company; Hearth (Director), 29 Scenes; Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Assistant Fight and Movement Director), Bell Shakespeare; ABYSS (Director), Machinal (Assistant Director), VCA Theatre School; The View Upstairs (Assistant Director), Sugary Rum Productions; and Chi Udaka Australia and India Tour (Director), Taikoz.
Tom is passionate about the development of new Australian work across film and theatre and is a founding member of independent theatre company 29 Scenes and production company Brickwood Films. He directed Fleur Murphy’s “Hearth” for 29 Scenes presented by La Mama Theatre in 2021, and produced Murphy’s follow-up play “The Fence” for 29 Scenes and Darebin Speakeasy in 2023 (with subsequent tours scheduled for 2024 and 2025). For Brickwood Films he is at the helm of a film adaption of “The Fence” by Fleur Murphy and starring Louisa Mignone. Tom’s video work “Name, Height, Location…” was the catalyst for the group exhibition "RENDITIONS" by Cura8 for Project 8 gallery in 2023.
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