About our production company
Our aim is to broaden the scope of voices seen and heard onstage.
Our team includes Heidi Gledhill (Artistic Director), Trudy Gunston (First Nation’s Producer), Virag Dombay (Director - Room to Play Kids) and Desley Martin (dramaturg).
heidi gledhill – Founder and Director of Room to Play
Theatre Director
Heidi Gledhill is an awarding-winning theatre director. She has established and run independent theatre venues; The Crypt in Sydney and The Substation in Brisbane. Most recently, as Co-Artistic Director of The Hive Collective, Heidi produced a season of three plays and directed The Bull, The Moon & The Coronet of Stars by Van Badham in 2021 at the new Metro Arts in Brisbane. Heidi directed The Eisteddfod by Lally Katz as part of the Metro Arts’ Local season.
Heidi studied theatre at Macquarie University in Sydney and was granted a scholarship to study at La Sapienza Rome University in Italy, working alongside Nobel laureate Dario Fo. Heidi translated many of Dario Fo’s texts into English whilst teaching and translating in the performing arts department at La Sapienza, Rome University. Heidi was also a guest lecturer at Universitá 3 in Rome. As an actor, she was a core ensemble member of the theatre troupe, Stalker, touring throughout Italy.
On her return to Australia, Heidi joined the Sydney Commedia troupe Fools in Progress and enrolled in the Sydney Film School winning the award for best documentary, Charmayne.
In Brisbane, Heidi founded the independent theatre company Room to Play, touring Melbourne Fringe Festival with Ionesco’s The Bald Prima Donna, directing Dario Fo’s The Virtuous Burglar and One Was Nude and One Wore Tails and Brian Friel’s Afterplay, which had sell-out seasons in Brisbane as well as touring to Sydney Fringe Festival. In 2017 Heidi directed Tom Holloway’s Red Sky Morning and co-directed Dario Fo’s Mistero Buffo, supported by Queensland Theatre independent initiative and presented at Billie Brown Theatre in 2017.
Recently she directed Tillie Olsen’s, I Stand Here Ironing and the staged reading of The Hanging by Angela Betzien, hosted by Hotlines at Playlab. Heidi co-wrote and directed I AM KING. I AM QUEEN, touring to Sydney and New Zealand. This show won the Anywhere Sydney Fringe award and Brisbane Powerhouse Award. Heidi is currently developing a show to be creatively developed at a residency in Finland.
Desley Martin
Dramaturg
Desley has been involved with Room to Play since 2014. She was dramaturg for Dario Fo’s, The Virtuous Burglar as well as Eugene Ionesco’s, The Bald Prima Donna. Desley recently
assisted Heide Manché and Room to Play at the 2021 inaugural season at Metro Arts with The Hive Collective’s presentation of, The Bull, The Moon, and The Coronet of Stars by Australia’s Van Badham. She is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts at The University of Queensland with majors in Ancient History and Writing. She has a particular interest in the drama of ancient Greece and Rome and is a regular attendee at Dr. Victoria Bladen’s Shakespeare schools.
Trudy Gunston
Production Manager
Trudy Gunston of Kullilli Nation joined Room to Play in 2018. She works in production across the arts including BlakDance as BlakForm & Tour Producer and The Hive Collective as associate producer. She supports organisations and artists with her wealth of management and organisational experience. Growing up around a family business has enlivened Trudy’s entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, demonstrated in the extensive study and operation of small business. Has since worked in marketing and events for the past several years, including building and running successful businesses.
Identifying as Aboriginal, of the Kullilli people, the traditional owners of 32,000 sq km of land in southwest Queensland, Trudy believes that storytelling is at the heart of communication. By sharing our stories through theatre, we learn, a moment of human connection is defined and from that grows a deeper understanding and respect for each other’s differences.
