Josh has been competing in the Royal South Street Society Ballarat Eisteddfod since the age of 8 and has been privately tutored by the amazing Mika Wallace for most of that time. Mika has continually supported and encouraged Josh to compete in a number of Speech & Drama sections each year and this culminated in Josh winning the Ivy Keates Award in 2023.
Josh’s success over many years has helped him build a solid foundation of confidence and public speaking ability that enables him to perform and also address large crowds. These skills have seen Josh appointed as both Drama Captain and Public Speaking Captain this year at St Patricks College.
Josh’s first place success in the Shakespeare section last year at R.S.S.S gave him the confidence to apply for the Bell Shakespeare Scholarship where he made it to the top 10 short-listed candidates around Australia. Josh plans to re-apply this year and will be presenting his new audition piece to obtain some valuable feedback from the adjudicator.
Now in Yr 12, Josh is studying VCE theatre studies and has recently performed in “An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe” as Fortunato in “the cask of Amontillado” and also directed “A tell tale Heart” for the parents and friends of SPC and Loreto.
Last year Josh won the Purton Oratory prepared speech award at St Patricks with a speech about the dangers of A.I and this is one of his favourite pieces.
Over the years Josh has also performed in numerous musical theatre productions in Ballarat, community theatre, drama productions and was also a part of Cygnet & Swan Productions lead by Alex Merrbach where he and a small cohort of students from various schools wrote, produced and directed their own show called “Synonyms of Me” in Feb 2023. Most recently, Josh performed in his last High School Show as Ned Schneebly in SPC’s production of “School of Rock”.
At the end of this year, Josh will travel to America with St Patricks College Performing Arts Tour where he will be lucky enough to see 3 Broadway Shows in New York and get a tour of Universal Studios in Los Angeles.
After graduating this year, Josh looks forward to following his passion for performing arts and directing and envisages his future will revolve around acting. He is grateful for the important grounding Royal South Street Society has given him over the last decade.
