Merteuil: Jordan Best
Jordan studied acting at The Victorian College of the Arts and has been working as an actor, director, and producer for 30 years. Her acting credits include: The Crucible, Amadeus, A Streetcar Named Desire Free Rain, The Importance of Being Earnest REP Home at the End, Company, The Normal Heart Everyman, Don’t Dress For Dinner, Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!, The Imaginary Invalid, Goldilocks and the Three Bears Centrepiece Theatre, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (Pigeonhole Theatre), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream Echo Theatre. Jordan is the Artistic Director and Arts Centre Manager of The Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre and the Artistic Director of Echo Theatre.
Valmont: Jim Adamik
Jim is a local actor who has worked with many companies across the Canberra region. Most recently, Jim was seen on the REP stage playing Roy in Michael Gow’s Away (2024), and Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus (2023); and on The Q stage playing Bottom in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (2025), Alan in Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage (2025), a production which toured to venues across NSW, and Daddy Bear in Peter Best's Goldilocks and the Three Bears (2025). Theatre highlights include, for REP: Dr Astrov in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya; Benedik in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing; Porter in Shakespeare's Macbeth; Tiger Brown in Brecht's The Threepenny Opera; and Howard in Ken Ludwig's Moon Over Buffalo. Jim has three Canberra Critics Circle Awards and three CAT Best Actor Awards, is a recipient of REP’s Helen Wilson Trophy for Best Comedy Performance and Ted Light Award for Outstanding Dramatic Performance, and in 2023 was awarded the Canberra Critics Circle Helen Tsongas Award for Excellence in Acting.
Tourvel: Yanina Clifton
Yanina is a Canberra and London-based actor who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts LAMDA. Stage credits include Grumia, Taming of the Shrew Lakespeare; Cassius, Julius Caesar Chaika; Martirio, The House of Bernarda Alba Chaika; Lady Capulet, Romeo and Juliet LAMDA; The Ghost, Hamlet LAMDA; Juliana, Hedda Gabler LAMDA; Anna, A Bright New Boise LAMDA; Mrs Waller, The Gift LAMDA; Mrs Farley, Playhouse Creatures Pigeonhole Theatr); Sonja, Uncle Vanya REP; and Marry Warren, The Crucible REP. Film credits include Oncology Nurse, 6 Festivals Paramount +; Nurse, Blue World Order Full Point Films; Ella, The Blacksmith WW Productions; Flora Brayshaw, Letter from Bobeyan WW Productions; and Connie, Theatre of the Dead Caluburn Productions. Yanina is thrilled to be back on the REP stage with faces old and new.
Rosemonde: Ros Engledow
From her mid-teens as Shakespeare’s Juliet on the Cenotaph parapet in Sydney’s Hyde Park (an Education Week televised production) to Mme de Rosemonde in Christopher Hampton’s Le Liaisons Dangereuses, Ros has an eclectic repertoire: university student reviews and cabarets, theatre restaurant work in California, mainstage musicals, comedy and drama. Ros’s leading roles include: for Canberra Philharmonic - Eliza Doolittle Philo’s first production of My Fair Lady in 1979, Ado Annie Oklahoma, Sister Sarah Brown Guys and Dolls, Rose of Spadger’s Lane The Sentimental Bloke, and Fraulein Schneider Cabaret; for Dramatic Productions – The Birdseller(Sweeney Todd; and for REP - Sally Bowles Cabaret, several seasons in Old Time Music Hall, Madame Knorr On the Razzle, her CAT-nominated role as Lady Markby An Ideal Husband; and for The Q Queanbeyan / REP joint production, Lotta Bainbridge Noel Coward’s Waiting in The Wings - CAT award for The Residents of The Wings).
Cecile: Jamie Johnston
Jamie Johnston has been performing since they were 12 years old. Falling in love with the theatre, they performed and did back-of-house for productions in the local Canberra theatre scene while growing up. Leaving Canberra, Jamie decided to run away to the circus and has performed aerials, acro, puppetry and general tomfoolery since 2021 onwards. They have worked with notable companies like Circus Oz, Warehouse Circus, Cirque M, Erth Visual and Physical Inc., CircusArts Australia, The Indirect Object, Canberra Youth Theatre, Lunar Circus Festival, and Clockwork Circus. Since returning to Canberra, she has performed in recent productions, Equus, Free Rain Theatre, The Waiting Place, Circoscope and Typo, Clockwork Circus and remains a fond regular in the cabaret scene.
Mme de Volange: Desiree Bandle
Desiree caught the acting bug in her teens and attended Stage Coach acting school from the ages of 14 to 18. She then completed honours in Theatre Studies as part of her BA at the ANU and continued to act in productions around Canberra. She continued her study of theatre and acting in Sydney and completed and Advanced Diploma of Stage and Screen at the Actor’s College of Theatre and Television, located in Surry Hills. Teaching Drama then became a passion, and she completed her Master of Teaching at Sydney University. Canberra and motherhood then called, and she moved back to her hometown to have her son and continue teaching in the ACT. When she saw the auditions for Les Liaisons Dangereuses, an absolute favourite play of hers, she decided to jump in and see if getting back on stage was meant to be, and it turns out it was.
Danceny: Isaiah Prichard
Isaiah loves storytelling and all forms of expression. After escaping the clutches of the Hobart theatre scene, he has found himself in the hands of an even deadlier beast. Isaiah has performed in a few theatre shows in and out of Uni, and is keen to be working with a wonderful bunch of people on Le Liaison Dangerous. He hopes you enjoy the show. Love is dead. Taxation is theft. Eat the rich.
Azolan: Jack Shanahan
Jack has been an overeager acting enthusiast since the playground, peaking early with his C-3PO impression. Stage credits include: Alan Strang, Equus (Free-Rain Theatre); Demetrius, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Echo Theatre); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Amadeus; John Willoughby Sense and Sensibility; Mortimer Brewster, Arsenic and Old Lace; Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Canberra REP); Figaro, How To Vote! (Canberra Youth Theatre). Long lost to the quixotic siren call of bigger laughs, Jack has written, directed, improvised and generally made a fool of himself in revues and comedy festivals in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, and at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Emilie: Ashleigh Butler
Ashleigh Butler is a local actor and writer who loves Canberra and making theatre here. Ashleigh was most recently seen on stage as the Butterfly in Child Players ACT’s Thumbelina and in her spare time can be found roller skating, playing with her dog, or creating bicarb and vinegar explosions for visitors at Questacon (she’s got range). Ashleigh also played Mella in Bare Witness Theatre’s Sauce, Isla in ACTHub’s HubFest’s The Forsaken, and Sadie in Lucid Theatre’s People You May Know. She completed the Summer Acting Intensive course at the Fontainebleau School of Acting in 2024 and Australian Theatre for Young People’s National Studio program in 2025. Ashleigh has loved bringing the character of Emilie to life and hopes you love her too.
La Gouvernante: Joan White
Joan was last seen at REP with Rosemary Gibbons in the duologue Plain and Purl by Vee Malnar for The ’Logues 2026 in March. She also appeared in the ensemble of Amadeus and as dementia sufferer Sarita in Waiting in the Wings. Other Canberra performances have included Mrs Pearce in Pygmalion and Miss Marbles in Hello...is There any Body There? with Tempo Theatre, also Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice and Mary, the aging teacher, in The Art of Teaching Nothing with Budding Theatre. Joan has been performing for over six decades in three countries. Favourite past performances include The Cherry Orchard, Blithe Spirit, Antigone, Point of Departure, Hobson’s Choice, The Confederacy, The Hostage, The Pajama Game, The Golden Era, The Playboy of the Western World, Ill Met by Moonlight, and several Pantomimes. She is now delighted to be playing Mme Dubois, La Gouvernante (Housekeper) in this remarkable play, supporting an extraordinarily talented cast.
Adele, a servant: Amy Gottschalk
Amy has been doing theatre since she was very young, taking part in plays and musicals all throughout school. This very much continued once she started university in Canberra, with some highlights being leading roles in The Taming of the Shrew, The Effect, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This show is her first foray into Canberra’s wide world of theatre, and she is very excited for you to immerse yourselves into the beautiful and terrible world that is Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Enjoy the show!
Jacques, a servant: James Grudnoff
James is thrilled with his recent connections with REP; most recently playing in REP’s first production this year as Trevor in Bedroom Farce. This is James’ first year since graduating from college, where he was involved in a number of productions including Love and Information (2024), Afterlife (2024) and Little Women (2025), as well as performing the role of Toby in When He Cries (2025) with Green Oak Theatre. James is eager to broaden his experience, connection and love of the stage, and is becoming more involved with community theatres in Canberra. James is also planning to form an independent theatre company and start productions later this year.
