Annika is a student at Living School with a passion for anything wordy or even slightly bookish. She is currently working towards publishing her first novel, with the guidance and encouragement of her English teacher, Beth Would.

This weeks Sunday Profile is written by Annika, and is about her English teacher, Beth Would. It explores her passion for theatre and her role as the lively MC of Theatre Games at the Star Court Theatre. Beth will reflect on her journey back into performing after moving to Lismore, the joy and spontaneity of improvisation, and how the monthly Theatre Games have become a fun, free night of laughter and creativity for both performers and the local community.

I’m sitting at Beth’s kitchen table, the air-con is whirring, the ice in my drink is clinking, and there’s a heavy sense of anticipation in the air. While the two of us share iced grapefruit cordial drinks, Beth tells me about her role in Theatre Games, and gives me insight into the magic of theatre.

Beth Would is many things, she’s an English teacher at the Living School, a mother, and resident of Lismore. But what this article will be featuring is her involvement with Theatre Games at the Star Court Theatre, and her journey with the Lismore Theatre Company.

“Life is one big improvisation.”

How It All Began For Beth:

“I have always been a passionate theatre girl.”

Beth studied Drama in high school, but it wasn’t until she moved to Lismore in 2008 that she really got back into acting and performance.

“I made friends with a lovely woman, Kylie Fuad, who told me to come along to the Lismore Theatre Company up on Ballina Road to do some acting courses. From there I ended up getting involved in the theatre. I've done plays with the Lismore Theatre Company for around 15 years now, mostly as an actor.”

Now she’s a qualified Drama and English teacher, working at the Living School, which is why way back when Theatre Games started in 2021, she was chosen to be the MC.

“It’s been interesting to run the show without actually performing in it. Part of that is because improv used to terrify me—I didn’t think I could do it. I was used to learning lines, developing a character, and knowing exactly what I’d be doing when I stepped on stage. Theatre Games, on the other hand, is about stepping out there with nothing prepared and being completely spontaneous. Now that I’ve been hosting it for six years, I’m champing at the bit to give it a go myself. But as the compere, that’s a little tricky. Still, I absolutely love it.”

“And as a high school teacher, I'm kind of used to wrangling people to do what I want. It's fun working with adults because they actually listen.”

One of the key things Beth has learned while playing the role of compere, is actually not to act. Of course, she puts on a performance for the audience, but she strives to be genuine and authentic on stage.

“I'm not acting out a character. I'm acting as myself, and the more genuine I am, the more I connect with the audience.”

Which she told me has helped in all parts of her life, even in teaching.

“If I'm not playing a role, but instead being myself, I can have better relationships with people. And I feel like the Games have really helped me to step away from wearing the mask that actors wear, and into a more improvised space because all of us on stage are improvising. And that is life isn't it? Life is one big improvisation.”

Theatre Games:

Theatre Games is a form of live, improvised theatre inspired by ‘Theatre Sports’ and is basically two teams of adults playing improv games with no script whatsoever. 

“It's very quick, fun and spontaneous, which makes the whole thing really interactive and hilariously funny.”

And rather than be scripted, as aforementioned, Theatre Games is completely improvised! Meaning the only thing the players know on the night is what games they’ll be playing and what teams they’re on. The rest is decided by the audience or their teammates.

“We can sometimes as humans be funnier when we don't try than when we script our humor. And the humor that you get in Theatre Games is pure and it's sometimes the best humor that I've ever come across.”

But that’s not to say there’s no structure in Theatre Games. The whole thing is heavily inspired by ‘Theatre Sports’ which has been going on since the 1970’s. There are three judges each night, each one giving scores out of five on the specific area they specialise in.

“We now have a very key narrative judge who we call ‘The Librarian,’ and she brings her serious librarian focus to make sure that good stories are being told.” 

While there are certain roles that are played by the same people, such as the technical judge (Andrew Loxton), Timekeeper (John McPherson), Stage Fairy (SJ Loxton) and MC (Beth Would), each month Theatre Games invites a new guest judge to give scores based on how entertained they were throughout the skit.

“The entertainment judge is somebody different every month. We invite people from the community who are entertainers to judge.”

Players:

“So we currently have 18 regular players who rehearse with us every month, and we usually have two teams of five on the night.”

While there are certainly regular players, that doesn’t mean Theatre Games isn’t accepting more. Every month on the Tuesday before the game on Friday night, a rehearsal is held, and if you’re interested in joining, the Theatre Games crew implore you to contact Beth, the Stage Fairy or the Star Court Theatre itself.

Most of the players have been performing with Theatre Games for a while now, which has allowed them to really hone their skill, but you needn’t have any background in theatre to join—you don’t even have to play on the Friday night if you’re not ready for a public performance. 

“We have new people coming to rehearsals from all different backgrounds. Once they're confident on stage, they've got the ability to project their voice and work as a team, then they will have the choice to play on Friday night.”

“We actually have quite a lot of standup comedians who have gotten involved. But one of the things we would love is to have more young people. We started out very female dominated, but now we're male dominated. So we're looking for more females, and we would like more people in their twenties to join us, because sometimes we all do seem a bit old.”

How It All Began For TheatreGames:

Way back in 2020, Theatre Games began with an idea from the Star Court Theatre itself. Sharon Rigby and SJ Loxton, who run the theatre, thought it would be really wonderful to offer a live, free theatre show to the people of Lismore. They thought something similar to Theatre Sports, which as stated before has been around since the 1970’s, would be a great start as there was already a large community of theatre people in Lismore. By 2021, Theatre Games had its first of many shows. Now as we enter 2026, this will officially be Theatre Games’ sixth birthday.

And, it really is awesome that the Star Court Theatre has allowed these games to continue happening, especially for free, because it gives people a space where, once a month, they can go to have fun without any of the demands of outside life pushing down on them. But in saying that, because it is free, the audience are encouraged to purchase a drink or nibble from the bar to help support the Star Court so we can continue to have these truly amazing shows.

The first Theatre Games of 2026 will be held on March 13th from 7:00pm until 9:00pm. But if you can’t make the first show, the next shows are April 17th, and May 15th, so you might as well put them in your calendar—it’s guaranteed stress relief! Feel free to check out their Facebook page for ongoing dates. And don’t forget—it’s free!