Lauren Dillon
Lauren Dillon
Actor
Lauren is an accomplished Actor who has trained and worked extensively in theatre, film and television in Queensland, interstate and overseas. Since returning to Brisbane she has also been working as a Clown Doctor and Voice-over artist.
Biography
Lauren is an accomplished Actor who has trained and worked extensively in theatre, film television and voice-overs. After completing a Bachelor of Theatre Arts (major in Acting) at the University of Southern Queensland and working in the Brisbane industry for a couple of years, Lauren moved to Sydney where she worked and honed her craft for the best part of a decade. She is highly experienced in improvisation and immersive theatre, having worked regularly with acclaimed immersive theatre company, Underground Cinema, and later as an event performer at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. With a great passion for learning, Lauren travelled to New York City to train with the Atlantic Theatre Company in Practical Aesthetics and has recently continued training in physical and absurd theatre with Clockfire Theatre Company in Sydney. In 2023 she was invited to participate in the creative development of their show ‘Ruins’, which goes into production at Belvoir Street Theatre later this year. Lauren is a professional Clown (seriously) and works in children’s hospitals as a Clown Doctor, which is one of her greatest joys in life. After taking a break for a couple of years to travel overseas, ‘Speaking In Tongues’ is Lauren’s first foray back into theatre since returning to Brisbane.
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Reviews
Lauren Dillon portrays Jane as vulnerable and uncertain, yearning to feel desired. Her performance is deeply moving in its simplicity, especially when compared with Jazz Lane's more dominant energy. Jane delivers a chilling monologue about her neighbour Nick (portrayed by James Dyke), describing the unsettling sight of him returning home covered in blood. This moment heightens the suspense and unease, infusing a thriller-like ambiance into the play's already high emotional tension. In the role of Valerie, the missing woman, Dillon is haunting as she leaves nervous messages for her husband from a phone booth. Her solitude is believable, and the scene's tension mounts as we wonder whether she will make it home safely. The breathless sequence, where Valerie dashes through the bush overgrown with lantana, is a mesmerising rhythmic burst of energy.
Stage Buzz Brisbane | Read Review Here
‘Lauren Dillon excelled at presenting two very contrasting characters: the uptight therapist Valerie and the more free-spirited Jane.’
Sarah Skubala - Theatre Travel | Read Review Here
An impressive performance was seen throughout by Dillion. In Act 1, she made some positive choices in her role as Jane. She interpreted Jane, Steve’s wife, as a rather shy, unworldly, childless wife, who had gone out one evening looking for a one night stand, which she found with Leon, who was married to Sonja. She sought love and sexual gratification, things that were missing in her marriage to Steve. In the meantime her husband Steve, had gone looking for a night of passion and had met Leon’s wife Sonja, but unlike Jane, he could not go through with his intentions.
Dillion engaged the audience with her portrayal of the modest, frustrated Jane, and later changing into Valerie in Act 2, a skilled, confident, therapist, working with Sarah (Jazz Lane), her difficult client, in a business- like manner. She showed various layers in her role as Valerie, for instance, when she became stranded after her car broke down on a lonely road, she was a frightened woman who could not reach John (Doll Hunt) her husband, for help. Dillion showed Valerie‘s vulnerability accepting a lift from a stranger, Jane’s neighbour, Nick, (James Dyke), who drove her down a back -road. Scared, she hurriedly, exited the car, leaving a tell-tale shoe behind. She disappeared, leaving Nick as the key suspect in the following police investigation. Dillion portrayed her roles with sensitivity.
Lilian Harrington - Absolute Theatre | Read Review Here
‘Lauren Dillon plays Heidi, and gives a well-balanced, artistically moving performance. She is never melodramatic and always sincere. Waylaid by larger-than-life men and women, her demure nature and honest self-expression give the story the huge heart that carries it.’
Sean Maroney – The Music | Read Review Here
‘Lauren Dillon is charged with the role of Heidi, and delivers confidently. Dillon’s Heidi is wide-eyed and bewildered at the life that befalls her, despite her best efforts. But she is not a victim – a strength shows beneath her fidgeting fingers and shuffling feet. Her monologue in the second act is excellent.’
Emily Saint-Smith – The AU Review | Read Review Here
‘Lauren Dillon handles Heidi’s evolution from innocent and impressionable to wise and disillusioned with convincing charm.’
Ellen Becker – What’s on Sydney | Read Review Here