OBITUARY: Liz Bradley, born Newcastle, June 6, 1946; died Canberra, June 6, 2022.

CANBERRA’S theatre community is mourning the unexpected death of Liz Bradley, a true Canberra theatre stalwart, who died  on her birthday yesterday, June 6. She was 76.

A service will be held for her at The Chapel, Gold Creek, at 10.30am on Monday (June 20).

Newcastle-born Bradley who had been involved in theatre for many decades, was also a mother and a grandmother, and it is understood that during her recent fatal illness she was surrounded by friends, family and the many artists she had supported.

As an actor, Bradley loved to raise eyebrows. She first did so as a young woman when, in 1976, she took her clothes off to play the character Jill Mason in the play “Equus,” directed by Ross McGregor.

There followed a very long life in the theatre, where she acted, directed and became a mentor to many young theatre makers.

Over the years she worked with Papermoon Productions, Tempo Theatre, Centrepiece Theatre, Everyman Theatre, The Players Company and Free Rain Theatre.

But it was probably for her work with Canberra Rep that she was best-known and her recent directorial work at Rep included “The Woman in the Window” and “ What the Butler Saw” and a lead role in “ Waiting in the Wings”.

A woman of enormous drive and energy, she was one of the founders, with Jordan Best and Karen Vickery, of Pigeonhole Theatre, for which she travelled to the World Festival of Theatre in Monaco during 2017, performing in “Playhouse Creatures,” also touring regional Queensland and Victoria with the same show.

Acutely interested in the issues of the day, Bradley played Scheherazade in Tarik Ali’s play “Iranian Nights” at the Backstage Cafe in Braddon during the Salman Rushdie fatwa crisis of 1989.

In 2008 she joined Jarrad West to direct Tony Kushner’s AIDS-related play “Angels in America” at the now-defunct ANU Arts Centre.

When the late theatre director Ralph Wilson was commemorated in 2019, she not only did all the catering for the day-long Wilson event, but directed two Chekov plays in his memory at Smiths Alternative.

Bradley was scheduled to direct Canberra Rep’s final production for 2022, “Sense and Sensibility,” when she became seriously ill.

Further details of a funeral and memorial be provided as they become available.

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