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[0:09] Joshua Broadbent: Hello, you are listening to a brand new episode of Whispers in the Wings.

[0:13] Joshua Broadbent: My name is Joshua Broadbent, and I am so so thrilled to be back in your ears for a brand new season of the podcast.

[0:22] Joshua Broadbent: And what a better way to kick off season three of the podcast than on today of all days.

[0:29] Joshua Broadbent: Happy International Stage Manager's Day to all of those stage managers that are listening.

[0:33] Joshua Broadbent: And perhaps maybe you're not a stage manager, but you know one. Send them a message and wish them well today because we do need to keep looking after those stage managers.

[0:43] Joshua Broadbent: They put up with a lot.

[0:46] Joshua Broadbent: It's been just over two years since I was last in your ears, and oh my god, so much has changed in that time.

[0:53] Joshua Broadbent: So it felt like the right moment to hit reset and reintroduce myself, the show, and everything that's been happening behind the scenes.

[0:59] Joshua Broadbent: And I thought rather than doing it solo, let's make it a little bit fun. So I've invited someone very special who's been with me every step of the way to flip the script and interview me.

[1:09] Joshua Broadbent: That is the one, the only host of Popcorn Podcast and my husband, Tim Iffland.

[1:18] Tim Iffland: Hello, baby.

[1:19] Tim Iffland: Hello, listener.

[1:20] Joshua Broadbent: I don't think I've ever called you Timothy.

[1:21] Tim Iffland: No, am I in trouble?

[1:23] Joshua Broadbent: Well, it depends if I am in trouble at the end of this sort of hard-hitting questions I'm coming at you with.

[1:29] Tim Iffland: Well, remember, I am editing this, so I am in control of your words.

[1:33] Joshua Broadbent: Well, maybe I should take editorial control.

[1:35] Tim Iffland: You know what I find really strange? Because as you said, I do have my own podcast with Lee Livingstone, a dear friend of mine, journalist, and I'm usually one recording.

[1:44] Tim Iffland: I'm usually the one seeing the waves, checking all that sort of stuff, setting it up. I'm usually the one editing.

[1:50] Tim Iffland: And so when we've recorded you, you are in the hot seat, you're in control, and I've just got you know notes in front of me, and that's all.

[1:58] Tim Iffland: Uh and to know that I'm not then gonna take this baby away and then pull it all together.

[2:04] Joshua Broadbent: Well, you can do that if you want, take some pressure off me having to edit this.

[2:08] Tim Iffland: Meanwhile, I'll just pause all the work I have to do for my own podcast.

[2:12] Joshua Broadbent: I'd happily edit it for you.

[2:14] Tim Iffland: Thank you so much for doing this for me.

[2:17] Joshua Broadbent: I'm really excited when you pitched me the idea of your return to season three of Whispers in the Wings.

[2:23] Tim Iffland: I was so proud of you for you know, bringing it back because it was such a passion project for you, and I uh you had got so much joy out of it talking to other people in the industry, creatives, other workers.

[2:39] Tim Iffland: But then when you were like, Oh, I'm gonna try and figure out how to like reintroduce the pod back to listeners and and grow audience because it has been so long, and you're like, hey, do you wanna like interview me? And I was like, Okay, let's do it.

[2:55] Tim Iffland: But I feel like from the very start with Kelly, we sort of introduced each other and we talked about ourselves, but that was back in 2021, and we're in 2025.

[3:06] Tim Iffland: So much has happened, and I thought, especially in the last two years since the last episode, and I thought, well, I need a new introduction, I need a reintroduction.

[3:15] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah.

[3:16] Tim Iffland: Well, let's start there. Let's talk about what has happened in the last two years of I don't know, combination of life and career.

[3:24] Tim Iffland: You were a successful theater stage manager with you know a decades long experience, and then you took a huge career leap of faith into uncharted waters.

[3:35] Tim Iffland: What shifted for you in your career aspirations and what was it that you were chasing?

[3:40] Joshua Broadbent: It all came at a really interesting time. Coming out of COVID, I found that the work that existed prior to COVID sort of had dried up. A lot of connections, a lot of teams that I had worked with had disbanded or had sort of gone in different directions.

[3:56] Joshua Broadbent: And I found myself sort of moving out of that commercial musical theatre world and working with a lot of like Downhurst Theatre Company, the Sydney Chamber Opera, all of those companies that had a different presence within the industry.

[4:09] Joshua Broadbent: And it was sort of during all of that time that I started to reassess what I wanted to do. Ten coming up into ten years in the industry, was I where I wanted to be? Where did I want to spend the next ten years? And I realized and through a lot of conversations that we've had that I spent a lot of time away.

[4:28] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. I missed funerals, I missed weddings, I miss birthdays. I was away for a lot of my birthdays, apparently still am at the minute. The last two years anyway. Uh but I I wanted I just wanted to spend more time with you, more time at home.

[4:46] Joshua Broadbent: Uh we bought a dog during COVID as well, so like many people do.

[4:51] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[4:52] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. Separation anxiety is not great.

[4:54] Tim Iffland: For the dog or for you.

[4:56] Joshua Broadbent: A little bit of both. And we were going away to Japan and I didn't have any work lined up for the end of the year. And I I kind of got to a point where I was like, well, maybe this is the break that I needed. Going away and knowing that there was no work and it was coming up to Christmas. I think I said to you, I was like, oh, I'm just gonna find a Christmas casual job because there was nothing.

[5:15] Tim Iffland: Yeah, back to retail land, if you will.

[5:17] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah, just a nice break that was sort of forced upon me. But I think in the background, I was feeling burnt out.

[5:24] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[5:25] Joshua Broadbent: You know, coming out of COVID, having to constantly network and job after job after job, trying to keep income coming in, keep work coming in. I just got tired.

[5:37] Tim Iffland: Well, you know what I really admire and also can't get my head around the process of being a freelance stage manager. And every two to three month contract, maybe six to eight month contract, if you were lucky, you had to rejuge your CV, you had to pepper in some more nuggets of gold in a cover letter, and you had to pitch yourself out in market all the time, constantly, multiple times a year.

[6:05] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah.

[6:05] Tim Iffland: I have had jobs that I could probably count on one hand over my fifteen year career in media and now a non-for-profit space and partnerships. And my God, it takes such a mental toll and you have to shift focus to a part of yourself that you're not used to doing because you get comfortable in the BAU, but then you have to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

[6:31] Joshua Broadbent: So it's actually crazy. Like we've had this conversation and talked about this sort of stuff for a long time, but I meanwhile, I can't believe that we're in Japan two years ago.

[6:41] Tim Iffland: Yeah, yeah.

[6:42] Joshua Broadbent: That's blowing my mind. Take me back. Take me back.

[6:45] Tim Iffland: But yeah, that was a real crossroads. Now, I guess with that what happened when we came back from that holiday, you kind of took a sideways slash backwards step to move forward. Was it scary to do that?

[6:57] Joshua Broadbent: Absolutely. I think moving into that production administrator role with Opera Australia. Leaving sort of stage management behind, knowing that, you know, it's always there. I can always jump back. But going to nine to five, Monday to Friday, office life, you know, taking a big big leap in going backwards to go forwards.

[7:22] Joshua Broadbent: I think I knew that in order to take a step into sort of producing or into a production company office environment, I was going to have to go backwards before I could go forwards.

[7:35] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[7:36] Joshua Broadbent: And it was but backwards in a few ways. It was like you were sort of in more control as a stage manager. You were a stakeholder, you know, custodian. It was a bit backwards, sideways in terms of money coming in, salary. But then again, when you put it up against the inconsistency of your work, you know, money was like, you know, a bit of a blessing at times, yeah, considering how hard it was to land gigs for extended periods of time.

[8:04] Tim Iffland: Yeah. And we obviously talked about it because any sort of decision that is centered around finance, like had to be a right decision for us. And we knew that it was hopefully only going to be temporary, and that obviously paid off.

[8:17] Joshua Broadbent: So going for the production administrator role, I was very much like, okay, this is a bit of a shift, but maybe it doesn't have to be permanent. You know, it could be a 12 month thing where I just break away from stage managing and that constant need to hunt work and and do all of the networking and just settle into a place.

[8:38] Joshua Broadbent: And I said when I started, I went, I'm only giving this 12 months in this role because 12 months is kind of all we could do financially, right?

[8:46] Tim Iffland: We could afford, yeah.

[8:48] Joshua Broadbent: We couldn't, we couldn't, it couldn't be life. I couldn't still be in that role now.

[8:51] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[8:52] Joshua Broadbent: I guess in the production administrator role, you had to prove yourself to people who didn't know who you were. Because in the stage management world, although it's freelance and you're having to pitch yourself, you're more often than not working with people who you've worked with before someone in their peripherals can vouch for you and endorse you in that way.

[9:12] Tim Iffland: What did the day to day look like as a production administrator and how did you adjust to that?

[9:17] Joshua Broadbent: I thought I was going to struggle at first with office life.

[9:22] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[9:22] Joshua Broadbent: Like that's the biggest change, right? You're going from working a day where sometimes you'd start at six o'clock in the evening and you'd work till ten and you have the whole day to live your life. I found I have thrived on office life.

[9:35] Tim Iffland: Well there's structure I guess is one thing that you really never had.

[9:40] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. It's sort of that thing and it it's even now as I've moved into producing no day is the same. Every day as a production administrator was different. I was looking after projects like News Eve, uh at the Sydney Opera House, looking after Opera on the Harbour for West Side Story, starting to look at the National Tour of Lab OM.

[10:02] Joshua Broadbent: And it was a lot of just you know admin tasks. But I've always been really good with computers and I can navigate around things really quickly.

[10:10] Tim Iffland: Ding ding IT support Joshua Broadbent please come to the front exactly.

[10:15] Joshua Broadbent: You are IT support for not only me and my life and also my job from time to time but my entire family and your family.

[10:26] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[10:28] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. So was it was at systems, learning systems, it was learning processes. What the most difficult thing is, and something that I'm still learning even now, um almost two years with Opera Australia, is opera.

[10:45] Tim Iffland: Well I had never seen an opera until you started working for Opera Australia.

[10:51] Joshua Broadbent: What a gift that has been.

[10:53] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[10:53] Joshua Broadbent: But not only was this a new role and a new cadence of working, it was also a new type of place within the arts. It wasn't Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, Nine to Five, The Wizard of Oz, uh Come From Away, it was La Traviata and Carmen and all these big bold, beautiful, tragic stories in an art form that has lasted for hundreds of years.

[11:21] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[11:22] Joshua Broadbent: I think in my ten years in stage management, I obviously I did IEDA for Opera on the Harbour as a secondment, but that's you know, very early on. And I did a little bit of work with the Sydney Chamber opera. So had done a little bit, but nothing to what you know, the level that I am at now and my understanding of opera and my understanding of how not only producing those work, but stage managing those work.

[11:44] Joshua Broadbent: Like my mind's always tossing between stage management and producing with shows 'cause it's, you know, getting a good understanding of of the whole production. There's power in having knowledge and knowing everything.

[11:56] Tim Iffland: And I really feel like like witnessing you in stage management um since we started dating way back when, million years ago. Uh you knew everything, I guess. Like it was you could do that job with your eyes closed, which is a good and a bad thing, uh depends how you look at it.

[12:16] Tim Iffland: Is it hard for you to not know everything, but do you find it quite liberating that you are constantly learning in this new part of the arts?

[12:25] Joshua Broadbent: Well, I think that's what's been so interesting to me. I feel like where I was getting to within stage management, I had learned everything I could learn. There's always ways that you can improve what you're doing and change.

[12:40] Tim Iffland: Of course.

[12:40] Joshua Broadbent: But stepping into the production admin role, you know, I've been with Opera Australia two years, as I said, and I have not stopped learning. And I think that's where I was getting within stage management. I was like, well, I'm at what's next? I'm I'm I'm as far as I can get, really, without just continuously doing the same thing every day.

[12:59] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[13:00] Joshua Broadbent: So what I'm finding now is yeah, I'm learning and I'm still learning, and there's things that I still have to learn, and that's really exciting.

[13:09] Tim Iffland: Let's talk about your baptism of fire, which was five months in to working at Opera Australia as a production administrator.

[13:17] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah.

[13:18] Tim Iffland: Five months in you got promoted to an associate producer, which I knew you would get there. Maybe not as fast as you did.

[13:27] Tim Iffland: Uh, but I was at the same time not surprised. It was a huge step in such a short period of time. How did that come about for you?

[13:35] Joshua Broadbent: It's it made me laugh just then because Catherine Bud, who was my senior producer that hired me, um, she in the interview, I remember her sitting down for the production administrative role, and she's like, you know, we're really trying to find someone that will just stick in the role for a little bit. We've had a couple people classically we've had a lot of shifting in the team, and we just want someone that's gonna just be reliable and in the role for some time.

[14:00] Joshua Broadbent: And I was like, you know, in my mind, I was like, okay, 12 months, 12 months. That's that's what I want to give it before I start to dive.

[14:16] Joshua Broadbent: I only work with Catherine.

[14:18] Tim Iffland: I only worked with Catherine's two in the same team.

[14:19] Joshua Broadbent: Who share a birthday?

[14:20] Tim Iffland: Who share a birthday?

[14:22] Joshua Broadbent: You told me to it's today.

[14:23] Tim Iffland: Yeah, the time of recording.

[14:24] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah.

[14:25] Tim Iffland: Happy birthday to all the Catherines out there.

[14:28] Joshua Broadbent: Two of which you work with.

[14:29] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[14:30] Joshua Broadbent: Uh and she announced that she was having a baby and she was going to go maternity leave. And I was like, Wow, okay, here's my opportunity. And very politely, I was told, we just don't think you're there yet. We're looking for someone that has this and that. And I went, Oh, okay, sure. Remembering at this this was January, I had been there for a month and a half. Like it was very early. And I just went, Well, if I don't put my hand up, then I'm never gonna have the opportunity. So then, you know, as I do, I work hard. I wasn't trying to prove anything to anyone, I was just doing your job, doing my job, working to my best ability and asking the right questions and looking back at it now, proving myself without feeling like I was actually doing that.

And it came to about early April when when West Side Story for Opera on the Harbour opened, and the AP Catherine said, Why haven't you why haven't you applied again? And I went, Oh well, I was you know, I was told. I was told that I'm I wasn't ready. She looked at me, don't be a fool. Like, don't be an idiot. Put your hand up. So on the last day of like applications or interviews, I can't remember. I I emailed my my senior producer and I was like, if I don't do this, if I don't put my hand up again, I'm just gonna, you know, really regret it. And she actually said to me, She went, Oh, I've been wanting to talk to you about it too. And I was like, I'm glad I did that, and I'm glad, you know, that's where we've gotten.

And it it was a fair process, you know, there's other people from the company that had applied, and there's other people externally. So I went through the interview process. I did, you know, the same thing as everyone else did. Yeah, it it all came to fruition, and here I am. What do you think? But this may be a hard question to ask because it could be a myriad of things, but is there something that you think was like, I reckon that's what helped me land this promotion?

[16:24] Tim Iffland: Because I I can help you answer that question. I don't know if I can if I can talk about it in in great detail. Well, maybe not, but I there there were a series of events that happened in that front half of that year, 2024, where you didn't focus on the problem, but you focused on the solution and you stepped up and you for lack of a better word, rescued a lot of scenarios. Yeah, and you showed that what you were capable of in uh like moments of crises, I guess, but then also your approach to it, which was to lift people up and vicariously lifting yourself up to the common goal that everyone shared, which was to put on a good show for audiences and to make sure that the cast and the crew had a great experience along the way too, because as we all learn in high school, it's about the journey, not the destination showing my age there. Uh anyway, that's my two Bobs were.

[17:28] Joshua Broadbent: I mean, obviously I a lot of things I can't go into, but I think what you've said is exactly the person I strive to be. I am there to and have always been wanting to do theatre to put on a show. Like it's never about me, it's about the audience. It's about the company. It's about the people we work with. And I will always, no matter what role I'm in, jump into action if support if if that support's needed. I could easily step back and go, ah well that's not my job. That's not my responsibility. But even now, a bit over 12 months into the you know AP role, I'm still doing that. Mozart's Requiem the this week I jumped into some things and I'm like, that's not my job, but they've got to get done so just do them.

That's that's what we should be doing in theatre. Like if you see someone needing that that help or that guidance or you see an opportunity where you can do something that's about to be missed just do it. And apologize for it later if it wasn't the right thing to do.

[18:25] Tim Iffland: Yeah ask for forgiveness later. I actually think that's part of the work ethic of a stage manager as well is that silent hero the idea of not all not all heroes wear capes like the the things that I was privy to that you saved in stage manager land is wild. But a lot of the cast, especially the cast, but certainly a lot of the crew are none the wiser that that needed to be done. So I just think that's something that you've carried through with you where you cut your teeth as a stage manager and you're like well I can see something I'm not gonna look away I'm gonna fix it and help someone.

[19:02] Joshua Broadbent: I think the biggest advice I can give on that is don't do it to be thanked. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. If you're doing it to be thanked you're doing it for the wrong reason. Yeah. You are doing it because you see something's being missed or something's about to happen. And you know I didn't work all those months to prove that I was ready to be an AP. I did it because I saw gaps or I saw missing links or it was my job. Yeah. I just did it. I didn't question it, I just did it and then it paid off for me which was really, really nice and rewarding. But that hasn't changed my work ethic. I didn't get to an AP and then you know step back. I'm still doing the same things I was doing because that's who I am.

[19:45] Tim Iffland: How else has being an associate producer paid off? What are some of the projects you've worked on that you're most proud of?

[19:53] Joshua Broadbent: Oh gosh I mean it's the same qu as when I would get questioned about stage management. Like what show did I love? All of them. Because all of them held such a important part within my life. Wizard of Oz being my first production uh touring with Matilda being the first musical I worked on even though it was a second and then you know a swing props I can always take something out of a show to hold on to something special. Like West Side Story I was in my production administrator role but getting to spend every night on the harbour getting to work with such a fantastic team of people I will cherish that forever.

[20:29] Tim Iffland: Yeah what a terrible office literally on Sydney Harbour rainy days.

[20:35] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. Rainy floody days they're the days you didn't want to leave the shipping container. But I moved straight from West Side Story to being associate producer for the National Tour of Labour M. I've done touring I've never done it to the level that I've had to do and I've had to learn a lot in a very quick time about a looking after the well being of people on the road 36 touring company members as well as booking accommodation and flights and coaches and liaising with venues and all of that. But I cherish that first year because I grew so much. You know, that's the moment that I grew from a stage manager to a producer. That was that moment. And then going into Guys and Dolls for Opera on the Harbour, that was my first Producing of a Musical.

Yeah. I was involved with casting, I was liaising with agents. I saw every part of that production come together from start to finish. Yeah. And yes, I got to spend every night on the harbour again, but it was a completely different experience because I wasn't doing it as a production administrator, I was doing it as an associate producer. And then this year we did Lab OM take two. Um other parts of Australia.

[21:47] Tim Iffland: Yeah, other parts of Australia.

[21:48] Joshua Broadbent: So we do two tours. We do the national tour twos in a row. Uh the first year we do the cold tour, the second year we do the hot tour, so sort of, you know.

[21:56] Tim Iffland: What does that mean?

[21:58] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah, good, good question. Uh it's a little bit a little bit loose, but basically in the cold tour, we sort of do Victoria, New South Wales Tassie. Um because it's during the winter months. It's during the winter months. During the hot tour, still during the winter months, just the second year, but we do um Queensland, Northern Territory, WA. Yeah, because they don't have winter in Australia.

[22:19] Tim Iffland: Yeah, they don't exist.

[22:22] Joshua Broadbent: And getting to do that show this year, it solidified what I learned last year. One of the things that I really admire about your work at Opera Australia is when I do have the privilege of sort of um being your shadow to an opening night or coming along to whatever it is, and I love watching you work a room. And in the sense that it's not disingenuous or you know doing jazz hands to be seen and heard, but I love witnessing people's reactions to you getting them getting their attention, getting their eye content because they're so excited to talk to you and congratulate you and thank you all. But then even still, maybe what I find even sexier about this as your husband is I love watching you solve problems.

[23:15] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. Because you do so well at listening and you just get it done and you do it without I'm about to go and save the day. No, you just go and do it, and then you see that problem no longer manifest, and the you know, people who may have been vicariously impacted by that quote unquote problem will never know that it ever was. I find that really cool to watch.

[23:42] Tim Iffland: I think that all comes from stage management because you've always got to be two steps ahead of the game. Like you have to anticipate the needs of someone before it happens. So I think that's a really valuable thing that I've been able to carry across from stage management into this is that I can anticipate those needs and see those needs before the person even knows that they need it.

[24:17] Joshua Broadbent: Is there something that has been a really really rewarding moment so far in your role and then equally a moment that makes you think far out that was pretty challenging?

[24:31] Tim Iffland: I think being part of a production from start to finish. Obviously, working in stage management and in in theatre. You swan in and swan out. You sort of swan in and swan out. Like you don't see the months of prep that go into planning something and and all those layers. You arrive, you know, three days before rehearsal start, you pull together some things, you rehearse it, at the end you you finish up. But there's still months of work that happens after. And I think when I started at Opera Australia, West Side Story was already cast, they were already, you know, halfway into it. It started rehearsals two months later. And it's sort of the same thing with the national tour. It had already been put in motion.

Whereas once Guys and Dolls started, I was there from the start. Day dog. I saw, you know, from the minute they went, this is what we're doing. And there was other shows that they were tossing between. So I saw decisions being made. Yeah. And then I was there from the start, putting all the the information together, auditioning, having marketing meetings, having site set design meetings, all of those things. I was involved in every one of those meetings. Some of those I may not have had input into the conversation because as an associate producer, you sit at a different level, so not every decision is mine, but at least I was a part of the conversation and I you were across and aware of every moving piece.

And that's so important because I mean the whole job as an associate is you're an associate to the producer. Yeah. So you need to be able to, if they're not there, act on things and be confident in that decision making. And watching the whole process from start to finish was just so valuable for me to make sh help my career progression, but also rewarding because I know the hours that I put into it.

[26:22] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. I know the things I dealt with. I know the good things, the bad things, the things that I would do differently. I know all of that, and I'm s I value that so much. In reflecting on the transition, how do you look back on those formative years as a stage manager now? What did they teach you?

[26:42] Tim Iffland: I mean everything. I know that's a bit of a cop out of an answer, but I went from community theatre in Newcastle where I grew up, where I sort of taught myself how theatre works. You know, I taught myself how to lighting design, taught myself how to sound operate, taught myself how to stage manage, to actually being able to put a lot of that knowledge, self-taught knowledge into practice, and then from there just continuing to be, as we've talked about, the person that I am. Question things, do things, be curious, just be curious, just continuing to allow myself to grow and evolve and never stop myself from an opportunity. Whether you look at a show and you go, that may not be the right thing, just doing it because you know, you can always take something out of anything as long as you allow yourself to, right?

All of what I've learned is helping me now. Like we said, I haven't taken a traditional route into into producing. Not at all. Like usually stage manage for another 10 years, become a company manager for 10 years, then finally break into that producing role. Like that's what I've seen in the past, and I've gone ooh whoop over here, and then I've gone up there, and now I am where I am. Doing it your way.

[27:55] Joshua Broadbent: Doing it my way, because there's no one way of getting into this industry, and everyone's journey is so unique. Do you ever miss being in the wings? Headset on calling a show.

[28:06] Tim Iffland: I got chills. Um guess.

[28:10] Joshua Broadbent: Yes. You're allowed to miss you're allowed to miss something that meant so much to you. I think the experiences that I've had in the past two years, like as I said, West Side Story, guys and adults, I was there every night. I was watching the show every night from a different perspective. But I still got to be a part of that live theatre rather than just being the office.

[28:32] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. I think even this week at Mozart, I was standing at the stage manager's desk with the stage management team watching the show. So I still have those opportunities. They still exist for me. I'm not there every night, but I still get to go backstage. I get to be in the wings watching and cheering on. But what I get to do now is actually see more theatre and more shows and cheer on more of my friends and my theatre family because I'm actually getting to be in the audience.

[29:06] Tim Iffland: How has it felt balancing these big career moves that we've talked about with life outside of work?

[29:13] Joshua Broadbent: I mean, it's surprisingly been easy, I guess. You work nine to five. I now work nine to five. So we can spend the evenings and the weekends together. There's still times where I have to travel for work. Um our national tour often opens somewhere that's not in Sydney. Or, you know, our Canberra Gala we're doing next week. I'm going to Canberra. I'm going to Canberra. So, you know, there's a little bit of travel still involved, but nowhere near as much travel as I was doing in the past. No, because it was months at a time. Months. It's funny, because obviously working a long weekend, working Saturday of a long weekend for the Mozart's Requiem, I was like, I changed my career path to have these times back to me. But you know, I balance it out.

[30:03] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[30:04] Joshua Broadbent: Like my job is nine to five, but I know there's times where I will come home and be working overnight. You know, there's been deadlines that I need to hit. And it's not that I haven't hit them because I haven't spent my time well. It's because there's a lot of work that needs to be done to hit deadlines. So there's times where I'll come home and I'll do a little bit of work. It's a balancing act.

[30:25] Tim Iffland: Well, the word is balance, it's not work-life equilibrium.

[30:27] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. Like it is a balance and the scales do shift up and down. I just think that where you were, where we were in our relationship in terms of our physical geography to each other was so out of way.

[30:41] Tim Iffland: Yep.

[30:41] Joshua Broadbent: And so for me personally, I appreciate career move. But I also travel for work. And I'm also out a lot during the week. Yep. Going to screenings and premieres and events and such like. But at least we see each other every day.

[30:57] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[30:58] Joshua Broadbent: Where we didn't have that. So I think it's the balance of carving out time for yourself and each other which has changed.

[31:07] Tim Iffland: Yeah. All right, babe. What's next for you? What do you reckon?

[31:13] Joshua Broadbent: As in where do I see myself in five, ten years? Or go on. Ask yourself the question, what am I doing here? It's always been this thing in my journey in stage management of okay, I want to be in ASM for this long. Okay, I want to move into DSMing, which I kind of skipped over. Do you want to explain what DSMing is? Because it kind of sounds a bit naughty to the untrained ear.

[31:38] Tim Iffland: Hopefully most of the listeners would know.

[31:40] Joshua Broadbent: Uh but it's a deputy stage manager, so assistant to a deputy, which I kind of skipped over those COVID years was where I was making that move, and then coming out of COVID, went straight into stage management. A stage manager, I should say. And then now that I'm in this AP role, I know there's so much more for me to learn. Like I am learning so much about opera. Like I transitioned from our major projects team, so looking after Opera on the Harbour, into the opera team. So I've got new things like the Requiem and our Cambra Gala, all these different events that we do that I look after as well as the National Tour. And knowing this coming year's national tour is a new production, a revival of an old production, but a new production of cast and crew and travel and all of that.

[32:32] Tim Iffland: Can you announce or share what it is?

[32:34] Joshua Broadbent: Oh Don Giovanni.

[32:35] Tim Iffland: Don Giovanni.

[32:36] Joshua Broadbent: Yes. We last did Don Giovanni in 2011, 2012, I believe. So it's been a while. It's a different tour route, it's different venues that we're liaising with, it's all those things. So in sort of, you know, saying all of that, I'm so happy where I am right now. My brain has not even thought about what's next, like stepping up into you know, a senior producer or an executive I am so happy where I am.

[33:03] Tim Iffland: How good is that though?

[33:05] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. That you can just exist in the moment and do what needs to be done and nurture talent around you, nurture your own talent without being distracted by the future.

[33:17] Tim Iffland: Yeah. Because it's very tempting to ask, what if? What if in the next five years I am a senior producer? What would that mean?

[33:25] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. But what if you just focused on what you're doing today?

[33:28] Tim Iffland: Yep. And then when tomorrow comes around, yeah.

[33:31] Joshua Broadbent: Do it then. I am so happy just existing where I am now, seeing where this takes me, and knowing that, you know, in six months' time I don't need to be finding another job.

[33:43] Tim Iffland: Well, hopefully not.

[33:45] Joshua Broadbent: Who knows? But you know, not like what I was doing, having to constantly be searching for that next opportunity. I love coming home from work every day and hearing about your day, because my God, it can be wild at times in terms of just the random shit that you're dealing with. A lot of it's really exciting and interesting and compelling. And I just love that. I always lean into that, but I especially love knowing how happy you are.

[34:15] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[34:16] Joshua Broadbent: But you are still being challenged because you are not a thumb twiddler. I mean, I've met your father's energizer.

[34:26] Tim Iffland: And my grandmother.

[34:29] Joshua Broadbent: So that is in your blood. And I think that's why you're just cut out for this line of work. Like the arts ain't for the faint of heart.

[34:38] Tim Iffland: No.

[34:39] Joshua Broadbent: For performers, for crew and everyone in between. It is an incredible vocation. And I feel really privileged that I have kind of like, well, my own seat in the wings, if you will, just to witness it. You mentioned obviously that you get to, you know, sit in the wings and support me. But one night you actually got to sit with me.

[35:03] Tim Iffland: Oh.

[35:04] Joshua Broadbent: Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. You sat there with your little comms headset on next to me and watched me call the show. That's the first time you've really seen me do my job.

[35:14] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[35:15] Joshua Broadbent: Do do that work. What was that like for you?

[35:18] Tim Iffland: Hey, who's interviewing who?

[35:20] Joshua Broadbent: Uh I loved it so much.

[35:24] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[35:24] Joshua Broadbent: Because as a person, I love context because it on my podcast, it's like I've watched a billion movies a week, and we get to talk to directors and actors, and Lee and I have really robust conversations to understand the story, the intent, the characters, the motivations, and also the technical aspects of it, whether it be the way it looks, how it was made, the CGI costumes. So I got the context that I had never had in the world of musical theatre before until that night. And I've always been a real big fan of theatre and productions. Um but I have not really known anything about it. I have been but a voyeur, not in not, you know, you know, getting my hands dirty in how it all comes together. So my eyes lit up in terms of how much is involved in a tricking the audience that something is real or tricking the audience into believing that this is a real person and their situation and transporting them to uh whether it be Oz or you know the factory, the chocolate factory, all of those things.

So I really loved hearing how cohesive and how collaborative it was, but also how fun and playful, and just also appreciating how much skill and professionalism that it takes to do this, and like looking behind the curtain is quite eye opening.

[37:01] Joshua Broadbent: So yeah that's what I got out of it. Hearing that little tidbit of how you as someone who loves theatre and watching it how you experience that backstage environment for the first time you know takes me back to my first time I experienced working backstage and then the love of that that then kept me doing what I was doing. For me it's not about diminishing the magic.

[37:24] Tim Iffland: Yeah it's actually enhancing the magic.

[37:27] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah. For for me personally, I know a lot of people don't want to know how things are done or so I can't wait to find out how things are done because I want to be in on it.

[37:27] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[37:27] Joshua Broadbent: I want to be in on how much it took to make that real so I mean it's we see shows and you often look to me and go, how did how would they have done that?

[37:45] Tim Iffland: Yeah please tell me.

[37:46] Joshua Broadbent: And I am pulling something out of somewhere going they could have done it this way they could have done it that way.

[37:50] Tim Iffland: Yeah.

[37:50] Joshua Broadbent: So you know it's it magic of theatre. Magic of theatre and the magic of you my dear Whispers in the Wings season three.

[37:59] Tim Iffland: We're in it right now.

[38:01] Joshua Broadbent: What can audiences expect from this new season?

[38:06] Tim Iffland: Oh my gosh. Well if they've listened to the teaser episode I've got three fantastic guests lined up that will be dropping over the next couple of weeks. We've got stage managers, we've got artistic directors, we've got people that work with fireworks.

[38:21] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah that's cool.

[38:22] Tim Iffland: There's intimacy coordinators to mental health experts like just a mixture of people from this industry that can share really valuable insight into what they do and how they help the industry and and their career and it's so fascinating now for me because I can take the podcast from two perspectives.

[38:44] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah.

[38:44] Tim Iffland: I can talk about stage management until the cows come home. And now I can talk about producing. You know, very very start of this podcast was to talk about stage management. But in order to do stage management, you need to understand every aspect of this industry, and that's the same for what I'm doing now for producing.

[38:54] Joshua Broadbent: Yeah.

[38:54] Tim Iffland: You need to understand it. It's so important to get a cross-section of how the world of the arts comes together, like how the sausage is made, so to speak, just like your career has evolved and continues to evolve, the podcast is. And I know what you have in store, you've given us a little tease. I can't wait to listen myself, because I've kind of been listening from outside the the room.

[39:25] Joshua Broadbent: You've been listening in the wings.

[39:26] Tim Iffland: You've been listening in the wings.

[39:29] Joshua Broadbent: Very one-sided conversation because I can't hear them.

[39:31] Tim Iffland: Now you know what it feels like when you record.

[39:35] Joshua Broadbent: That's true. Well, babe, this has been fun. Thank you.

[39:38] Tim Iffland: Thanks for asking me to have a chat. I know this is usually we've got like, well, I did suggest that we had some wine, but we're all out.

[39:46] Joshua Broadbent: Uh this ain't a Dan Murphy's um in our fridge, sadly.

[39:50] Tim Iffland: Uh, but usually we're having this conversation over a meal at the end of the day. But this is nice to put it in a way that we can then share our daily sort of conversations with your listener, which is really nice. I'm really proud of you.

[40:03] Joshua Broadbent: I love you.

[40:04] Tim Iffland: Thank you. I love you. And I think I mean I've been planning this return for so long, and I keep saying to you, I know I'm coming back, I'm coming back, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. And I finally just said, just do it. And I knew for so long that I wanted you to help me with this first episode because, you know, I can sit here and talk about myself. How boring would that be? Just one-sided conversation. As you mentioned. We've been together 11 years. You know who I am. That that entire time I've been working in this industry. So you've experienced it all. You've experienced it through me. And I thought, who better to help bring out those best parts than you know, someone that has been there with me every step of the way.

[40:48] Joshua Broadbent: So it's like my dad always used to say when each of us did the HSE, he'd be like, "Yeah, I've done the HSC five times now."

[40:56] Tim Iffland: Lol Dad.

[40:57] Joshua Broadbent: Well, I've been a stage manager, an associate producer, production administrator a couple of times now, um, vicariously.

[41:05] Tim Iffland: So I've loved following your journey and um, well, thank you again for jumping on with me for this episode.

[41:15] Joshua Broadbent: And a thank you to the listener for returning, or welcome if you are new to the podcast. I'm so excited, as I said, to be back for season three. We've got some fantastic people lined up, and I cannot wait to share those stories with you.

[41:29] Tim Iffland: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Whispers in the Wings. Make sure you're following the show on Instagram and TikTok and keep an eye out for some bonus episodes coming your way. They'll cover all sorts of things from QA's to deep dives into specific topics and a few behind-the-scenes stories too. If there's something you'd like to hear about or a question you were answered, send it through on Instagram or drop me an email at the address in the show notes.

[41:51] Joshua Broadbent: And before we wrap up, today is World Mental Health Day. Now is an important time to pause and check in with yourself, your friends, your colleagues, anyone in your theatre circle. Working in the arts can be such a high-energy, high-pressure world, and it's easy to forget to take care of yourself. So today, take a breath, do something that fills your cup, and maybe reach out to someone you care about. A small message can mean a lot. The next full episode of Whispers in the Wings drops on October 31st, featuring Katie Murphy, who joins me for an honest and open chat about her experiences working in nightlife and the theatre world, and the importance of creating safe space for everyone. It's a really insightful conversation. I cannot wait for you to hear it. Until then, get out and see some live theatre. There's nothing quite like it.