Tim Heath on returning to theatre

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The Nugget
May 09, 2025

★ Tim Heath is acting again, after a 20-year hiatus ★

Tim Heath, Shelley and Amy at MainFM. Listen to the Nugget live on Mondays, 12-1p.

Tim Heath was five years old when he caught the acting bug, performing in a pantomime at the Theatre Royal.

He has since led a big life, growing up in creative Castlemaine, heading to Melbourne for uni and then touring Australia with his band, The Basics.

He felt the call to return to Castlemaine and bought the Theatre Royal with his partner Felicity.

They have managed it together for the past eight years, bringing joy and top shelf music and movies to our community.

"I haven't thought about acting for a while. I don't know, maybe you get a bit older, and you start to reflect on your journey. No regrets, of course," Tim says.

"I was reflecting that it was a bit sad that I had so much passion for theatre and it had sort of been drained out of me when I finished university.

“I thought, well, it would be good to return and I think community theatre… it just exposes you to these beautiful and brilliant people who live in the same community. So, I auditioned, and I got a great part, I think, for someone who's returning."

Tim is playing the role of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, in the Castlemaine Theater Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's his first acting gig in 20 years.

The full circle of it is off the charts.

CTC rehearses at the old high school — in the same class room where Tim studied drama as a kid.

Of the 20 or so people in the cast, Tim knew only one person. His old friend, Gus Read-Hill.

"We've been close mates since our teenage years. That's been very lovely, reconnecting in this theatrical thing with him. We were in the same youth theatre group, and we were in the same class, back in the day. It's very full circle," Tim says.

Tim and the rest of the cast are at the pointy end now, with opening night fast approaching.

"I've kind of forgotten, but some actor friends have said, ah, yeah, two weeks out you're going to be full of dread and doubt, and I'm like, yeah, that sounds about right," Tim says.

"I sometimes have a recurring dream that I'm on stage. I had one the other night where, in my dream, the director of the play said, 'Tim, we've decided to switch it up for opening night, so you're going to be playing one of the fairies and I've written you a special script. Here it is.' And it was in this cardboard that I couldn't get open."

He has been drilling his lines from the moment he was given the script, fueled by that recurring anxiety dream.

"I couldn't think of anything worse than having a stage meltdown."

Tim shared this with Shelley and I on MainFM on Monday. I wanted to give him a weighted blanket and a cup of tea. Shelley is cut from a different cloth altogether. She is the friend who will give you a firm push toward greatness. Live on air, with no warning, she proposed that he run his lines.

"I could give it a bell," he said.

I would have had a heart attack, but Tim nailed it. You can hear the on-the-spot delivery of Shakespeare on the air waves here.

It will get you jazzed for the show, which sounds like a riot.

"It's kind of set in the 60s/70s, so the fairies are hippies, essentially. There is a fair amount of live music and the cast sing. There's some really sweet surprises in that regard.

"It grows from this pretty horrible beginning, where they're saying to this young woman, marry this man or die, and becomes the most beautiful, joyous celebration, and very funny."

Storytelling, drama, celebration and comedy: don't you think we all need more of this? I'm taking my 13-year-old and hope to see you there, too.

Tim is dipping his toes back into theatrical performing while also juggling some big jobs: parenting and running the Theatre Royal with his partner, Felicity Cripps.

"It's been a remarkable challenge and pleasure for 8.5 years," Tim says.

"It has been a lot of pleasure, seeing things through that seemed too big to contemplate in terms of big shows and big audiences, and all the stress that comes with that.

"I spend a lot of my time cutting laps of the venue hoping that no one's going to fall over and hurt themselves and hoping that no one's going to start a fight."

It's hard to imagine now, but the Theatre used to be a rowdy place back in the 80s. On Friday and Saturday nights, it was a nightclub known as The Pit.

“In the 1980s everyone drank three times as much as they do today. They would leave the pubs at 11:00 PM and descend on the theatre (which had a 3:00 AM liquor license). They'd all be wasted."

Tim says he inherited albums full of press clippings about the theatre from those days, and some of the articles describe massive fights outside the Theatre. 

"They had to get police from Ballarat over because there were 60 drunken brawlers out the front in the middle of the road terrifying the local cops,” Tim says.

“All the front windows were timber because people were being thrown through them. I think there was a bit of a call from the community to say 'We've got to stop this, this is crazy.'

"So, then the liquor license was rolled back to 1:00 AM. It's still 1:00 AM but we've found we're more than happy closing the bar as soon as the band's finished. I'm not really into fights."

Tim credits previous owner Ray Lindstrom and cinema manager Les Thornton with updating the old building in the 80s and 90s to make it multi-use and sustainable by removing fixed seating and putting in a kitchen and bars.

"If it wasn't for them, it probably would have become a supermarket."

Maybe even a Woolies. Could you imagine?!  

"It's got quite the history, that building. Even before it had the stone walls it was a huge tent where the market would happen if it was raining.

“There were great public meetings and Fanny Finch broadcast her vote there. A lot of ghost stories, as well, because it was a hotel of course in the front section, with a balcony."

Tim says the event he looks forward to every year is the Battle of the Bands.

"It's always hair-raisingly stressful, but just so joyous that it reminds you of why you work hard to do certain things.

"It's incredible watching the talent but also watching the audience members on that night that are 99% young folk just really soaking it up and you think, for some of these kids, it might be the highlight of their year."

❀ Shared Ground opens tonight ❀

Jez Forbes, with poet Noa Schaerf-Trauner, always spins a good tale on sheds, and life.

Jez Forbes and Brett Davies are celebrating the opening of their new exhibition at Lot 19 tonight.

I can’t think of a better way to start the weekend.

Brett’s sculptural wooden mobiles that will be dancing throughout the gallery and Jez’s exploration of sheddism will decorate the walls.

Poet Noa Schaerf-Trauner has written pieces that speak to Jez’s paintings and will be doing a reading at the opening event. Hope to see you there!

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