FEATURE - The stage is set!

Thomas Loughran is a name to watch - one of the latest talents to emerge from Nambour, a town with creative people driving an eclectic art and music scene, unearthing serious talent along the way.

by Rebecca Mugridge

Nambour-born Thomas had always been drawn to the arts, he was studying singing when he discovered a drama class in high school with the supportive Ms Starr, her gentle and kind ways inspiring countless students into exploring the arts.  

“I don’t know where this passion has come from, Mum and Dad are not into this really, my dad is a movie guy!” says Thomas.

“When I went to Nambour high school, they had a drama program and I really enjoyed it.

They also had an extra curriculum program called NACA, and it’s like an extra class you do that is purely just dance or music or drama.

“We would host a music night and because I was a music student and a drama student, I was always one of the main MCs, and I was one of the MCs for our graduation too. 

“Through drama, I found a passion for comedy. When I was in year 11, I entered a show called Creative Generation (CGEN), it’s like a music extravaganza but it’s for state schools in Queensland. 

“I auditioned for that and I got into the drama cast which was maybe 11 people out of an 1800 people-strong, student show. And from that I thought maybe I would try musical theatre, and I joined Buderim Youth Theatre of Excellence (BYTES). 

“I really enjoyed it. BYTES hold a very high bar for their productions, and I have been hopping from show to show ever since.”

Thomas says CGEN is something Queensland should be very proud of, describing the talented youth from Queensland State Schools as incredible.

“They came from Rockhampton, various places inland, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.

It was interesting to see all these talented singers and actors and dancers who all came to put on the show, and they are all 18 years and younger,” he marvels. “It’s incredible. It’s an incredible thing.”

Held at the Convention Centre in Brisbane, CGEN gives students performance opportunities.

“If you get into the show, you have a rehearsal period in Brisbane for two or three months, and then at the very start you take the whole week off school and stay in Brisbane. You spend the whole week doing tech rehearsals, working with professional technicians, you have a 150-piece orchestra behind you, dancers in front of you (all students) and you’re performing in front of a semi-circle of close to a thousand people, it’s very, very cool.”

At such a young age Thomas already has credits to his name. Fresh from performing in the Lind Lane’s production of “The Woman in Black” with director Kathy Hickson he has production credits of Dimboola as Daryl “Dangles” Dunn, in Oklahoma as Ali Hakim, in a Legally Blonde production as Warner Huntington III, in the ensemble cast for High School Musical with Cope Creative and as Uncle Max in Caloundra Chorale Theatre Company’s 60^th Anniversary production of The Sound of Music. 

“I think it has mostly come from my love of comedy,” Thomas says of what drew him to this path. 

“I can remember growing up watching Australia’s Got Talent and the X Factor and watching all the comedians, plus growing up watching a whole bunch of other comedians like Carl Barron, the Umbilical Brothers, Jim Carey – I love Jim Carey, Ryan Gosling.”

In the beginning Thomas took to stand-up comedy, “I did stand up when I was 16, 17 and in the last two years I have enjoyed developing that into comedic roles in musicals, like Uncle Max in The Sound of Music. He is the comedic relief, and he is such a lovable character. 

“The same in Oklahoma, I played the character called Ali and he is also the comedic relief. There will be a tense scene and then you walk in and let off a bit of the pressure.

“Comedy comes a little more naturally to me, as does being flamboyant and witty rather than serious. Though that is something I have really worked on and developed recently.

“I did a show called Dimboola last year with Kathy, the director of The Woman in Black, and my character’s name was Dangles and it was this basically bogan wedding, and he was this kind of Elvis character.” Thomas says, explaining he had wonderful mentoring for that role from a cast mate. 

“I first did stand up with an organisation on the Sunshine Coast called Funny Coast Comedy. I did a course with them. They were all adults and I was 16 and a baby, and then performing at Solbar. 

“Standup is definitely a difficult thing, having to write those original scripts and trying to find what is funny,” he admits.

Thomas says his parents have been his rock through it all.

“I’m very fortunate that my parents are super supportive, they come to all my shows. I have a friend doing a screen acting course, he had to move to Brisbane, move into a share house, study part time and work full time in bar work to chase the dream. It can be full on.

“You’ve got to have a real passion, a real drive and a bit of luck!”