Vivienne Garrett

Australian actress

Vivienne Garrett is an Australian based theatre, film and television actress. She is a theatre director, acting and voice coach and also a qualified yoga instructor and therapist. She was born in Sydney, NSW and now lives in Western Australia. Garrett graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1970. Her best known role was as rebellious teenager Rose Godolfus, an original character in TV serial Number 96, her character was involved in numerous controversial storylines

As a primary school student she was chosen to star in a theatrical production of The Little Mermaid where she was spotted by Geoff Harvey the then musical director for TCN 9 and subsequently began performing and singing on children's television talent show Comedy Capers. While still a teenager, her first screen acting role was in The Unloved produced by NLT Productions in 1968. After graduating from NIDA she toured with a Theatre in Education company and had guest roles in police dramas Homicide and Matlock Police. Garrett is best known for her role of rebellious Rose Godolfus, the daughter of deli owner Aldo (Johnny Lockwood), in top rated soap opera Number 96. She was a member of the original cast of Number 96 when it began in March 1972. Number 96 brought sexual situations and nude scenes to Australian television for the first time. Although series star Abigail became famous for being the first woman to appear topless on Australian television, in fact it was Garrett, who was topless in the serial's first episode, who deserves the credit. However the scene was screened only in Sydney. By the time the episode went to air in other localities in the days following, the shot had been cut by censors after complaints from viewers. Garrett remained in the show for five months, breaking her contract and leaving the series over a storyline where Rose was gang raped by a group of bikers in which the script called for her to be actually enjoying it. After leaving Number 96 she had a guest role in Division 4 and also worked in theatre. She spent three years as a company member of Rex Cramphorn's celebrated Performance Syndicate appearing in productions including The Tempest, Shakuntala and the Ring of Recognition, Muriel, Berenice, and Scapin. They also devised original physical theatre pieces and worked with internationally acclaimed Jerzy Grotowski and his company. She resumed the role of Rose for a limited number of episodes of Number 96 in 1975, and appeared in a recurring sketch in comedy series The Norman Gunston Show called The Checkout Chicks. This sketch, written by Bill Harding, was a send up of melodramatic soap operas and set in a supermarket. It featured other former Number 96 actors – Abigail, Candy Raymond, Philippa Baker, Judy Lynne, Anne Louise Lambert, John Paramor and Johnny Lockwood. In 1976 she travelled to India where she studied yoga, meditation and philosophy at an ashram for 12 months under the guidance of Baba Muktananda in Ganeshpuri. She wrote about the experience in 1977 for the lifestyle magazine Simply Living. Back in Australia, she worked on student films for Australian Film Television and Radio School and continued to act in theatre and on screen.

Year Title Role Notes 1950s The Little Mermaid High school performance 1967 The Choephori (The Libation Bearers) University of NSW 1969 Antigone NIDA Theatre 1969 Student Graduation Plays Jane Street Theatre 1970 A Midsummer Night's Dream University of NSW & Old Tote Theatre 1970 Blood Wedding University of NSW, Old Tote Theatre 1971 Hamlet Phillip Street Theatre 1972 Dear Janet Rosenberg, Dear Mr. Kooning AMP Theatrette, Sydney 1972 Butterflies Are Free Twelfth Night Theatre 1973 Measure for Measure Union Hall, Adelaide 1974 Shakuntala and the Ring of Recognition Australian Mineral Foundation Theatre with Rex Cramphorn's Performance Syndicate 1974 My Shadow and Me Jane Street Theatre 1974 Muriel Jane Street Theatre with Rex Cramphorn's Performance Syndicate 1975 Berenice Sydney Opera House with Rex Cramphorn's Performance Syndicate 1975 Scapin Sydney Opera House with Rex Cramphorn's Performance Syndicate The Tempest Miranda / Ariel Rex Cramphorn's Performance Syndicate 1975 Mariner Jane Street Theatre 1975 Interplay Jane Street Theatre 1978 Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi Russell Street Theatre, Playhouse Theatre, Perth, Union Hall, Adelaide & Theatre Royal, Sydney 1978 As You Like It Celia Jane Street Theatre 1979 The Lady of the Camellias Sydney Opera House 1979 On Our Selection Sarah Jane Street Theatre & Nimrod Theatre 1979 Waiting for Godot Jane Street Theatre 1979 The House of the Deaf Man Nimrod Theatre 1980 The Bride of Gospel Place Jane Street Theatre 1980 The Dybbuk Leye Jane Street Theatre 1982 Variations Belvoir St Theatre & Nimrod Theatre 1983 Top Girls Marlene Nimrod Theatre 1984 The Servant of Two Masters Nimrod Theatre 1984 Extremities Sydney Opera House 1985 Cheapside Seymour Centre 1988 Europe Playhouse Theatre, Perth 1988 A Chorus of Disapproval Playhouse Theatre, Perth 1988 Rough Crossing Playhouse Theatre, Perth 1988 From Here to Maternity Princess May Theatre, Fremantle 1990 The Death of Minnie Minnie One woman show by Barry Dickens 1990 The Christian Brothers The Studio Theatre, Subiaco 1991 The Popular Mechanics Playhouse Theatre, Perth 1991 Emma Old Customs House, Fremantle, The Hole in the Wall Theatre, Players, Civic Square, ACT 1993 Blood Moon Western Australia 1993 Witchplay Batcha Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. One woman show by Tobsha Learner (Garrett also produced) 1994 The Lift Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts 1994 Brilliant Lies Playhouse Theatre, Perth 1994 Breaststroke SWY Theatre, Perth 1995 Dead Funny Eleanor Perth Theatre Company 1995 Subi Shorts Program 1: Family Running for Mr Whippy / The Price of Prayer / Darling Oscar Subiaco Theatre Centre 1996 Burning Time Kel Malthouse Theatre & Subiaco Theatre Centre 1996 Blackrock Subiaco Theatre Centre 2001 The Vagina Monologues Subiaco Theatre Centre 2003 Breaststroke Rechabite Hall, Perth 2003 Necessary Targets J. S. Darlinghurst Theatre 2004 Live Acts on Stage Playhouse Theatre, Perth 2004 The Vagina Monologues University of Sydney 2005 Necessary Targets J. S. Malthouse Theatre 2007 Life x 3 Playhouse Theatre, Perth 2009 Checklist for an Armed Robber Victoria Hall 2009 The Lonely Hearts Club Victoria Hall 2010 The Clean House Anna Cremorne Theatre for Black Swan State Theatre Company 2011 When the Rain Stops Falling State Theatre Centre of WA, Heath Ledger Theatre 2012 Biddies Australian tour 2013 Other Desert Cities Silda State Theatre Centre of WA, Heath Ledger Theatre for Black Swan State Theatre Company & Playhouse, South Bank for Queensland Theatre Company 2016 Lighten Up Bronwyn Stables Theatre, Sydney 2016 The Children Royal Court Jerwood Theatre for Theatre 180 2018 Summer of the Seventeenth Doll Emma Leech State Theatre Centre of WA, Heath Ledger Theatre 2020 Summer of the Seventeenth Doll Online from WA The Crucible Old Tote Theatre Equus

In 1995 Garrett won the Swan Gold Award for Most Outstanding Female Actor for her portrayal of Eleanor in Dead Funny for the Perth Theatre Company. In 2014 she won Best Female Support Actor for her role of Silda in Other Desert Cities for Black Swan State Theatre Company/Queensland Theatre Company. She has also been nominated for roles in Live Acts on Stage, Equus, The Clean House and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.

Garrett has worked as a theatre director on productions of Breaststroke, Ursula's Ecstasy, The Spook, Margritte and Tartuffe. She has also directed more than twenty short story productions for ABC Radio National.

Since 2006 Garrett could be heard on Australian television as a voice over artist. She has also taught Stage and Screen Acting, Voice and Theatre Studies at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, University of Notre Dame Australia, TAFTA and NIDA.

After graduating from NIDA with a BA in Dramatic Arts Garrett went on to post graduate studies in Voice and Shakespearean Text at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver BC, Canada.