“A Stage Where We Belong”: Reflections on Adventures with Nicole Simms-Farrow
Nicole Simms-Farrow in rehearsal for Adventures. Photo by Jack Thomas Cawthon
For Tasmanian performer Nicole Simms-Farrow, stepping into The Adventures of Peacock, Chicken and the Pony They Rode Upon has been more than another role - it is the culmination of decades spent shaping a life in music theatre, often on her own terms.
Nicole is one of the local cast members premiering this original production with Second Echo Ensemble and Midnight Feast, debuting first at the Sydney Opera House before returning to Nipaluna / Hobart’s Theatre Royal. For her, the show represents a creative process unlike any she has known.
“This has been a chance to draw on my whole history and career in musical theatre and bring that into a completely new work made by artists who are imaginative, free and wildly creative,” she says. “We have been able to take our time and let ideas grow. In most new shows you do not get that. Here, we work for years, not weeks. We test ideas, we let them marinate and sometimes we let them go, but we always learn.”
Nicole describes Second Echo Ensemble as a company where everyone is both teacher and learner. She speaks about the equal footing that allows each artist to show up honestly, without needing to mask parts of themselves to fit a mould.
“It’s a true collaboration,” she says. “Everyone is a professional but everyone is learning too. You can be vulnerable as well as polished. You can make mistakes, try something new, and not be afraid.”
Nicole knows what it means to stand slightly outside the mainstream. From early in her career, she felt pressure to change herself to fit expected roles - to sing only certain material, to present a certain look, to audition for schools she knew might shape her in ways she did not want.
She stayed in Tasmania and built her practice here. She found work that matched her talent rather than just her image. She found people who would take risks with her. Now, decades later, this choice to stay rooted has brought her to a stage she once only glimpsed as a tourist - the Sydney Opera House.
“I have only stood on its steps once before on a family holiday,” she says. “To be performing there now feels like the proof that my choice to stay true to myself was right. When I was young, people always asked if I was auditioning interstate. But I never really wanted to leave. I have made a life here in Lutruwita / Tasmania and now the stage at the Sydney Opera House belongs to me too.”
Nicole also reflects on what it means to create new work rather than only perform other people’s songs. “Being part of original musicals has been my dream. For years I would get small tastes of it - a workshop here, a reading there - but to do it as my everyday work now is extraordinary. It feels like a returning to my practice, after raising my daughter and losing gigs to COVID. It feels like being seen as an artist again.”
Working alongside composer Mia Palencia has been another turning point. “Mia changed my life as an artist,” Nicole says. “She has lifted me up, encouraged me to write fearlessly, and has shown me how new music can come to life from our own stories.”
The partnership with Midnight Feast has added another layer of connection. “It is amazing to stand beside other artists who share this drive to make radical work, who make space for everyone’s creative spark. We are not about tokenism - we mean business. The art is excellent. It changes people’s expectations of what is possible.”
In August 2025, Nicole will take that honesty and freedom to the Sydney Opera House stage and beyond - proof that this work, and diverse artists, belong anywhere.
Learn more about The Adventures of Peacock, Chicken and the Pony They Rode Upon and purchase tickets.
