Noel Hodda

Acting and narration

Hodda was a founding member of the Riverina Theatre Company, located in Wagga Wagga and Project TYER, a Theatre In Education Co., for whom he also wrote and appeared in the play Strata Digger. Subsequently, he graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) at the UNSW Sydney and then worked as an actor for the Sydney Theatre Company, the Queensland Theatre Company, the Griffin Theatre Company, the Ensemble Theatre, the Q Theatre, Marian Street Theatre, Sport for Jove at the Seymour Centre^[2] and others. He also performed in major national and international tours, including The Removalists, Are You Lonesome Tonight?, The Club, Life of Galileo, Chasing the Dragon, Diving for Pearls and Dinner.

He has appeared in numerous Australian television series and tele-dramas as both a lead and guest character. His first major television gig was a regular role in the drama Sons and Daughters as Rob Keegan, from 1982 to 1984. He played celebrity TV doctor David Fielding in E Street from 1989 to 1991^[3] and patriarch Ron O’Donnell in Out of the Blue in 2008. Hodda has also had guest roles in Neighbours,^[4] Janet King and Rake.^[5]

His film appearances include A Step in the Right Direction (1981), The Highest Honour (aka Heroes of the Krait/Southern Cross) (1982), Silver City (1984), Emoh Ruo (1985) and The Bet (2006) among others.

Hodda began recording books as a student at NIDA as a means of earning extra money. He became a long-standing narrator for Vision Australia from 1977 to 2009.^[6] In gaps between his work in the theatre, films and television, he has recorded hundreds of talking books for them, as well as the ABC and commercially. He has been shortlisted for several Talking Book Awards^[7] and won the National Library TDK Australian Audio Book Award for his narration of the novel Cold Mountain.^[8] He has also performed voiceover work for numerous advertisements.^[9]

Writing

Hodda has written and staged numerous plays including Issues Addressed, The Secret House, Half Safe, Photographs, On The Public Record, The Sculpture Garden, In This Light and Threat: Norma, Norm & the Dog. A selection of his plays titled "Plays: Noel Hodda" was published by Janus Imprint.^[10]

His play Later (eventually known as Across the Water) was chosen to be workshopped at the prestigious Banff playRites Colony, in Banff, Canada in 2004. His play Rehearsing Julie (now re-drafted and titled Manda) was nominated for a Silver Gull Play Award in 2024.^[11] His one act play Norma was made into a short film.

His television writing credits include episodes of the ABC TV G.P. drama.^[12]

Hodda was writer in residence both at Charles Sturt University School of Performing Arts and University of Wollongong Faculty of Creative Arts.

Directing and teaching

Hodda is an Honorary Life Member of Griffin Theatre Company , where he was a board member, Chairman of the Board, Director of D-Week and a member of the Literary Committee.^[13] Currently,^[when?] he still acts, directs and teaches.

He assesses plays for Page to Stage (a young playwrights' organisation) and Parnassus' Den. He has also been a script assessor for the Australia Council for the Arts, The Australian National Playwright's Centre and Belvoir Street Theatre, and has conducted acting and writing workshops for many organisations. He has been Artist-In-Residence at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, and has also taught acting and voice there on short-term appointments, as well as at the University of Wollongong School of Performing Arts.^[12]

His dramaturgical work on the play Codgers by Don Reid contributed to that play winning the prestigious Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award in 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Music

Hodda was the bass player in two resident bands for Griffin Theatre Company in the 1980s – The Brian Roberts Big Band (jazz, blues and country) and The Fabulous Front Girls and their backing band The Coathangers (a surf band formed to play at a 1985 benefit rally against the closure of live theatres).^[14]

Television

Film

Theatre

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Audiobooks

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Commercials

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Television

Theatre

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