Bio
WRITER
Blake has worked throughout Australia, Asia, Britain, and the United States as a writer, actor, and singer. He studied drama and musical theatre at the University of Sydney and The Actor’s Connection New York. Previous to this, he studied Political Science and International Relations. He is the co-writer of the new Australian musical The Dismissal, which premiered at the Seymour Centre in 2019. Other writing credits include Pearls Before Swine and Hold Me Closer Logies Dancer (Gooding Productions, Hayes Theatre)
Past acting credits include Shrek (GFO), the international tour of Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Misérables (Michael Cassel Group), Mamma Mia! (Packemin Productions), CRY-BABY, High Fidelity, Melba, and his acclaimed cabaret Hold Me Closer Logies Dancer (all at Sydney’s Hayes Theatre Co.); the Australia & New Zealand tour of Madiba, Of Thee I Sing at the Sydney Opera House; Grey Gardens, Forbidden Broadway, and Sondheim on Sondheim for Squabbalogic. For his performance in the title role of his one-man show Pearls Before Swine: An Evening With Orson Welles (Neil Gooding Prod.) Blake won Best Actor at the inaugural Sydney Fringe Festival Awards.
Reviews
"The Dismissal touches a nerve...The book (Blake Erickson and Jay James-Moody) sparkles with meta-theatrical humour, chuckling at the conventions of the genre as much as the political figures it skewers....
The Dismissal - Audrey Journal
"…What I think is the best Australian musical of the century so far."
The Dismissal - Audrey Journal
"Pulling impressive double duty as both writer and performer is Blake Erickson conveys not only a believable physical embodiment of [Orson] Welles but moreover creates a striking vocal recreation.
Pearls Before Swine: An Evening with Orson Welles - Australian Stage
"This is a stunning evening in the theatre, with a performance that is such perfect mimicry it rivals Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher."
Pearls Before Swine: An Evening with Orson Welles - Lisa Thatcher.com
"Blake Erickson has the kind of natural gravitas you can’t quite train for; he has an ability to share the most embarrassing or vulnerable stories and still retain a quiet, indelible dignity...
Hold Me Closer, Logies Dancer - Cassie Tongue
... He finds the soul and still-beating heart of a number and a character and wears it bravely on his sleeve and in his throat and in his eyes: he is our centre, our gateway into the world of a person and a show.”
Hold Me Closer, Logies Dancer - Cassie Tongue