Fringe World 2026 presents Casey Filips in Virtuoso at The Rehearsal Room, State Theatre Centre of WA

Melbourne-based, Greek-Australian actor and comedian Casey Filips has encountered his fair share of ‘Tobias Finlay-Fraser types’ during his years in the performing arts industry. Filips even admits guilt to having been one himself from time to time, so in many ways ‘Tobias’ is an amalgamation of all those people and his own alter ego, rolled into one hot mess of a man who is the star in his part clown, part character comedy debut solo show, Virtuoso. “Tobias Finlay-Fraser (is) a pretentious yet lovable actor who’s convinced he’s destined for Hollywood stardom, only problem is, no one’s heard of him and he’s not very good,” 30-year-old Filips explains, who plays the role of Tobias in a black turtleneck-tights combo. “So when he enters the stage to audition for a role of a lifetime in front of the audience, of course, it all goes horribly, horribly wrong. Audiences can expect to see a very fun, high energy and interactive show, where the crowd aren’t just sitting watching but become actively involved with how the night pans out. “Tobias thinks of himself as a complete and utter genius, a ‘virtuoso’. I called the piece this because I think it speaks to his enormous ego and lack of self-awareness. I hope it gives the vibe of someone who isn’t Italian but orders the food with an accent.” Virtuoso originated from Filips’ desire to create something he would enjoy watching as an audience member, deciding to write about what he knew — being a frustrated actor who is convinced they have what it takes but, for whatever reason, is overlooked. Not wanting the show to simply feature a skilled performer delivering an earnest monologue about how tough it is for them in the industry, Filips took the comedy route to see the world’s biggest idiot take the stage, thinking they are God’s gift to the craft. “All this is to say that I made this show about an idiot pursuing his lofty dream he’ll never obtain, because I have been, and largely still am, that idiot,” Filips muses. “So, we may as well laugh at this fact, or else we’ll cry, and it’s not that kind of show.” Filips grew up in inner-city Melbourne with parents who were supportive of the arts and in a house where Mr Bean and Fawlty Towers got a lot of screen time after school. He describes receiving a huge laugh from the audience after delivering his first line in a primary school play as like a tsunami of energy and validation. Filips has been chasing that rush ever since, taking him to graduate from The National Theatre Drama School in 2017 before joining Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre as a graduate ensemble member in 2018. Studying at French theatre school Ecole Philippe Gaulier in 2019, and again in 2023 after a COVID-19 induced hiatus, under master clown Philippe Gaulier, remains one of the most amazing and formative times of Filips’ life. “He was able to directly address what we didn’t like about each performance, stripping everything back until all we saw was a person having fun on stage,” Filips says. “I realised that the only way to create something worth watching was to create something honest from my true imagination, not something that I thought might be ‘right’ or please people. In many ways it brought performing back to its purest form for me — playing dress-ups as a kid, doing silly voices and the stupidest of moves. This is when you’re most free, most you.” Filips took this realisation to Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2023, where he workshopped what was to become Virtuoso in a small 20-seat room during a 1.15am time slot, completely improvising an audition going terribly wrong to an audience of mainly drunken Scottish 20-year-olds, who would fall asleep if they got bored, or heckle Filips if he was bad. “My only rules were (to) stay in character, and the audience were ‘casting directors’ so whatever they said was right,” he recounts. “Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but what I walked away with was a well fleshed-out character that had been forged in the hottest of creative fires. “I realised I spent years waiting for the right role to come around or for someone else to tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘you’re ready to make your own show now’. I’ve learned this doesn’t happen, you make it happen, often before you feel truly ready. Sometimes I feel sad for the years I was scared to make a show like this one but didn’t.” Filips premiered Virtuoso at Adelaide Fringe in 2024, winning the Take A Chance On Adelaide Award — an Adelaide Fringe award for first-time, non-South Australian performers — and has taken the show back to Edinburgh Festival Fringe in its final form in 2024 and 2025. He will make his Fringe World debut with Virtuoso in February, where hearing people giggle like children with their friends or family as they exit the theatre is his absolute favourite moment of the night. “Tobias is a pretentious yet lovable idiot,” Filips says. “He’s ridiculous in so many ways — the way he talks, moves, the opinions he has of himself and the lengths he will go to convince you of those opinions. However, under the heightened bravado there is quite an endearing little kid underneath. Someone who wants to be loved and embraced. “That’s what gives him life beyond the silliness. A complete and utter idiot sure, but someone who is trying their best to earnestly achieve their big dream. There’s something universally relatable in that, I think.” Virtuoso is at Rehearsal Room 1, State Theatre Centre of WA, February 4 to 15, tickets at fringeworld.com.au.