Lily is the oldest of the three Welling siblings, here posing as ‘North Pole Ice Princess’ alongside her polar bear ‘Mushka’ at North Pole Lane in Tuggeranong. Photo: James Coleman.
Kiz Welling and her wife Kath love football, to the point they played it professionally. But it seems this stops with them.
The couple have three children – Lily, 20, Sam 18, and Rosie, 11 – and all of them have taken up acting.
“They just love it, and I’ve just become a very good taxi,” Kiz laughs.
Every day over the next month, Kiz will be taxiing her kids to and from Tuggeranong’s South.Point shopping centre, where they’re among 15 young stars that’ll help bring to life an “immersive Christmas experience”.
‘North Pole Lane’ takes over 500 square metres of empty shop space behind Fricken Chicken, and will be open between 30 November and 24 December (Christmas Eve).
The pop-up is the brainchild of Murrumbateman resident Mindy Dominick, and it’s designed to give locals the white Christmas they’ll never have.
“When reading the stories of Christmas to my children as they were growing up, I remember thinking how amazing it would be to bring that experience to life,” Mindy told Region at the inaugural event in November 2022.
“They have these types of events in America and elsewhere, so I thought I’d create my own. In Canberra too, where parents can take their children and walk through it all.”
The experience pulls together animated animals from a business now doing work in the film industry for Warner Brothers, set among pine trees and ‘snow’ (and yes, ‘Santa’ will be there), as well as actors from Braddon-based theatre company, Budding Entertainment.
It was through this that Mindy first met the Welling family.
Of the three kids, Kiz says Lily was the first to enter acting at age nine after her water polo coach could see “she was being a little dramatic and acting the clown” during lessons. The coach suggested she get involved with Child Players ACT.
This is a locally founded community theatre company for children, “dedicated to providing positive and inclusive theatre educational experiences for young people that fosters an ongoing enthusiasm for theatre”.
Child Players ACT offers various acting classes for kids between eight and 18 years old, as well as school holiday programs.
Stable boy Sam Welling alongside his reindeer. Photo: James Coleman.
Sam followed suit the year after Lily, and their first big break was performing an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ show with Budding Entertainment. Rosie joined the program a number of years later.
“I think for the population, we have a really strong theatre community in Canberra and some really fantastic actors,” Kiz says.
Lily has since spent a semester over in the UK with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), “one of the best acting schools in the world”, and will head back there for another semester soon.
“She’s working professionally already, splitting her time between acting work and teaching drama for a number of acting companies around Canberra,” Kiz says.
On top of her work at North Pole Lane, Lily Welling is helping to direct an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ show this December. Photo: Ministry of Events.
She and Sam have also come full circle and are on the directing team for this year’s Alice in Wonderland show, which will be held at the Belconnen Theatre over two sessions on Saturday, 14 December.
For this year’s North Pole Lane, Lily is also back as ‘North Pole Ice Princess’ alongside her life-size polar bear ‘Mishka’, while Sam is a stable boy, telling children occasionally embellished truths about his reindeer (like how the antlers contain magic dust that enables them to fly).
It’s a big commitment – “like casting a big theatre show for eight hours a day for a month” – but they love it.
Rosie, meanwhile, is ‘Christmas Princess’ in the Fairy Garden, a new section of the display decorated with animatronic butterflies and light-up flowers.
“I’m basically kind of like a Christmas ballerina, and I just dance around my magical garden and interact with kids a lot,” she says.
“It’s really fun”.
She loves acting for the way “you get to immerse yourself on stage and show your character”, and also “really likes the crowds”.
“It depends on whether you’re acting in a people role or as an animal because sometimes you have to look up the character’s mannerisms or what they’ve done in their past life,” she says.
Rosie Welling says it’s always fun interacting with the kids at North Pole Lane. Photo: Ministry of Events.
Before any show, she’ll normally practice a few lines out loud and partake in the Australian theatre tradition of saying “chookas” to her fellow performers.
This good-luck send-off is said to originate from the early 1990s when the chicken was regarded as a treat, and a packed auditorium meant the performers would be able to afford a chicken meal afterwards.
Lily is already well on her way to a career in acting, while Sam will leave to join the military soon. But as for Rosie?
“Yes, I really think I could go somewhere with it.”
North Pole Lane is open at South.Point Tuggeranong (behind Fricken Chicken) every day from 30 November to 24 December. Entry costs $24.98 for one adult and child and $89.37 for a family. Children aged 2 and under are free. Buy tickets on Eventbrite.
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