My Brilliant Career brings Miles Franklin’s heroine to Canberra

Posted on 9 February, 2026

“This is a dream role I never knew I dreamed about.”

That’s what Italian-Australian actor, singer, dancer, songwriter, and musician, Kala Gare said when asked what it’s been like taking to the stage as Miles Franklin’s irrepressible teenage protagonist Sybylla Melvyn in My Brilliant Career.

It’s a role that allows her to bring her most authentic self to stage, and as she prepares to bring the show to Canberra for a limited run, Kala is excited to once again be stepping into Sybylla’s fierce, fearless, and unapologetic shoes.

Set in the sweeping landscapes of 1890s Australia, My Brilliant Career follows the story of Sybylla Melvyn – Miles Franklin’s literary heroine from the novel of the same name. Unapologetically ambitious and wholly uninterested in the future society expects of her, Sybylla is desperate to read, write, sing and achieve great things.

A feminist before the word existed (and said to be closely modelled on Franklin herself) she fights to break free of restrictive bush life in a timeless story which Sheridan Harbridge, Dean Bryant, and Mathew Frank have transformed into a smash-hit musical complete with a live soundtrack that’s equal parts pop, folksy bush band and raucous pub rock.

In short, it’s Australian musical theatre at its best.

Known for her portrayal of Anne Boleyn in the 2021-23 Australian Tour of Six the Musical, Kala says that she was drawn to the role of Sybylla thanks to her love of “loud and unapologetic” characters.

“That’s the dream, to be performing in these shows where the women are written this way,” she explains.

“The thing about Sybylla is that she both is so specific to the gender [at the time], also transcends gender and is also specific to the human experience, which is such a gift. Anne Boleyn as well – she was fire, power and very unapologetic.”

“It’s the most beautiful thing to play them, because that bleeds into my life as well…I have that as a part of my personality.”

Fully immersing herself into the vulnerability of teenagerhood, for Kala, taking on the role of Sybylla felt like tapping back into herself. Allowing her to explore the full spectrum of emotions on stage, the role is unlike anything she has done before.

Working alongside the creative team to transform the show from a traditional musical to an actor-muso production – where the actors are the band and are responsible for all the music – the result was a sold-out 2024 Melbourne season and multiple five-star reviews following the first run of My Brilliant Career.

Keeping the Australian-ness of Franklin’s novel (which was published in 1901 with the support of Henry Lawson), Kala says it’s the raw humanness of the musical that has audiences coming back for more.

“ [Sybylla] is the most fascinating display of a young person wrangling with everything, a young person who uses language as their weapon of choice,” says Kala.

“This show unapologetically, intensely and completely cuts right to the core of people, because that’s what is happening to the characters on the stage… I do think people feel a part of it and like they know her or maybe even see themselves in her in some way.”

Add in a Canberra connection to the origins of the novel on which the musical My Brilliant Career is based, and you have a show that is equally meaningful to locals as it is vivacious.

Born at Talbingo, New South Wales, Miles Franklin has a strong connection to the regional area, growing up in the Brindabella Valley on a property called Brindabella Station. Moving to a small, drought-ridden dairy farm near Goulburn with her family, My Brilliant Career is based on Franklin’s life growing up on her parents’ outback farm. Published when she was just 21, it’s an insight into what young, Australian women were feeling at the time.

The Canberra suburb of Franklin and the nearby primary school Miles Franklin Primary School are named in her honour – both of which Kala says she’ll have to visit to pay tribute to the author who originally wrote her dream role.

“I feel like there is something so beautiful about watching a character who is so earnestly getting it wrong, trying to make her way, and making some big, bold mistakes…She’s so beautifully written to be a terror.”

Sybylla is just another stop in Kala’s own brilliant career – and it’s one Canberra audiences need to see.

Photography: Pia Johnson.