23°C | Tuesday October 21, 2025 
18 September 2025
By James Mullan
Veteran actor Simon Maiden has made his highly anticipated debut at the Ensemble Theatre, starring in the production of Sam Shepard’s classic play, True West. Maiden, whose career spans back to his childhood has expressed his excitement about finally performing at a theatre he has long admired.
He played Winston Churchill in Deadline Gallipoli and Sen. Graham Richardson in the telemovie Hawke, among other distinguished screen roles. His television credits include High Country, The Newsreader, Safe Home, Jack Irish, Wentworth, and Tangle. On stage, he has appeared in GWB/Andrew Henry’s Death Of A Salesman, Melbourne Theatre Company’s Admissions, and was part of the original Australian cast of Come From Away.
Now, Maiden is starring in True West “To be asked to do a production in Sydney at the Ensemble Theatre, a theatre that I’ve loved going to see shows at, but I’ve never performed at, was just, I didn’t think twice,” Maiden reveals in a recent interview with the Sun.
The opportunity came up unexpectedly when director Iain Sinclair, with whom Maiden previously worked on a production of Hamlet “He said, the Ensemble Theatre has just called me and asked me to do True West. How would you feel about playing one of the brothers?” Maiden recalls. For Maiden, True West has been a “bucket list play for me for a long time.”
Set in the Californian desert, this tale of sibling rivalry follows Austin, a writer seeking a quiet oasis in his mother’s empty home to focus on a Hollywood film project. However, his peace is shattered by the unexpected arrival of his wayward brother, Lee. As the brothers clash for control, with tempers, resentment, and self-loathing flaring up.
Maiden portrays Lee, one of the two estranged brothers. His initial impressions of tackling the iconic role, famously played by John Malkovich in a 1984 filmed stage production, are clear: “Don’t do it like Malkovich. Forget everything that you’ve ever seen him do in this play, because you’ve got to come at it from your own point of view and bring to the part something that only I can bring to it.”
He describes Shepard’s script as “an incredible piece of writing,” highlighting its surprising comedic elements. “It’s incredibly funny at times. Sam Shepherd was a very, very funny man, even though it’s draped in sort of western mythology and the American dream and all that sort of thing at his heart, it’s really savagely funny.”
Maiden believes audiences are in for a “real treat” with True West, describing it as “a savage comedy about sibling rivalry” and “one of the true classics of American stage writing.” The play, he notes, profoundly explores the “duality of your persona” and the inner conflict of “who is the true version of yourself.”
True West is running at the Ensemble Theatre until October 11th, bringing Maiden’s talent to a new stage and offering Sydney audiences a fresh interpretation of a classic. Directed by Iain Sinclair, this timeless modern classic is not to be missed.