PROFILE COVER STORY
Singing I Dreamed a Dream up there in front of thousands of people will be the highlight of my career so far, because in a way, it is true.” Patrice spent most of her childhood travelling the country alongside her parents, grandparents and two siblings, who all hail from a Maori background. Together they would perform in a Polynesian show with the Australian Arts Council, as well as on cruise ships and festivals. “We travelled for eight years while they performed for kids all around the nation. My grandparents were quite well known on the music scene and would play on ships and at all sorts of events. They were a bit like entertainment royalty down in Sydney and in New Zealand,” she explains. When the family did settle down they chose the Sunshine Coast, enrolling the three talented children at Matthew Flinders Anglican College, where Patrice became a music scholar and graduated in 2000. Upon completing her schooling at age 16, Patrice became the youngest student, along with acclaimed Australian actress Lisa McCune, to be accepted into the coveted Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Her devotion to family and her modesty for her own achievements are clear throughout our chat, with Patrice often redirecting personal questions to include her siblings, sister and musical director Laura Tipoki, and musical singer brother Kuki Tipoki. “My sister will actually be the assistant musical director on Les Mis. She will be conducting me and taking a lot of the rehearsals, which should be great fun. She is more in to the musician side of things,” Patrice says. “My brother and I have done a lot of shows, and on some of them we have actually tag-teamed. I was in a show at one point, and then I left and he started in the next instalment! He has done shows like Fiddler on the Roof and We Will Rock You, Boy from Oz and Mamma Mia. Music is really in the family and in the blood – it is something we love to do together.” As well as her role as Nala in Disney’s The Lion King, Patrice has toured Australia and Japan in We Will Rock You, understudying the lead roles for Killer Queen and Scaramouche on several occasions. She has also performed in the hit musical Wicked, often playing the lead role of Elphaba. Before her success in musical theatre, Patrice also tried her hand as a pop star, signing a recording contract with Sony BMG Australia as a member of Girlband, who released their first single Party Girl in 2006. The pop group had their own TV show on Channel 10 and toured Australia with The Rogue Traders and TV Rock. “In my youth I had the opportunity to release singles and film clips and a clothing brand, which was a great learning experience. I continued with the group for a couple of years, which was really full on. It was the perfect timing when it did come to an end because it was just when Wicked was coming to the theatre and it wasn’t possible to do both.” Patrice’s achievements on the stage are many, but more personally she says meeting and marrying her husband Richard Arkins, and the birth of their two daughters Elisabeth, 4, and Adelaide, 1, are her greatest achievements. “Family is always my first priority and part of being here on the Coast is to spend time with them. My husband is a chiropractor in Nambour and so this year he will be flying back and forth to Melbourne, spending three nights on the Coast and four nights with me and the kids while I am playing in Les Mis,” she says. “I thought it would be a challenge to move my whole family to Melbourne, now that I am a mum of two kids and also trying to do full-time work, but I am looking forward to it and the company and producers of Les Mis are so supportive.” She says being a part of Les Misérables will be the next step in living out her musical theatre dream. “The production means so much to so many, and already I have had lots of people come and share with me their personal experiences, so I am looking forward to being a part of something that has touched such a huge number of lives,” she says. “Singing I Dreamed a Dream up there in front of thousands of people will be the highlight of my career so far, because in a way, it is true.”
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