Marli van der Bijl

Marli has been a theatre practitioner for the past 15 years, working on stage, screen and music productions across four countries. As an actress-singer, her career highlights include her South African TV debut as a guest actor on “7de Laan”, singing in the trio act, “VIVA LAS DIVAS”, in Greece and performing principal roles in The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Western Australia’s “The Mikado” (Yum-Yum) and “The Yeomen of the Guard” (Phoebe) in 2019. Musical theatre credits include Fame (Carmen), Hairspay (Penny) and playing Cosette in Marloo Theatre’s “Les Misérables”, for which Marli received the Robert Finley Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical in 2020. She holds a Master’s degree in Drama and Theatre Arts from the University of the Free State and received classical voice training at the Odeion School of Music in South Africa (2010-2013).Marli is co-creator and vocalist for the Afrikaans production, “die waarheid oor duiwe”, which won Best Musical Production at the Vrystaat Arts Festival in South Africa this July. She also released her first single, "Leaves", in May this year. In her spare time, she enjoys camping and creating LEGO stop motion videos. This is Marli’s first opera performance.