The Story
"As a mime in Melbourne, I wasn't allowed to say anything. Now things are different."
Stephen Hollins (S F H) is a poet, performer and composer from Waiheke Island, Aotearoa New Zealand, whose four-decade career spans theatre, opera, mime, clown, poetry and music.
Everything is worth honouring
For ten years in Melbourne, Stephen wrote and delivered singing telegrams. Somebody’s sister, somebody’s retiring boss, somebody turning fifty. He would find out who the person actually was, write them three minutes of their own life, and sing it at them in front of everyone they knew.
People wept at singing telegrams — not because the song was good, but because someone had paid attention to them. Noticed specifically who they were. Not generically, not approximately, but exactly.
That turned out to be the whole job, and everything since has been the same work in different materials. Playback Theatre honours a stranger’s story by performing it back while they watch. Living Theatre honours what someone makes before anyone has decided whether it is any good. Breakfast with Jung honours the inner life by taking it seriously enough to write down. The Dreaming albums honour a place and the people who come from it.
Forty years, one thread: the act of being truly seen.
From stage to studio
Stephen began with a Diploma in Drama from Auckland University (1987). His training included Theatre Corporate in Auckland, John Bolton Physical Theatre School in Melbourne, and a decade of improvisational study with Al Wunder — making him New Zealand's only qualified teacher of Open Form Improvisational Theatre. He has performed Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Measure for Measure), opera (Carmen, Madame Butterfly) and musicals, sung with Melbourne's barbershop quartet The Bell Hops and Waiheke's V.12 Choir, and accompanied students as a percussionist for 35 years.
Clown, mime and the world stage
Between 1993 and 2000 he co-founded Soldier & Dancer Partnership, creating 47 original shows that toured internationally. In 1998 the Hong Kong press recognised him as one of Australia's leading clowns and mime artists. In 2010 he represented New Zealand at the International Improvisational Festival in Lyon, France. From 2010 to 2020 he worked as a Clown Doctor at Starship Children's Hospital, while leading workshops for Leadership NZ and, since 2008, directing Waiheke Playback Theatre.
The poetry awakening
In 2016 Stephen walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain — and came home writing poetry seriously. His first collection, Her Soft Fingers Pickpocket My Brain, was published in 2022. His next book, Breakfast with Jung, is a 135-poem exploration of Carl Jung's psychology.
Poetry first — the Hollins Method
Every S F H song begins as a finished poem. It's written, revised and complete on the page before any music exists. The Hollins Method™ is the creative system Stephen developed to carry those poems into song without losing what made them poems.
The poem. Often the spark is a great thinker, such as Jung, Rumi or Neruda. Their ideas are turned into concrete images: a shadow at noon, a landlord's grin, a Google Drive folder labelled "Evidence". The writing is specific and sensory, and it never lectures.
The song. The poem is distilled, usually by a third to a half, and shaped into verse, chorus and bridge so that every word can be heard, understood and felt.
The sound. The poem decides the genre, the tempo, the instruments and the emotional arc. Different ideas live in different musical territory. That's why the catalogue moves from Afrobeat to indie folk to neo-soul.
The tools. AI music tools come in last, as directed instruments. Stephen writes every word and makes every creative decision. The technology plays what the poem asks for.
Music serves the words. It never buries them.
The catalogue now holds more than 130 songs drawn from nine years of poetry, including the albums Dreaming of Africa (2026) and Neruda's Footprints (2026).
"Hearing my poetry return to me as song is extremely fulfilling. It feels like the culmination of all my artistic experiences."
The Wolf I Feed — solo show, Artworks Theatre, 2024
Her Soft Fingers Pickpocket My Brain
"Hollins' poems are exquisite snapshots of life. Chilling, humorous, familiar, beautiful."
Stephen's first poetry collection explores the depths of emotion, thought and the human experience. Each poem invites you into a world of vivid imagery and profound reflection, perfect for poetry lovers and anyone seeking inspiration through beautifully crafted verse.
ISBN-10: 1991160534
Acknowledgements
This work has never been made alone. My thanks to everyone who has listened, read, sung along and believed — and to those who have been kind enough to put it into words.
"An extraordinary and illuminating Jungian project… Stephen's nailed it. This is a considerable achievement and a rare one."
— Michael Harlow
"It is a matter of taking a risk, trusting your language, and making a poem — and Stephen has the poetic imagination for it."
— Michael Harlow, Jungian therapist and poet; Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry, 2018
"Wow, your track Heartbeat is of another level."
— Gideon Faith, UK
Have my poems or songs meant something to you? I'd love to hear. Email hello@stephenhollins.com — and, with your permission, your words may join these.