He says it comes with the lifestyle of the theatre, but there's a huge hint of young entrepreneur in there, too.

Raised in Maitland, educated at the Hunter School of the Performing Arts and NIDA, Wilkinson, 25, has recently embarked on the creation of his own theatre production company, Cicada Studios, based in London.

The company is in the middle of kickstarter campaign to raise £8000 to produce a dramatic play, Miss Sarah, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.

"It is a fascinating story. It's about a girl who went missing at a music festival in 1997," Wilkinson enthuses. "The writer had memories of wandering around at a festival, like Woodford. We follow the trajectory of a girl who is looking for her best friend, who's gone missing, at a Woodfordian-like festival."

The scenario of the missing girl was the subject of a song, Sarah, by Kate Miller-Heidke, recorded on her Nightflight album in 2012.

As told by Cicada Studios, it is done as distinctly Australian story, with the journey by the girl looking for her best friend taking her up the east coast through Ballina and Tweed Heads. A cast of four will spin this psychological thriller into a 50-minute play, with cast and audience each having 10 minutes to set up and 10 minutes to get out afterwards.

Wilkinson is the founding director of Cicada Studios. His business partners are producer Rebecca Blake and writer Ella Cook.

The bold plan put forth by Cicada is not just about Miss Sarah; it is about a starting point for a new theatre company. The first step, in Wilkinson's bold opinion, is to get the word out.

While Edinburgh's Fringe Festival is huge international drawcard (49,497 performances of 3193 shows in 299 venues over 25 days last year), in fact, the biggest arts festival in the world, it's also easy to go unnoticed. Cicada is determined to have its show break through the noise.

The kickstarter funds will help pay for food, accommodation, set design, travel and most importantly, marketing.

"Edinburgh Fringe Festival is saturated," Wilkinson says. "Great shows can get lost if they don't market themselves correctly. It is vitally important to have reviews. It's about reviews and positive feedback, so producers can get interested and your show goes on tour."

He points to the example of Stomp, which has just celebrated a 13-year run on London's West End, as an example of what can happen when your show gets discovered at "Edfringe".

WILKINSON'S ambitious gamble may confuse a stranger, but probably makes complete sense to those who have known him over the years. He was school captain at Hunter School of the Performing Arts and attended Young People's Theatre in Newcastle, making his acting debut as Gavroche in a production of Les Miserables in 2003 and playing the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz in 2005.

He attended NIDA and completed post-graduate studies, majoring in directing.

Last year Wilkinson worked with Baz Luhrmann, who is not only an Australian but one of the most respected theatrical producers in the world. Wilkinson assisted Luhrmann on Strictly Ballroom: The Musical and The Chanel No 5 campaign featuring supermodel Gisele Bundchen.

Luhrmann is a creative genius who takes chances and pushes the limits of what is possible, a visionary, if you like. And Wilkinson counts himself lucky to have worked with him. "He's supportive, unbelievably supportive," of Wilkinson's new direction. "He spent a lot of time explaining it was an apprenticeship. He was setting me up not to fail. He said 'hopefully when you leave you will not make the mistakes others have.' "

The day after finishing on the Chanel No 5 campaign in New York Wilkinson was on a flight back to Australia where he was directing a NIDA charity gala event. Over the next six weeks he had a regular catch-up with his producer. "We made a 15-year plan on butcher paper," he says. "A five-year plan, a 10-year plan, then what Oscar-winning films we would make."

His dream is make Cicada Studios a household name. "It's a big dream, but you've got to be ambitious," he says. The small company already has its eyes on a theater in east London and is in discussion about operating a season there next year with four productions.

Rehearsals for Miss Sarah start on July 4. It will open on August 9 and offer 22 shows in an intimate 90-seat theatre during the run. Wilkinson and his partners have put all of their own energy and time into it - they won't get much out money from the kickstarter drive.

Money probably couldn't buy the energy that Wilkinson has.

"I think there are people who are far more intelligent, far more artistic. But the one word that has resonated with me throughout my life is enthusiastic. I am more than willing to throw my hand against the wind and go out and do it myself because I think that's the way it should be happen."