Mark Sheridan

I spent some time yesterday in the company of a bunch of young people from Natalie Bazun-Coates Rhythmic Moves drama school, work-shopping their audition pieces. It was an invigorating two hours; at least for me.

I think they were a little surprised to find that we spent hardly any time working on their scripts at all. Instead we concentrated on a physical programme that ordinarily would span at least twelve sessions of the same length. It was interesting to see how they received it. It will be even more interesting to see what effect it has had on their approach to acting when we meet again next week.

What I did was to work them through a method I have drawn for my personal use from Stanislavsky, by way of Albert Pia, and which I think of privately as ‘Waking the Lion’. My premise is based on the idea that actors would do well, among other things, to study cats and see how they move and use energy. It is no accident that we are riveted by them and take, for the most part, a positive interest in their ‘performances’.

They are lithe, graceful, packed with power yet still when they need to be. They can be amusing, disdainful, warm, cold, nearly always charming and yet sometimes threatening. And they do all this without uttering a single word. As actors we can learn from this, I think.

If we imagine ourselves to be cat-like physically something different starts to happen in the way we connect with the audience and even the manner in which we deliver our lines. Our timing changes, our reflexes become sharper and our perception of the world around us heightens; all of which adds power to the dynamic we create when we are on stage.

Why lions? Because I feel as actors we need to surpass cats, much of whose charm lies in cuteness, and have an edge that is slightly dangerous, slightly unpredictable, much to be respected but not remote and feared as much as, say, a tiger would be.

It’s a method that works for me; it will be interesting to see how well it works for my temporary students.

Yeeesssss!! I’ve just been told that I have the part of Charlemagne in The Phoenix Theatre’s upcoming production of Pippin and I couldn’t be more thrilled and excited. This will be my first musical in over forty years – I can hardly believe it. Thank you so much Greg, thank you David and thank you Steen. I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to working with all three of you and the wondrous cast you have assembled.

First rehearsal is on Thursday when I will be meeting most of the cast for the first time and after that it’s flat out two evenings a week (for the most part) until our opening in July. Don’t leave it too long to book your seats, I just know this is going to be a sell-out.

Last month I was thinking I only had one show to do this year and not much lined up for next. This month, almost out of the blue, I have a role in one of the best musicals for ensemble theatre ever written. There just is absolutely no business like show business……

It doesn’t matter if you missed the information nights, try to make the auditions for Pippin at the Phoenix Theatre, Coniston, and give yourself a chance to be part of what is going to be a very exciting and professionally run show. According to Greg Shand, who is directing, you don’t need to have spent hours rehearsing a speech, song or dance routine. If you can sing something unaccompanied, that’s fine. If you have the music and want piano accompaniment, that’s fine too. Can’t dance? Actually, you probably can without even realising it, but don’t let it worry you. All you need to do at the audition is to show that you can walk across a stage without tripping over it, and let Greg, who will also be choreographing the show, take you through a few simple steps to see how you move.

If you’ve always wanted to do a musical but were too shy to try for one, or worried that you might not have the talent, now is your chance to turn all that round and get involved with a group of like-minded people, several of them professional actors, directors, musicians et al, who understand what it’s like to be starting out and who have the skills to teach you all you need to know.

The auditions are this Sunday 15th March at 1pm to about 6pm, and Monday evening at 7pm. Don’t just wait to go to the show and then wish you had been a part of it. Get involved in the auditions. You will never know how good you can be until you try, and no-one is going to make you feel bad about what you do. On the contrary, the better and more experienced the performers are, the more they will support you. It’s called “ensemble” and you will never have a better opportunity than this to kick of your theatrical career.

Last night I, and 169 fellow professionals (most of whom are members of Actors’ Equity) crowded into the Reginald Theatre at the Seymour Centre, Sydney, to be gripped, taught and inspired by one of the most exciting director of actors it has ever been my privilege to witness in action. I’m talking about Ian Rickson, formerly artistic director at the Royal Court Theatre in Chelsea and now freelancing and on holiday here in Oz.

This was Ian’s first master class in Sydney and was organised as a joint venture by Melbourne’s 16th Street Actors’ Studio and the Equity Foundation. One hopes there will be many more such to come.

What we were involved in was a rehearsal of two scenes from The Seagull, using the talents of four wonderful actors who had been invited to make minimal preparation for the experience. What we saw was how a director at the top of his game can take the actor’s interpretation of a given role and then mould it, by adding  layer upon layer of understanding and motivation that in itself translated into a thought process far transcending the individual’s original concept. The results in the short time frame that we had were stunning.

The applause at the end of the evening was thunderous, far more than I have ever heard in such a space. Here was an audience (if a participatory group can be so described) who had revelled in the true meaning of theatre for the actor, and who had been richly rewarded for their time and attention. Their only possible regret might be that, like me, they were aware that Ian Rickson will be returning to the UK  shortly and that our chances of working with him in the near future are distinctly limited.

He may come back. There may be another such opportunity to place yourself in the hands of a master. If you are serious about your role as an actor, if you want to find out why some actors are seen as ‘better’ or ‘greater’ than others without anyone quite understanding why, move mountains to be there.

Her name is Amelia Ryan. She has a Stephen Sondheim voice and a talent to match, and you have three nights left in which to catch her act. Don’t miss it.

It’s not just that Amelia is very, very funny. Or even that she works from her own material which is brilliantly written. It’s that she is, in my experience, unique among comediennes in that the brashness of her comedy is interspersed with a  warm and fuzzy vulnerability that draws the audience in despite themselves. You just can’t help liking her and you just can’t help enjoying yourself in her company.

This is a lady who knows how to use a stage, how to work an audience and how to use a voice that was born for musical theatre. Her act is polished, hilarious and should probably have an ‘R’ rating, so leave the kids at home. But do get to see it.

“Storm in a D-Cup” is a very relaxed and fun BYO evening at The Phoenix Theatre, which is always a warm and friendly place to be anyway, and an opportunity to see a major home grown talent at work. You will not be disappointed. Book here:   http://www.phoenixtheatre.net.au/bookings.html

I mentioned some time ago that I was considering offering some acting workshops for young (and maybe not so young) local actors, based on my previous experience as a theatre director, actor and acting coach. I was cautious about it because most of the younger actors and would-be actors I meet these days seem to have their sights firmly set on a screen career and believe that theatre has no role to play in that. I get the impression that to them I and my contemporaries are something of an anachronism.

Fortunately I have some wonderful younger friends who also have a passion for theatre and from whom has emerged one young lady in particular who has quickly brought  my procrastination to an end. I’m not going to embarrass her by naming her here, but anyone who saw her wonderful performance as my daughter in ‘Proof’ will know who I’m talking about. The result of her intervention and introduction to a local drama teacher is that I will be taking some workshops for young actors at the end of next month. I’m looking forward to it immensely.

I know that there is a great deal of enthusiasm in this group because I have already seen some of them work-shopping with my contemporary Chin San Sooi (we are both products of UK drama schools from the 1970′s) and the lovely Pearlly Chua. I also know that the larger group has worked with fellow professional Greg Shand and probably will do so again. Recommendation enough for me to not so much put my toe in the water as to take the plunge.

I’ll let you know how things unfold, and what else may shortly be on the horizon towards the middle of June.

Seven of us. Three professionals honing their skills and four young ladies eager to learn more about a craft in which they have a major interest. One can only wonder why there were not more (aspiring) actors there.

I’m talking about Chin San Sooi and Pearlly Chua’s master class at The Phoenix theatre last night. This was an opportunity not just to work with masters of their craft but to talk with them, learn about their individual ways of working and find new ways to explore our own future characterizations. It’s surprising what can be done in a two hour session with an enthusiastic class and good teachers, especially when the latter have the working talents of San Sooi and Pearlly. The adage “those who can’t do, teach” does not apply in any measure to either of them.

If I appear to be overly praising both of them it’s partly because I’m so impressed by their talent and the way in which they use it, but also because I’m trying to hide my disappointment at how few people took advantage of it. I cannot think of a single local actor, or aspiring director for that matter, who would not have benefited from the experience. All of us at whatever level in this difficult and demanding discipline still have much that we can learn; what is surprising is that so few of us take the time to do so.

You still have time to see what good training and tight discipline produces by seeing the show.  ’Emily of Emerald Hill’ starring Pearly and directed by San Sooi, runs for a further three performances at The Phoenix as I write. Go here for tickets http://phoenixtheatre.net.au/bookings.html

It takes a great deal of skill, dedication and sheer hard work for a community theatre production to provide an experience that is as satisfying to the audience as it is to the cast and crew. It doesn’t always come off and there have been times when I have sat in one of the local theatres rather wishing that I’d stayed at home picking okum. Tonight was not one of those occasions.

Peter Scrine has done the Wollongong Workshop Theatre proud with his carefully crafted version of “Steel Magnolias”, from Dave Thomas’s evocative set, through Michael Godbee’s subtle and atmospheric lighting to one of the strongest casts one is likely to see at this level of theatre. From them he has extracted performances that for the most part are exquisitely detailed, well paced and carefully thought through.

There are patchy bits here and there, but no more than one would expect on any opening night and these will disappear as the piece matures. More of a concern would be that the actors involved can keep up their – in the main – beautifully understated performances that make this production the triumph that it undoubtedly is.

Emotions run raw in this play and there are  moments of high dramatic tension diversified, and sometimes diffused, by the wit and repartee of the protagonists. This is not always easy to achieve and is very easy to destroy through over familiarity with the material resulting in ‘playing for laughs’. This cast has not yet reached that point and it is to be hoped they never will.

Overall this is an intelligent, poised and thoroughly entertaining interpretation of a wonderful play; a great start to the WWT’s new season.

I’m hearing from Steen that audiences are not just down but in some cases almost non-existent for some performances of the Phoenix Theatre’s current production “Emily of Emerald Hill”. It’s hard to believe that this should be the case.

The reviews have been been unanimous in their praise. This is, without doubt, an unrivalled piece of theatre.  For those who just wish to be entertained it is all of that and more. For those who aspire to extend their theatre experience it is a unique experience that comfortably bridges the East/West divide. And for those who are themselves performers it is the best possible lesson in characterization, technique and delivery. Why aren’t you all there?

So many people tell me how much they love good theatre that I honestly cannot understand why the Phoenix is not full every night. There will never be a better show in the Illawarra, and I say that with total confidence. “Emily” may be matched, but it will never be bettered and most people in this area will never see a performance as accomplished and as sparkling as that given by Pearlly Chua.

If you have not seen this play, I cannot impress on you enough how much you are missing. Pearlly herself is a huge name in Malaysia. If she had been born an Australian she would now be rivaling the divine Cate for our attention. In the USA it would be Meryl Streep. This is a major talent, folks. If you truly love the theatre and the best it has to offer, you owe it to yourselves to grab a ticket while you can.

Go here to book: http://phoenixtheatre.net.au/bookings.html and book now!

Last week I was a guest of the Glugs at their annual awards for all that is good in Sydney theatre. It was a lovely evening and I was very fortunate to be invited through no real merit of my own. I just happened to play the lead  in “The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell” which won the best new Australian play award.

For a full list of the other awards, go here: http://www.wix.com/glugs1966/theglugs

Very few people, it seems, have heard of the Glugs outside of some fairly tight theatrical circles, but they have been around for a very long time. Numbering about 80 people in all, they are made up of people either working in, or very closely associated with, the professional theatre scene and their awards have become highly prized. Headed by the unsinkable Lee Young (he has survived three ships foundering under him), they number such theatre luminaries as Don Reid, Greta Scaachi, Fiona Press, John Bluthal and Christian Bischoff, all of whom were there that evening.

I had a lot of fun, renewed old acquaintances and made some new ones, such as the delightful Amanda Bishop, who was there to receive a best actress award on behalf of Cate Blanchett. Amanda, you may remember, does a wickedly clever impersonation of our current prime minister and gave some of us a quick, and very funny, demonstration of how she arrived at “the voice”.

Also there that night was actress Patricia Perry whose name was immediately familiar to me, as was mine to her, yet neither of us could make a connection, apart from the fact that we were at separate drama schools at the same time. In time, no doubt, something will occur to either or both of us.

Thank you, Glugs, for a very enjoyable evening. I feel honoured to have been invited.

Brilliant. Simply brilliant. A stunning tour de force from start to finish that every actor, and aspiring actor, should see at least twice. The first time to enjoy an outstanding performance by a wonderful actress, and the second time to study how she weaves her magic across two hours of some of the best theatre one is ever likely to see.

I am, of course, talking about the mesmerizing Pearlly Chua and her portrayal of Emily of Emerald Hill, currently running at the Phoenix Theatre, Coniston for the rest of this month. Written by Stella Kon and directed by Chin San Sooi, this is a production that I predict New South Wales audiences are going to be talking about for some time to come, and this is the Australian premier. On opening night it played to a packed house. Grab a seat while you can.

Pearlly Chua is magnificent. Her voice is an instrument of power that she plays with all the skill of a concert virtuoso, moving with practiced ease from light young girl to uncertain child to  shrill, domineering woman and eventual faltering oblivion. This is powerful stuff and just as riveting is the physical grace with which she commands the stage.

Watching her move one is reminded so often of a classical dancer, both of the Asian and Western ballet disciplines. Not a gesture is wasted, not a single step superfluous. She dramatically illuminates a phrase with one poised finger, creates a market place with a movement of her body, conveys a moment of triumph with the replacement of a telephone receiver, lights up the stage with a sudden smile. Like all great actors, it’s the ‘truth’ underpinning her performance that makes it so compelling. This is such a rich and rare talent that to miss it would not be so much a theatrical sin as a crime.

Book now, seats are selling fast, and book here: http://phoenixtheatre.net.au/bookings.html

Opening night also featured an authentic Malaysian banquet prepared by food writer/chef Carol Selva Rajah and fine wines supplied by The Crooked River Winery.

This play is a triumph for all concerned, for The Phoenix Theatre and for Steen personally, the man who, through single minded determination and theatrical flair, made it all possible. Congratulations, everyone.

An actress I know, someone whom I have seen working several times, asked me over lunch to be honest and tell her whether or not she is ‘good’ at her chosen craft. I was honest. I told her I didn’t know and neither did anyone else. The words ‘good’ and ‘bad’ have no place in the theatrical lexicon in my view. Charlie Sheen is one of the highest paid actors on American television. Anyone?

It’s too easy to classify performers on the basis of what they are currently doing, or even what they have done in the past.  Joan Littlewood called Laurence Olivier ‘an old ham’. Watch him in ‘The Entertainer’ and you might begin to agree, but can that be right?

Well, yes, unfortunately it can if, as an actor, you stay where you are and fail to recognise that you are in a performing arts discipline that calls on you, at its best, to continually improve, regardless of where you think you are right now. You are never ‘good’ enough. There is never a time – and there never will come a time – when you cannot do better regardless of who you are and how you are seen in the business.

The thought process for an actor, as for any artist in my view, is not ‘is my work good or bad?’ but ‘what can I do to improve on what I am doing now?’. And then the work begins. After all, there is a reason Meryl Streep is the most award nominated actor in the history of cinema, and it’s not just because she is talented. It’s because she is never satisfied with what she does and continually strives to improve on it.

If you believe that you are doing the best that you can do, if you think that the audience is getting ‘its money’s worth’ from you, if your innermost feeling is ‘this is just something I just do for fun, so it doesn’t matter’, then enjoy your hobby and please can I have my money back?

For those of us for whom this is an art form that is not just important but reaches beyond the subjective, it may be that we need to change our way of thinking about our role in it.

John Waters on stage is one of those actors I will go out of my way to see. He has a gritty, commanding stage presence that lends itself well to many roles and not least in his one-man show on the life of John Lennon, Looking Through a Glass Onion. I saw it at the IPAC on Friday. Or at least, a scaled down version of the original show.

Much has been written about John’s performance as Lennon and most of it is accurate. Close your eyes and you are listening to the man himself, his reminiscences, his voice, his music. Open them again, however, and the show I saw was a spotlit cabaret act from which the essence that is show business seemed to have vanished. It was like a good martini, but with the olive missing.

Stewart d’Arrietta, the musical director of the show and brilliant support on piano and vocals was terrific, but didn’t compensate for the lack of a backing band. And how I wished that the large screen behind John would do something more than change colour from time to time. A back projection, perhaps, of some old newsreels or even early photographs, shots of the young Lennon, Liverpool, anything. All would have been welcome.

The absence of any of this turned, for me, a wonderful tribute to John Lennon, the man and his music, into something of a wake for John Lennon. An elegy that made the most of Lennon in his own “write”, but failed to carry across the footlights the essential entertainer, the spectacle, the in-your-face musical confrontation that launched a thousand imitations.

Please don’t misunderstand me. John Waters is brilliant as Lennon. The show is a tour de force that fully deserves its longevity. But the version I saw lacked, for me, an essential ingredient; vibrancy. I wanted a revival of those heady days of the sixties and early seventies. I wanted show biz. I wanted razzle dazzle. I  got a kind of polemic instead. Clever, but unsatisfying.

As a young actor I learned my trade largely through watching older, more experienced actors working in rehearsal rooms and on stage. I haunted the London theatres of my youth and was a ghost in the wings of every show I ever did. I don’t think they let you do that now.

There comes a time, of course, when one has, in turn, developed the skills so long sought after and there is much to pass on to others, if they’ll take the trouble to watch and learn. Few of the newer generation of actors seem to be that interested. But for me, old habits die hard, so that when I go to see a show I’m still looking to learn a little bit more from the actors I’m watching on stage and talking to after the show.

Which is why my visit to the Ensemble theatre to see David Williamson’s “Nothing Personal” was such a joy on Wednesday night. Primarily I went to see Julie Hudspeth, who’s a mate and a very talented actress. Julie is married to Aarne Neeme, another buddy, who directed me in “Skylight” a couple of years ago and who I may be working with again next year if everything falls into place. My wife Laurel and I had dinner with Aarne before the show.

Julie, a master (should that be mistress?) of her trade had of course nailed her part. She was lovely. The revelation for me was Greta Scacchi in the lead role.

I had never seen Greta work on stage before (we chatted as actors in the bar after the show; therefore ‘Greta’), but have long been an admirer of her work on screen, particularly in the Merchant Ivory films that she did. Her performance in ‘Nothing Personal’ served only to strengthen that admiration. And I learnt from her an extra little bit of stage craft, an extra little trick of delivery.

You may not be surprised. Greta is a big star. But consider this, when I began my career in theatre Greta was just nine years old!

She is a great actress, and in addition a very gracious one, chatting happily with my (non-theatrical) wife as easily as with the other actors present, Aussie actors Fiona Press and partner Don Reid, both outstanding members of this extraordinary profession.

Was there something to learn from that? Yes. Humility. A nudge now and then in that direction is a very good thing. For some of the people I have met in this industry in recent years it’s a lesson that is long overdue.

More talks today with Steen and Michael Godbee of Gypsy Entertainment about plans for next year. Also exchanged news and possibilities with Leofric Kingsford-Smith (yes is the answer to the question forming in your mind) and Luke Berman. Talking to Steen left me feeling sad. Not his fault.

We got to discussing Godspell, the musical, and reminiscing about David Essex who starred in the London version. It was only after putting the phone down to him that I remembered the other wonderful star of that show, the beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Verity-Anne Meldrum. We were at drama school together and in fact Verity-Anne was still in her second year when she landed this role.

I loved Verity-Anne. Everyone did. So lovely, so talented. A unique voice that I can still hear after all these years.

As you have probably guessed already, she died tragically young of that bastard disease that has taken so many of our wonderfully talented people. Talking about Godspell reminded me of her and now I feel sad.

It’s getting exciting. Having talked with Steen about possible future productions at his wonderfully reopened theatre, The Phoenix at Coniston, yesterday I had coffee with Luke Berman to discuss the possibility of him directing them, both at The Phoenix and elsewhere.

Luke and I are no strangers. He directed me in my first ‘return to the theatre’ play, David Auburn’s ‘Proof’. Turns out that, like me, he would like to revive that production although it will be, of necessity, a different cast.

In fact we discussed four plays, at least one of which  Steen is keen to see done at the Phoenix next year, and all of which we intend to put on both locally and in Sydney over the next eighteen months or so.

In addition, there is a fifth play I’ve asked Steen to read for a possible production, and Medea cast member Suzi Russell to read with a view to directing it. I may or may not actually do that one, depending on timing and, of course, the director’s choice of cast, but it’s in the pot.

Both Luke and I are fired up by the possibilities and he is an enthusiastic, inventive and skilful director who will bring a great deal of understanding to the plays we have in mind. They are not easy plays to do.

More later.

I will not be rushing back to see the Tom Tom Crew. I went to their show at the IPAC last night (Friday) and found it hard to believe that a group who had been touring together for over five years had got things so wrong.

Just to be clear, individually these are very talented young men. When the drumming happens it’s amazing, but it is entirely down to one man, Ben Walsh, who also spends a good part of the early show telling the audience when to applaud. It’s particularly important to do this, apparently, when one of the acrobats falls over.

Beat-box is provided by the dubiously named Tom Thum, who is very, very clever at conjuring up what sounds like a complete orchestra using nothing more than his vocal chords and a microphone. This is amazing. But after the first five minutes the novelty tends to wear off, as does the interest in his “how to cover a wall in graffiti” section. As if the morons who do this in real life need any more encouragement.

The guys who leap around the stage come as a welcome relief and they do have a spectacular pyramidical finish. What is lacking is showmanship. It was a bit like watching a gymnastic team rehearse.

Unfortunately the whole show lacks cohesion, which may be as a result of performing to undemanding fringe audiences. Despite individual talents, Cirque du Soleil this is not. What is needed is a slicker, faster moving show and a whole re-think of the lighting plot. Whoever came up with the idea of flashing blinders at the audience for minutes at a time is filled with far more enthusiasm than common sense. Several audience members walked out after one particularly painful episode of this, and one certainly couldn’t blame them.

The pity of it is, this borders on being a slick, wholly professional show, but instead comes across as a group of young men indulging themselves in what they are good at. Like the curate’s egg, the show is good -very good, in fact – in parts, but it needs a lot of polishing and tightening up. In its present form it is fairly run of the mill with some very interesting – and occasionally exciting – highlights.

If you didn’t get to see Sydney Theatre Company’s ‘Wharf Revue’ at the IPAC last week, don’t despair. You can catch it at Parramatta Riverside all next week or afterwards at its home theatre in Sydney. Whatever you do, don’t miss it.

My wife and I went last night (Saturday) and didn’t stop laughing from the opening bars (music, not grog) to the closing finale. Featuring my old mate from the filming of ‘Noah’s Ark’, Jonathan Biggins, and a stellar cast made up of  Amanda Bishop, Drew Forsythe and Phil Scott, this is a great night’s entertainment. Just be warned. There are those who will find it rude, crude, offensive, politically incorrect and disrespectful to our national leaders, past and present.

It is all those things – and bloody hilarious with it.

Euripides would have loved it; his most famous play rewritten for modern audiences but still presented with all the panache and panoply of ancient Greece. A truly commanding spectacle to celebrate the re-opening of the old Bridge Theatre as the very new, very comfortable, very theatrical Phoenix, itself a wonderful blend of old style theatre and modern accessibility.

For those unfamiliar with the play, it is a tale of betrayal, revenge, witchcraft, duplicity and infanticide, set in ancient Greece but brought up to date by Steen’s very clever adaptation of the language into the modern idiom. This might not please the purists, but it works and Greek drama was never about intellectual propriety. It was about entertainment, and that’s what this production is from the opening appearance of Atalanta and Chorus to the closing scenes as a glittering Hecate rises from the ashes of Medea’s downfall and condemns Jason to his solitary fate.

The set, the period costumes and the lighting are superbly done. There is a very clever convention that allows Medea’s children to be seen on stage without having to keep two eight year-olds up half the night, and then there is the cast.

So much energy, hard work, enthusiasm and sacrifice by everyone concerned goes into community theatre productions that I am generally loathe to single anyone out for special mention. On this occasion, however, there are exceptions to be made. Medea herself is a hugely demanding role requiring the actor to run the whole gamut of human emotion in the space of less than two hours. It needs power, poise, sensitivity and  control, all of which Suzi Russell manages to find while carting round a magnificent costume that looked as though its weight alone would have defeated a lesser performer.

Her scene with Rob Macken’s outraged and warmly sympathetic Ageus was perhaps my favourite moment of the play.

If you miss this production, you will have missed something very close to a defining moment in the history of theatre in the Illawarra, I think. It is a hugely courageous thing to re-open a theatre that has been closed for eight years with something that may not, at first glance, have mass appeal. But the truth is, this is community theatre at its best. Try not to miss it; it is an exceptional experience.

In moving ahead with my plans for the future I’ve come to at least one decision: from the middle of next year I will be devoting myself full time to theatre work of one sort or another.

Already discussions are under way with regard to two plays and I have a third up my sleeve that I want to talk to a couple of people about by the weekend. There are also two more in the offing, one of which I know a friend of mine is keen to do and things are just beginning to fall into place in a way that means we can probably do it.

I may also throw in some drama classes (forty years in this business as an actor and director has to be worth something) and maybe even direct a couple of shows in the not too distant future. On that note I’ll be trying to find some new, full length plays from Aussie writers that will fit nicely into a professional/semi-professional ensemble.

Why am I posting this? Because I’m open to ideas and I’m looking to develop dialogues with local talent, both professional and amateur, who are eager to expand and exploit their artistic talents. And I’m doing it now because I would like to have as many ducks in a row as possible by the end of July2012.

Fantastic local theatre space is now available for the right productions, there is a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm surrounding it and the pool of talent in the Illawarra seems to me to be almost bottomless. Let’s make the most of it.

I’ve just been told that, in Corrimal, there is some benighted person going around tearing down posters for an upcoming local production of  Medea, and telling businesses advertising the event that it has been cancelled. Please be aware that I have this information second hand and have not verified it, but that it comes from a very reliable source.

First some background for my non-local readers. Corrimal is a northern suburb of Wollongong which is itself some 60 miles South of Sydney. It’s not exactly a backwater, but neither is it a teeming metropolis. It has a population of around 6,500 and no real industry to speak of. It’s a quiet, on the whole friendly, typical Aussie suburb as far as New South Wales goes. It has a couple of churches, a community centre, a thriving chamber of commerce and a crime rate that is below average as far as the state as a whole goes.

So why this unprecedented attack on a non-Corrimal event?

Medea is being staged at the Phoenix Theatre, Coniston, a southern suburb of Wollongong which has never done anything to offend anyone and probably wouldn’t exist at all but for housing workers for the nearby steelworks. There is a pub that has just had a long overdue renovation, a great little pie shop and, of course, the theatre.

The latter is held in high esteem by the many actors and directors who worked there in its heyday, regardless of how short that heyday might have been. But its closure, which was not without a certain amount of bitterness, was also welcomed by many and its renaissance is not without opponents. It’s not easy to see why.

To be charitable, one has to assume that anyone seeking to undermine an expansion of the arts in any given community has, to them, some logical reason for doing so and that this feeling flows from a love of the arts in the first place. If this is not the case, then what one is left with is little more than either evidence of a personal vendetta or a fear that somehow there is an unacceptable degree of competition being established, which will somehow be to the detriment of the person(s) involved.

If it is personal, then all one can say is, get over it. Petty attacks of this nature will have only a positive result. Those of us who support the Phoenix will make it known to a wider audience and the resulting publicity will achieve more than the torn down posters ever could.

If it is fear of competition and therefore an attack on the expansion of local and community  theatre itself then it is misguided beyond belief. As artistes we gain nothing by attempting to decry or hide the work of others. The theatrical community thrives on  having as many competing balls in the air as possible. The more shows, the more bums on seats, the greater the community interest and the more we as local artistes thrive.

Whatever the motives for this extraordinary action, I would like to get this message across to the perpetrator(s); do not, at any time, have the arrogance to think that your actions  support, or are approved by, any community theatre, arts or any other groups, wherever based. They are to the detriment of us all and I, for one, would be deeply ashamed to find that you were among my acquaintances.  In a thousand years, you could never be one of my friends.

It’s still under wraps for the time being because there are some final decisions to be made (not by me, I’ve made mine) but it looks as though I will be doing at least one, and possibly two, productions in the second half of next year.

I can’t really say much more than that at this stage, except to tell you that a dialogue has been opened up and the idea received with great support and enthusiasm. Once we have final approval – and the rights have been secured – I’ll tell you more. In the meantime watch this – and one other – space ;0)

No prizes for guessing which show the title of this post comes from!

Last night Laurel and I went to see the festival of Russian Ballet at the IPAC. Performed by the Imperial Russian Ballet Company, it was a hugely entertaining evening of excerpts from Don Quixote, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake and Carmen among others, but the highlight for us was the entire second act.

It was a darkly atmospheric interpretation of Ravel’s Bolero that had the audience spellbound by its sheer power, mystery and majesty. The lady next to me even stopped crunching on her Maltesers for a while. It was also an excellent showcase for the entire cast that had them working as a perfectly co-ordinated ensemble.

We’ve seen this company before on several occasions. As in previous years the dancing skills are mixed with two or three world class dancers, some with a bit of catching up to do and a slightly uneven corps de ballet. Don’t let that put you off going to see them. What you do get is a terrific evening’s entertainment with some show-stopping moments thrown in, great costumes, lots of energy and humour and a smile to wear all the way home and into the next day. These young people really know how to put on a show. Bolero alone is worth the price of a ticket. The dying swan will take your breath away.

You’ve got until the 17th of this month to see them in Wollongong and then they’re off to Newcastle. I wish I had the time to see them again.

It’s official, The Phoenix Theatre, Coniston, will be open for business this month with a grand opening and Spiegelhaus on the 22nd. This is also my wife’s birthday, so expect to find us in the front row.

Bookings are also now up and running and seats for the night are only $15, available online from http://phoenixtheatre.net.au/bookings.html

Now you have no excuse not to be there other than time zones. This is our theatre, folks. Let’s support it!

P.S. All Sydneysiders welcome. The train stops at the door :0)

If you read the post previous to this one you may understand why it has provoked a spirited response to my Facebook message bank, not from Alex Jovy himself but from a young lady who identifies herself, apparently, as a “young wannabee”. In the interests of free speech and fair play, I think her point of view deserves a wider audience, so I am publishing it here. Please forgive her the poor spelling and even worse grammar. She is, after all, still quite young and will no doubt work to improve all that. This is what she had to say:

Melanie Kitton

A friend and fellow actor has just alerted me to the fact that Alex Jovy, the creator of Itsourmovieland, has pulled his Facebook page. Add to that the fact that the IOM website is down yet again because its creators are “currently in the process of adding some new features” and the whole Killing Strangers mess disappears from public scrutiny. As does Alex himself.

Could these latest moves have anything to do with the adverse publicity that appeared on both sites? Some auditionees left fairly caustic remarks on the IOM site for example, as well as deleting their auditions, which made nonsense of a number of pages. Alex’s personal page also had some strongly worded criticisms as well as some fawning praise from a couple of young female wannabees who obviously thought there was still something in it for them.

Whatever, it’s all gone now and Killing Strangers disappears from view as well as the punt for Alex’s book and a lot of good will. Do we wait with baited breath to see if Killing Strangers is, in fact, made next year with an “A-list Actress” in the lead? Not really. If it fares as well as last year’s offering, “The Flirting Club”, (which Alex only CO-directed by the way, with James Bedford),  it will barely break the surface in terms of distribution. The Flirting Club never found a major distributor and went straight to DVD. Reviews, none of which were by particularly well-known critics, were mixed.

The whole sorry mess leaves me saddened. I prefer to think that this was an innovative venture gone wrong rather than a cynical attempt to take advantage of greenhorns for commercial purposes, although that is a widely held view and not without justification. Secrecy that is injected into an otherwise open process inevitably produces suspicion and Alex has done nothing to allay people’s distrust. Certainly cancelling his Facebook page hasn’t helped his cause.

I fear this may haunt him for some time to come. I wonder if he cares?

You may remember that I was wittering on about the online audition system for a proposed new film – Killing Strangers – at the beginning of this year. Auditions closed in May and apparently there has now been a short list selected. According to the director (Alex Jovy) if you have not been contacted you are not on it.

The odd thing is, that no-one appears to have been contacted and that has set a number of Facebook pages alight as controversy rages over whether or not the whole thing was some kind of an elaborate scam. Speculation is further fueled by the fact that the website itself has now been reborn as a sort of Starnow or D2A auditioning site, which will of course have fees attached. The Killing Strangers auditions are being featured as examples of this process.

If one adds to that the fact that Jovy is also using the experience to push sales of his upcoming book ‘I Am Cyrus’ to those people who auditioned for his film one could be forgiven for thinking there are some grounds to  question the motives behind the venture. Some weight is added to this point of view by the fact that ‘I Am Cyrus’ first made its appearance as a film script some years ago, with Jovy hoping to take it to production. Industry insiders tell me that he was unable to do so only because the necessary funding was not forthcoming. Could we be about to witness a renaissance?

Whatever the truth of that it’s clear that a number of people – mainly newcomers to the profession – are feeling very unsettled by the experience, especially as they spent a great deal of time and energy promoting their individual contributions. This was done on the basis that only those reaching a certain level of support from the public would be considered for the roles on offer. The reality is somewhat different. In at least two cases none of the protagonists in the top selections have been contacted, leaving those contenders with a very unpleasant taste in their mouths that has nothing to do with sour grapes.

Personally I am sorry – but not all that surprised – that it has gone pear-shaped. The intentions were probably good. It’s the execution that was probably flawed for a number of reasons, not the least being the nature of competition in this business.

We are told that the film will be shot ‘next year’ in London and Italy. The cast list will, apparently, be released only after completion which is interesting in itself. Since the lead is to be taken, according to Jovy, by an ‘A’ list actress one wonders how that is to be kept under wraps. Actors of stature control their own publicity and are not known for hiding their lights under anyone’s bushel. Regrettably, I suspect the ‘A’, like the panel of judges, has more brio than substance. As, indeed, may the whole project.

Of course much of the speculation could be laid to rest if Alex Jovy simply published his short list which, given the support he has received from the would-be cast members, one would think is a not unreasonable thing to do. Failing that, perhaps at least one of the short-listers who does not make it to the final choice would like to share with us his or her experience of the entire process.

I, for one, will not be holding my breath.

I was with some theatre people last night and, as theatricals do, we were exchanging stories about the people we’ve met, worked with or just brushed up against in the profession. As we did so, I was suddenly struck by the fact that all our anecdotes illustrating the wit of the theatre were of the distant past and about players most of whom are no longer with us.

Why is this, I wonder? Is it because we no longer have the theatrical giants we once did, as television and films become more and more the workplaces of choice? Or is it that we no longer have the sparkling wits? I find that hard to believe, although anything is possible in an industry where even acting asms are referred to as ‘starring’ in any given production.

When I think of the great wits, about whom stories are told and retold ad nauseam, even by those who never knew them, I’m thinking of Noel Coward, John Gielgud, Coral Atkins, Robert Newton, Maggie Smith and other giants of course, but also actors of whom most people will never have heard but whose flamboyant behaviour and eccentric humour made them the stuff of theatre legend. Among them were Pitt Wilkinson, Willoughby Goddard, Kevin Lindsay, Roy Barraclough, Colin Macintyre,  Martin Coveney and others.

I, for one, miss them sorely.

To finish on an illustrative, if not high, note; one of my favourite stories concerns Noel Coward who, at an opening night party asked the name of a young actor he had spotted among the guests.

“That’s Edward Woodward” he was told.

“Edward Woodward?” Coward replied. “Tell him he needs to change his name. That one sounds like a fart in the bath.”

I spent part of my morning today at the Phoenix Theatre, Coniston, (formerly Theatre South) in the company of Steen – whose concept and execution this resurrected theatre is – and his stage manager/techie Nathan. What a huge shot in the arm for the local arts scene, and drama in particular, this project promises to be.

It’s community based, of course, as most Australian theatre has to be these days if it is to attract any form of financial support, but it has the atmosphere and facilities of a professional touring venue. Companies are already booking space, and the in-house productions are under way with an adaptation of Euripides’ Medea kicking off the season in November. I hope to work there myself in the not too distant future.

It’s exciting to think that what was once a very popular local venue is about to re-open with new ideas, new energies and a focus on theatre in all its forms. The working space is close to perfect, seating is for 94, and the front of house area will double up easily as a cabaret spot with its own stage and lighting.

The Phoenix, I think, has not just risen from the ashes of the old theatre but is about to take a glittering flight of its own. And that I believe is something we can all applaud and support.

Medea will be followed in February of next year with a professional production of ‘Emily of Emerald Hill’ from Malaysia, and The Phoenix will stage its own production of ‘The Mikado’ the following month. Gilbert and Sullivan fans are promised something of an extension of the original that will reflect the local scene. You have been warned.

For more information of the theatre and future plans visit this website http://phoenixtheatre.net.au/index.html Remember to bookmark it for future reference.

Ten weeks ago it seemed as though the run of the play was forever away. Last night we closed the show and ‘The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell’ is no more. In the words of Prospero:

“Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:……..
 …………We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”

I think it’s always a bitter-sweet moment when a show closes. They’ve usually run their course by the time it happens, but what one misses are the players – which of course includes the audience. It’s the little world which we create and which, however insubstantial, seems so palpable and real at the time.

Do we miss each other, or each other’s characters, I wonder? Whatever, I am once again available for weddings, bar mitzvahs and masonics. Last night roars of applause, today back to obscurity. It was ever thus :0)

I’ve just learnt that John Wood, whom I worked with at the RSC in London, died earlier this month; peacefully in his sleep at the age of 81. He was a giant of a talent as an actor. Of uncertain temperament certainly, but brilliant nonetheless. His Cassius was definitive and his Saturninus remains with me still.

I learnt so much from working with him and by observing him in rehearsals and on stage. An actor who could transfix an audience with the lift of an eyebrow, and dismiss a multitude with a flick of his finger.  We have lost so much with his passing.

Good night sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

What a night! Saturday was easily our best audience ever for ‘The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell’ at the Old Fitzroy, Wolloomooloo. It included actor and entertainer Lee Young, singer Christian Bischoff, Paul Geraghty (ex Abbey Theatre, Dublin) and a lady whose determination to see the show involved her arriving by wheelchair and being carried to her seat by our resident strong man, Josh Morton (aka ‘Craig Castevich’).

The response was free flowing and generous throughout, with roars of laughter in all the right places and palpable tension in others. The applause at the end was so enthusiastic that we were brought back on for a second curtain call and that’s quite something in a theatre best described as “fringe”. Afterwards the wine and the black stuff flowed into the tall hours.

It must have been a good night in theatre all round. My mates down at the Wollongong Workshop Theatre had their closing show that same evening, and I hear they had a great response as well. Good onya, guys. We ought to do a show together some time :0)

Last night Reg Cribb came to our production of “The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell”. He even stayed to the end. Now you would think that as the writer he would leave some feedback, wouldn’t you? But did he? No, not a word!

He didn’t speak to the actors. He didn’t call the director. He didn’t even contact the production company who risked money – and quite a lot of money – on giving his play its first airing in New South Wales after it had been passed over by the major theatre companies.

As professionals, how should we view a writer who behaves like this? I mean, if you hate what we’ve done, Reg, say so. Tell us what you would like to see done differently. We’ll listen. We worked hard to get as close to your script as possible. But simply to ignore all the work and effort that has gone into this production as if it’s beneath your consideration? That’s pure @%&#ing arrogance.

In my first hand experience truly world class playwrights don’t behave like that. And these are giants I’m talking about, Reg. Masters of their craft. Internationally at the top of their trade. They already occupy the place where you strive to be. And they do it with humility. With an understanding that we all contribute to the end product that is theatre.

You, on the other hand, appear to have elected to become part of that unfortunate band of writers who are best described as being up themselves. Shame on you.

A few snippets from the play:

I took this view of Sydney harbour from my mate’s apartment early yesterday morning. He’s up in Byron Bay for a couple of weeks and was kind enough to lend me his pad while I appear in ‘The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell’ at Woollomooloo. You can’t see it because of trees, but the harbour bridge is just to the right of this picture.

Life doesn’t get much better than this for those of us working in theatre. It’s just a 20 minute walk to get to work and that’s along Rushcutters Bay and through King’s Cross. Two very picturesque areas, although for widely different reasons.

There’s something about the Cross. It reminds me of Soho in the Seventies. Buzzing, cosmopolitan, noisy and always just slightly on the edge. Somehow it adds to the whole experience of appearing on a Sydney stage. Even ordering a coffee there has an air about it.

Two weeks down and our director, Jacqueline Cosgrove, is genuinely excited about the production after some early mixed reviews.  I think she has a right to be. She’s worked hard as have the other two members of the cast, Josh Morton and Eli Tuilekutu.

From a personal point of view I know that there are still a number of corners to explore in the highly complex character that is Daniel Gartrell. I’ll find most of them, I think, but as I said to Jacqueline last night, I’ll probably still be saying that at the final curtain call. The actor’s mantra – “Why?” – is both a blessing and a curse.

Our 'new' offstage character

Our preview showing of “The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell” by Reg Cribb got a great response from last night’s preview audience at the Old Fitzroy Theatre, Woolloomooloo.  ’Brilliant’, ‘Amazing’ and ‘Terrific’ were just a few of the words I heard being bandied about after the show. Very gratifying after all the hard work. Thank you to everyone who sent their good wishes.

Like all previews I’ve ever done, it was not without its hitches. I managed to cut part of one scene, toss out a cue that has not been part of the script until now, and change the name of one of the offstage characters to Bobby Darin. Pretty much par for the course for my aging brain. Fortunately I have two very professional cast members in Josh Morton and Elisabeth Tuilekutu to get us through moments like that. Watching their performances develop has been an absolute joy. They are giants.

Tonight we will do it all over again, and tomorrow we open. May those who can, come!

Today rehearsals for “The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell” moved to The Old Fitzroy Theatre, Woolloomooloo and suddenly all the performances moved up another notch. Isn’t that just what happens?

We haven’t got the set yet, that will be available on Monday, but it was great to work in the space if only to a ‘ghost’ audience of empty bench seating. One thing is for sure, everyone in the audience is going to have an uninterrupted view of the main event in the first part of scene one. People who know the play will understand what I’m talking about.

The width of the stage is the width of the seating and, actors abhorring a vacuum every bit as much as nature, performances are expanding to fill the available space. Which is just as well. Bump in apart, there is just one more day of rehearsals before the first preview, and that has to include any tech stuff. Theatre was ever thus.

This weekend saw our last set of rehearsals before we move into the Old Fitzroy Theatre in Sydney, so they were held in the Scout Hall at Kiama. It was a good excuse for the cast to get some R&R by the sea, as our picture shows.

We also did a lot of work over the two days and the play is probably now close to its final shape. It’s an exciting time, just 10 days out from our opening night, for a play that will be seen by Sydney audiences for the first time ever.Reg Cribb’s script of ‘The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell’ continues to reveal new facets as we work on it. It becomes darker too and more and more relevant to Australia’s recent past. It will not sit comfortably with some people, I think, especially where it deals explicitly with things many of us choose to ignore.

I promise you, if you can get to see this play, whether this production or another, you will not be disappointed. But you may well be shocked, not the least by your own reaction to it.

Just a little taster of The production I’m doing of “The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell”, written by Reg Cribb and stage by Bardic Productions.

I’ve just come from a meeting with Jacqueline Cosgrove, head of Bardic Productions, who has asked me to play the eponymous character in ‘The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell’ by Reg Cribb. Reg is well known to Aussie audiences as the writer of that great little move ‘Last Train to Freo’.

I spent quite some time with Jacqueline, discussing her future plans for the production company and the role of ensemble theatre in the current climate, both artistic and financial. We found that we agreed on many things. I also met the other two members of the cast, Elizabeth Tuilekutu and Joshua Morton, both of whom were inspiring in their youthful enthusiasm and their obvious grasp of the play.

There’s a tough few weeks ahead as we all balance work and rehearsal, followed by a four week season at The Old Fitzroy Theatre, Sydney followed by who knows what in the months to come. But it’s exciting too and the play is without doubt the kind of thing I have been looking out for since Skylight finished last year.

I’ll keep you posted on events and hope that those of you who can come, will. If nothing else, this may be your one and only chance ever to see me NAKED on stage!!!

P.S. I promise not to jump up and down :0)

I’ve just finished reading a script. It could have been written for me. To do the play would mean a fair bit of time and very little money, and I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.

Why is it that as actors we are so often faced with these choices? Thirty years ago I wouldn’t have thought twice, but then I wouldn’t have been offered this role and I didn’t have my current commitments. Dang!

What’s the betting I do it anyway? Sometimes I just can’t help myself.

The auditions for Killing Strangers have now closed – in fact they closed three days ago but I’ve just got round to posting this. The total number of entries was 1,650, and even given the number of duplicates and extraneous material this shows a high level of interest.

It is likely to be a further two months before the results are known and potential cast members invited to take the next step, according to director Alex Jovy. But at least for the participants the voting angst is over and they no longer have to worry about whether or not their competitors are seeking to vote them out of the ratings.

I think there was some of this going on, although not enough to really make much difference, and I’m sure there were some high votes at the other end of the scale that were there to redress the balance. The surprising thing is that, overall, the voting does to a large extent reflect the talent pool. To make the cut – that is, be seen by the judges – participants needed to achieve 6/10 stars or better. If one ignores the voting that was clearly stacked by the individuals themselves (generally indicated by a high number of votes but very few comments), what emerges is those auditions that have a reasonable chance of casting success have stayed towards the top. Those below six stars, on the whole, tend to be people who are unlikely to be cast in this or any other production at their current level of expertise.

It will be interesting to see if this method of casting becomes popular for low budget films in the future. I suspect there are a number of reasons why it may be widely used as an initial filter, since that already happens on professional sites such as Showcast.

Whatever the case I wish my fellow auditionees the very best of luck, and for all those who voted to keep me in the running, my heartfelt thanks.

Probably the only thing in an actor’s life worse than auditions is the period of waiting afterwards. It’s worse because in most cases the actor hears nothing. The only feedback is if you get a recall or the part itself. Otherwise there is simply an indeterminate period of wondering……….

But to return to the auditions themselves, if there is a more exquisite form of torture for the actor I have yet to come across it. First comes the news that you have one. Result? Elevated adrenalin levels, the medical term for which is ‘panic’. Then comes the script with often only 24 hours notice. In this time you will do your best to learn the lines, create the character, dramatise the scene and get some sleep. None of this will come easily.

This script will occupy your mind to  the exclusion of all other cogent thought right up to the point of the audition itself, when it will magically and unbelievably disappear from your conscious memory. Fortunately your reader will have a copy of the original (with his lines highlighted) which he will hold up at a distance of some four metres and slightly out of your eye-line. If you normally wear glasses and have taken them off for the audition, it’s best to pretend that this has been helpful. Anything else is likely to produce from him an even flatter delivery than normal, with a few additional pauses thrown in to test you on your cues.

Please understand that the reader has nothing against you personally. This is probably the umpteenth time he has been called upon to read the same piece that day and his measured delivery is designed to indicate that he is treating you like all the other hopefuls, not that he is bored out of his mind and has much better things to do than listen to you stumble through your lines, thank you very much.

It doesn’t much matter what you do on this first pass, it will be met with fulsome praise and the occasional odd comment such as “interesting. I hadn’t seen the character in quite that way before”. Depending on your level of experience, this will be seen either as a huge ego booster or a serious warning to take careful notice of what the director says next. Do not, in either case, attempt to explain your reasons for what you have just done. Whatever you intended to say, I promise you, will come out backwards and you will notice the reader tapping his foot. This is not a good sign.

You will be given some guidelines on what to do next. Follow them. It’s an approximation of what is wanted and you ignore it at your peril. Of course if you don’t you will never know that it was a mistake because the reaction will be the same as before only slightly more effusive. That’s because you’re leaving and the auditioning team is a step closer to lunch.

Don’t fret afterwards. You will not know how well – or otherwise – you have done, unless of course you hear the following line (or an approximation of it): “Thank you so much for coming in. Best of luck in the future”.  This line has the same relationship to you as the guillotine has to a French aristocrat. At least you will be spared a week of wondering.

My final piece of advice, which I find impossible to follow, is to forget all about the audition the moment you walk out the door. Do not dwell on what you did, what you should have done or even what you will do next time. The truth is, the only person who knows the answer to those conundrums is the person who has the final casting say and who probably wasn’t at the audition anyway.  Above all, do not spend time in hopeful optimism. I know of actors who only truly believe they are not going to be given the role when they see someone else wander across the screen spouting ‘their’ lines. Don’t become one of them. If you haven’t heard by the weekend go fishing, get drunk, bake a cake or whatever else it is you do to unwind. There’s always a next time.

I spent yesterday at the ACTT centre in Sydney doing a screen test workshop with Leigh Pickford.  Leigh is a very experienced casting director with the Maura Fay Group. His credits include Cops LAC, The Killer Elite, Next Door to Velinsky’s, Panic, Packed to the Rafters, A Model Daughter, Trapped and City Homicide.

There is an immense benefit to doing this kind of thing as often as possible, partly because you quickly find out how differently individual casting directors work. Of course you can find that out to some extent by doing a number of auditions with different people, but that’s finding out the hard way. Much better by far is to hear first hand what the director wants, what he or she expects from an audition, and how he or she responds to the actor’s input.

Leigh, for example, is very clear that he looks on an audition as a collaborative exercise in which he is more than prepared to see the actor’s point of view. I know of other casting directors who prefer you to simply follow their direction after the initial run through. And there are those, thankfully few in number, who give you one shot and that’s it.

These workshops give you an opportunity to meet them and find out how to best apply your skills with each individual. It’s fun, and also a little nerve-wracking. Not only are you making an impression (hopefully a good one) on the casting director, you are also working in front of your peers, all of whom are going to present to a high standard.

It’s not that professional actors are particularly critical of each other; on the contrary, they are almost always warmly supportive. But we do know when any of us has papered over the cracks and we can’t help analysing what we see in terms of technique. All that adds pressure to what you are trying to do and helps to create a very realistic audition room feel.

If you want to see how one of these workshops works at the sharp end, I’ve uploaded my session, warts and all, to YouTube. This link will take you there:  Screen Test Workshop

Having the result of the workshop in this form allows all the participants to see the development from first idea to finalised audition. We can also go one step further and work at home with a simple camera setup to see how it can be further improved. It is this attention to detail that in the end we hope will pay dividends when we audition in earnest.

Equity Australia has just announced that Sass & Bentley Management have gone into administration. If they owe you money, and you are an Equity member, contact your local office straight away.

If you are not an Equity member and they owe you money, you now know why it’s a good idea to join the union as soon as possible. S&B is not the first – and certainly won’t be the last – agent to go belly up with actors as creditors.

Equity Australia is on 1300 65 65 12

On Monday I’m doing one of Equity’s free workshops for members, this time with one of our best known directors, Aarne Neeme. We have worked together before. Aarne directed me last year in ‘Skylight’ and I have a huge respect for his expertise.

This time the emphasis is not on theatre, though, but television and specifically working from scripts. Classically trained actors often have problems switching from stage to TV; I know I do. We are used to time spent on rehearsals and script changes. Characters can be explored at length and in depth. TV is not like that.

Frequently there is very little time even to learn the script and changes are expected instantly, often with no rehearsal at all. It’s a lively and exciting way of working since you never quite know what’s going to be thrown at you, either from the director or your fellow actors. It also takes certain techniques to deal with it. That’s what this particular workshop is about.

More later.

Wollongong Workshop Theatre are currently staging this play by Daniel R.Lillford and I went along on opening night, having read the script late last year.

When I read it, I found the play confusing. I couldn’t make up my mind whether the author intended a drama or a black comedy (which would have worked quite well I think). In the end I simply gave up on it, but went along on Friday to see how it worked in production, and to watch local actor Peter Scrine at work. He didn’t disappoint me.

I was left with the impression that the director – and consequently to a large extent the actors – was left with the same dilemma as I. Was this to be played for drama, comedy, pace, satire or what? If he ever made up his mind about that, the director didn’t get it across to this member of the audience. The drama veered close to melodrama on occasion and much of the humour was allowed to drift away in introspection on the part of the actors. This is what actors tend to do, left to their own devices. Energy, pace and a firmer hand by the director were all sadly lacking for most of the time.

The problem, if there is one, is largely the play I think. It’s really not that good and the plot is highly improbable. Which is what led me to believe that what the author intended was a black comedy all along. But then we get an on stage stabbing in a moment of outrageous violence that seems to contradict that idea.

To be honest, I’m surprised WWT went to the trouble and expense of staging the piece in the first place, although there is something to be said for doing a  play if it is new to local audiences, as this one was. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I think it is likely to remain ‘new and unknown’ for some time to come.

I’ve just signed up for a master class with L.A. casting director Lyndsey Baldasare. It’s taking place at Screenwise in May and I’ve booked this far ahead to make sure I get a place.

Lyndsey is known in the U.S.A. for casting The Runaways with Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart and the critically acclaimed FX series Sons of Anarchy.

Recently she co-cast Season 5 of the hit FX series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the MTV scripted series The Hard Times of RJ Berger created by Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg.

Lyndsey is currently associate casting the much anticipated television series Wonder Woman for Warner Brothers and NBC with friend and Gossip Girl’s casting director David Rapaport.

Personally I have no great ambitions to head for Hollywood right now, so why would I want to do a master class like this? The answer lies in the directional changes of the Australian film and television industry. We are now more American than we know.

When I first started out the place Aussie actors went to learn their trade was, without a doubt, London. In the Seventies this was where actors like Bud Tingwell, Peter Finch, Ray Barrett, Kevin Lindsay, Kenneth J.Warren and others began to take centre stage and brought back to Australia with them (in most cases) a BBC/Shepperton Studios style of acting.

Times have changed. Our leading actors these days, particularly those of the younger set, align themselves much more on the American model and for good reason. That is the way the Australian industry has gone in the last 25 years or so. Our television drama, and even more so our movies, have become ‘Americanized’ in style if not in content. Which is one reason why we now compete so successfully at every level in the U.S. film industry.

For our young actors, brought up in this tradition, it’s no great problem, but for those of us who learned our trade in a different age adaptation is a little more demanding. So I take every chance I can to work with Americans from the industry, because in doing so I am learning to adapt my skills to the new Australian model.

Whether or not I ever work in the States is beside the point. What is key is the extension of my skills and versatility; something that, for an artist of any persuasion, is beyond price in my opinion.

One of the great things about being a member of Actors Equity is that you get the chance to do completely free workshops with your fellow professionals on various, mainly technical, aspects of your trade.

Last night I was in Chalmers Street for a camera technique workshop run by Jonathan Mill, a very experienced film and TV actor, that concentrated in particular on the difference between being in long shot, mid-shot, closeup and extreme close-up. What works for one may not, and usually does not, work for all.

The exercise was spiced up by Jonathan giving us all scripts to learn, but not telling us what shots were being called or where in the dialogue they occurred – a situation not so very far removed from reality on a busy shoot. We were therefore called on not just to act, but to use our professional instincts to decide when we were in close-up – and therefore take the performance down – or in long shot, when we could be a bit more expansive.

ECU is easily the most demanding of all these techniques. It still amazes me how much you can convey through the camera by apparently doing nothing more than thinking. And how disastrous and mood breaking a slight head or even eye movement can be. I think it’s worth most actors time to do at least two or three of these classes each year, if only to see what habits you’ve slipped into without realising it.

Yesterday a bunch of actors, including me, met at Redfern Community Studio for a workshop with Dave Newman from the Christine King Casting Agency. Dave was originally an actor for over 12 years, and then became a casting director about 13 years ago. Who better to teach us the tricks of the trade?

This was an invaluable session, arranged by the Melbourne Acting Academy, that knitted together the skills of an actor with the requirements of a casting director. It’s importance for me lay in the fact that it clarified for all time the very real difference between a performance and an audition. Significantly, Dave emphasised how important it was for actors not to anticipate what the casting director was looking for, but to give their interpretation of the provided script in the simplest way possible. What casting want to see is you.

It’s a lesson that many of us never learn, unfortunately.

We also got an insight into how a casting director worked with regard to material such as headshots, resumes and showreels, with which they are swamped on an almost daily basis. For example, it may be weeks before they get the time to review a showreel sent to them and far longer than that before they are casting something the actor is suited for. Patience is an important part of the actor’s make-up when it comes to casting.

As well as the group session we worked one-on-one with Dave and each of us had a dvd at the end of the day showing the results of what we did. Apart from being nice to have, the dvds also gave us an insight into how we performed in audition terms, because the feedback was honest and direct without being destructive. My dvd is below. The reels are done in available light with absolutely no frills of any kind. But they are tightly shot, and that’s the key; that’s what one needs to work to.

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You can see my new showreel on this page: http://marksheridanactor.com/gallery-2/show-reel/

Please note that it includes part of a Tarantino script which is probably going to offend some people.

Yesterday I spent the day on location in Sydney doing a commercial shoot known only as Project-X. It consisted of five actors sitting around ad libbing comments on international stock markets. The results, for those involved at least, were hilarious. How about “the pork belly futures contract is definitely bringing home the bacon’ for example?

While we did melt in the heat a bit – 40C and rising – energy levels and enthusiasm were kept surprisingly high, and the film crew were fantastic.

It’s always interesting when a bunch of actors get together. There’s a lot of sitting around so there’s often a lot of chat and we find out quite a lot about each other. For example one of our group, Kendall Goddard, was an international trapeze artiste until an injury put paid to her circus career, and Russell Sullivan frequently pops up on Home and Away as the local copper. Janet Collins and Austin Holister made up the rest of our cast, both of whom have been seen in various roles in Aussie soaps.

The last word goes to Janet whose immortal line ‘we got the futures figures a bit wrong’ had us all in fits.

It’s not often that actors get the chance to work face to face with, and pick the brains of, a leading director such as David Caesar. On Saturday twelve of us had just such an opportunity and were able to make the most of it thanks to Denise Roberts, Principal of  Screenwise.

The day was a mix of discussion, working on camera and tight direction from David, followed by a debriefing session with Denise that developed into one of the most important parts of the day. This is the sort of work that is invaluable to an actor, in my view, especially when it involves people you don’t know and whose working methods may be very different to your own. And the great thing is that, unlike the theatre, you can see and review the results.

By the end of the day each of us had a dvd showing the initial take (our own interpretation), followed by usually two to three more takes as directed by David. The differences were at once apparent and revealing. If I ever figure out a way of transferring them to this blog I’ll do so and you can see how this worked for yourselves.

In the meantime, take a look at the Screenwise website and if you do get the opportunity to do a workshop with one of the guest directors or with Denise herself, take it. Believe me when I say you will be very glad that you did.

View my audition for ‘Chairman’ in the upcoming movie ‘Killing Strangers’ at http://www.itsourmovie.com/node/783 – and please take the time to vote if you like what you see.

How To Vote: Use my link to go to the website and click on the ‘Home’ page tab to create an account. Most people use a free email address such as Hotmail or Gmail rather than their main one. Once you’ve done this you will be sent login details which give you access to the whole site. You can now vote on as many auditions as you wish, including mine. If you are logged in to Facebook, you can also leave a comment.

As you already know I’m auditioning for Alex Jovy’s new film, Killing Strangers. Among the gems submitted for the various roles is the one below. Bear in mind that the character breakdown calls for a ‘funloving airhead who is into partying and boys’. The script she uses, however, is her own improvisation. Have fun!

Online casting for films and television took a leap forward this year when a full length feature film called ‘The Flirting Club’ was cast almost entirely from video auditions posted on the Itsourmovie website. An added twist was that members of the public were largely responsible for choosing the featured actors by voting for their favourites on the same site.

The project was so successful that a second movie – Killing Strangers –  to be shot by Academy Award nominated director Alex Jovy,  is scheduled for production late next year. Once again actors are being invited to post their audition videos on the Itsourmovie website and the public is being invited to vote for them. It’s an interesting concept and I’ve joined in the fun. You can visit the site to see the various contributions. My own audition clip for the mysterious and sinister character known only as ‘The Chairman’  is below. If you like it you can, if you wish, vote for me as previously mentioned by going to this link http://www.itsourmovie.com/node/783.

http://www.itsourmovie.com/node/783

I’ve taken the plunge once again and enrolled for another Master Class at Screenwise, this time with David Caesar. If you don’t know who David is you are almost certainly either not a fan of Aussie TV or you have been half way up a mountain in Tibet for the past 20 years.

If you click on his name above the link will take you to his Imdb page and a long list of television credits.

You may remember I sang the praises of Screenwise earlier this month and said then that I had a decision to make about my future career. It looks as though I have made it with this next move. The class is at the end of January and I don’t yet know what form it will take. As always, I will keep you informed.

There is one other class that I want to do as soon as I can find the time and one is available, and that’s with the Maura Fay organisation. They crop up on a fairly regular basis and so far I haven’t manage to fit one in. I hope to change that in the New Year.

Yesterday I spent the day in Sydney at a master class with Denise Roberts. If you don’t know who Denise is (really?) then take a look at this page: http://www.deniseroberts.com/index.php/bio

It’s a real eye opener for someone like me, who has worked mainly in live theatre, to attend a class like this. Quite apart from reminding me just how much talent of all ages there is in Australia, the learning aspect I found to be without parallel in my experience. I don’t think I have ever seen character and motivation broken down quite so comprehensively and in a way that is so readily usable.  At the end of it, I couldn’t help wondering how many of those present looked back, like me, to screen auditions they had done in the past and cringed at how wide of the mark they had been.

I came away realising that the gap between screen and stage is much wider than I had previously thought, particularly in the case of film, as opposed to television. Which raised another question for me; do I continue to concentrate on theatre or do I retrain in an attempt to expand my career at this late stage in my life. There is a lot of work to do.

Each of us was given a dvd of our work at the end of the day, and when I look at mine I see a performance that is far too big for the screen and has all the hallmarks of someone performing for a 500 seater theatre. In a cinema it would be close to grotesque. Changing all that would not, I realise, be easy. It would take a lot of guidance and a lot of hard work on my part.  That level of training would also cost.

One thing I am sure of; if I do decide to pursue this path it will be to Denise and her Screenwise operation that I will turn. There is no room for second best when it comes to the performing arts and I have just experienced, if not the very best, then certainly something very close to it.

If you would like to know more about Screenwise and why I think it is the ideal training ground for aspiring screen actors, visit their website at http://www.screenwise.com.au/

The festival organisers have just sent out a “last chance to audition” notice to those who have expressed an interest. It offers a blanket audition time for anyone who has not been cast in a play so far, so it looks like I may have missed out on this occasion. That’s Showbiz!

It’s no big deal – you do, after all, work for nothing, but I would like to have taken part. Never mind, there’s always next year and one never knows just what is right around the corner in this crazy business.

My next diary date is for December 4 when I’m doing an all day master class in Sydney with Denise Roberts. Now that should be a lot of fun.

Yesterday I auditioned for next year’s Short + Sweet Festival in Sydney, the biggest short play festival for professionals in the world bar none. It was a great experience.

All actors know and understand the loneliness and nerves of stage auditions. The silence, the empty auditorium, the voice that seems to echo back to you. At Short + Sweet it was nothing like that.

Beforehand it was the familiar scene of actors keeping very much to themselves while they waited to audition, but after that it was a warm, friendly and relaxed atmosphere. There were staff standing by to introduce you to the watchers in the auditorium and when you had finished, there was applause! In an audition! Nice people.

A few polite questions, a sincere ‘thank you’ and you left feeling better than when you went in. We should get the results in December. I’ll let you know.

There’s a bit of a discussion going on at the moment on the D2A forum about whether or not to do student films and other free work. One argument is that working for nothing is a waste of time and may get in the way of doing paid work. Another is that any work, including unpaid, is better than doing nothing and adds to an actor’s experience.

Unpaid work usually means student films and television, often of no more than 10 minutes in length, which may provide the actor with a show reel – although these may be of dubious value, especially if they feature other actors. Better to get a professional one in my view, or else none at all.

While I have done unpaid work, and no doubt will in the future, it has mainly been in workshop theatre and I have a great deal of sympathy with those who say ‘theatre is our craft, television is   money’. We are, I think, in the minority these days. Most young actors seem to  want television and films almost exclusively, which makes one wonder what their true motives are.

Whatever their reasons, however, I can’t help feeling that if they really want to make a mark in those media they should do just about any work that comes their way, paid or not. The director who can’t pay you today may be the producer who casts you in his first professional feature tomorrow.

Yesterday I went to a workshop organised by my agent, Gina Stojanovski. On her recent trip to L.A. she had met with any number of people in the business, including Judy Kerr, who was among other things the dialogue coach on Seinfeld.

Actor, director, teacher and author of “Acting is Everything”, Judy normally charges around $200 an hour for her coaching services. We got it all for free. Fantastic!

Quite apart from her valuable insights into working in America, she also workshopped some of us on short pieces of monologue which she had sent to us earlier. This was probably, for everyone, the most rewarding part of the day and I think all of us learned a great deal about working in close up with the camera. She also gave some great advice on the type of head shots to use and the preparation and presentation of resumes.

All in all, it was an encouraging and inspiring session. If you get the chance to see Judy, my advice is take it. She’s here in Australia for another couple of weeks and then I believe she returns to LA.

You can also visit her website at http://actingiseverything.com/

Each year, at major venues around Australia and beyond, there is a festival of ten minute plays that showcases the work of emerging and established  artists in the world of theatre. It’s a big event in the Aussie showbiz calendar and next year will be the Sydney version’s tenth anniversary.

Featuring literally hundreds of plays and players, the event kicks off in early December with performances taking place from early January through to March. No-one gets paid, but the festival still manages to attract professional artists from all fields including designers, writers, lighting technicians, theatre directors and of course actors. The auditions alone take over five days with each actor being alloted a maximum of 2 minutes to impress up to 70 directors. That gives you some idea of the numbers involved.

At it’s heart, Short + Sweet is a competition in which the audience participates by voting for the People’s Choice to go to the final. The remaining places are awarded by the judges who may be leading actors and directors already involved in the general running of the festival.

Will I be auditioning? Certainly. It’s a great opportunity to meet and work with other people in the profession including newcomers in all fields. There is much to be gained from doing that. It’s also an opportunity to exercise skills that need a regular workout if they are to remain sharp. For newer members of the profession it is a golden chance to get their skills seen and to work with and learn from the more experienced participants.

More later.

Pardon the excruciating pun, but the producer of Skylight, Michael Godbee, and I had a meeting yesterday to put together a proposal for staging the play in a very well known Sydney venue. If it comes off it will be a triumph for all of us and a truly great outcome for all the investment in terms of time, money and sheer hard work everyone has put in.

I’m not going to give the name of the theatre at this stage but I can tell you we should know the result of our pitch in about three weeks time. If we are successful, the production will be staged some time in the New Year.

We know that we fulfill the criteria for a Sydney run and we know we have a production that people will come to and enjoy. All (!) that remains is for us to convince the theatre managers of that.

Sadly for us we will have to recast Edward if we go ahead, since Lincoln Hall will not be available after February and it will not be easy to do that; his are big boots to fill. But it does mean a future golden opportunity for some young Sydney actor if we get the go ahead.

I’ll keep you posted.

Every actor needs publicity photos. The trick is always finding the right photographer who [a] understands the business we’re in and [b] works with the actor to achieve what he or she wants.

This last point is often overlooked by professional photographers, in my view. They shoot for glamour rather than what you actually look like and in my experience that is self defeating. You know you’ve wasted money when the casting director says “how long ago was this taken?”.

Sydney based actors are fortunate in having the guys at Headshots Studio in Rockdale to produce their portfolios. I’ve just had mine redone and the results are terrific. I’ll upload them to this site when the final prints are ready.

Glen knows exactly what he is doing and the market he is shooting for. He works exclusively in digital and is generous with his time. My session lasted nearly three hours. As a bonus, proofs come in both monochrome and colour, giving the traditionalists what they want as well as the opportunity to modernise. The final prints are even optimized for  internet casting sites such as Showcast.

As you can see, I highly recommend them.

Casting directors will often ask if you can do a particular accent and the temptation is always to say ‘yes’ just to get the audition. Then you hope that what you do is what’s envisioned.

The problem with that approach is that you could be wasting both your and the director’s time if your voice is not exactly what’s wanted. Accents can be worked on and improved, the quality of a voice is difficult to change in the short term. So it’s a good idea to make samples of your voice readily available.

You can do this through online services like Showcast, but there are two problems with this. In the first place it costs money and in the second most only allow for a single reel lasting up to five minutes. No-one wants to wade through a variety of accents to get to the one they want.

So with that in mind I’ve added some individual voice samples directly to this blog and I will be adding some more. You can find them in the main menu at the top of the page. Now my agent can send casting directors straight to the voice sample and they can make up their minds about the voice before worrying about an audition.

It’s an approach that works and one I think every professional actor should adopt. It can be done for nothing using various free services available and saves everybody, including you, a whole heap of time and money.

photo credit: RambergMediaImages

When I was a young actor way back in the Seventies a common experience for all of us was the ‘trapped by the phone’ syndrome. You did an audition or two = and then you waited for the phone to ring. Even actors with messaging systems were half afraid to leave the house ‘just in case’. Mobile phones have changed all that and it’s a very liberating feeling.

Not only is it easy for people to keep in touch with you, it’s also simple to link your smart phone to your home computer and thus remain online and connected to the internet casting services. Which makes me wonder why more young actors don’t take advantage of that fact.

I know one or two that do, but there seem to be an awful lot who don’t. I know the online casting systems cost money, but it’s money well spent it seems to me, especially if you want to stay ahead of the field. Quite a bit of the work available, especially the (usually unpaid) short films may not get picked up by agents and these small projects are often worth doing, if only to keep busy practising our craft.

Personally I think D2A, Showcast and AT2 as a minimum are a must for all young actors who would like to get as much experience as possible, including auditions. Trainee directors who use these services for casting their work may not be able to offer much in the way of money, but they can and do offer a relatively painless and risk free way of gaining both experience and much needed credits. Who knows, you may even find yourself working with the next Baz Luhrmann or Peter Weir. They each had to start out somewhere.

Getting switched on to the internet means you can stay in touch with everything that’s going on, even while doing your day job. And it makes life a whole lot easier for your agent as well. If you haven’t done so already, my advice is to get hooked up to a smart phone/computer system as soon as you can. These days it’s all part of our business – and being an actor is even more of a business now than it was when I started out.

photo credit: mathewajay

Not the play, but the ballet performed by the New Zealand Ballet Company at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre last night to a very appreciative full house. Outstanding sets, wonderful costumes and a production that put the ballet somewhere between the original and West Side Story in terms of visualisation.

Michael Braun as Mercutio stole the evening from an outstanding company of dancers with great skill and a personality to match. Mercutio might have been the role he was born to dance for.

Last night was also election night here in Australia and on the way home we learned that they’d hung parliament. This seemed to us great cause for celebration so we each had a glass of champagne before bed.

It’s still a masterpiece! Whatever you may think of some of Truffaut’s work – and there are times when one or other of his films appears to struggle along by itself, aided by a voice over – Jules et Jim is as outstanding now, both in subject matter and artistry, as it ever seemed to be. I’m relieved!

I’m relieved also to be able to continue with David Hare’s book, ‘Acting Up’, and to find that on this we are in agreement. In fact, having castigated Truffaut in an earlier passage, Hare apologizes for being ‘rude’ to him and is clearly as bowled over by his revisit of the film as I was by mine.

If this is a movie you haven’t seen in a while, or perhaps you have never seen at all, I urge you to find a copy especially if you are in the business. If nothing else you will be reminded from Jeanne Moreau’s performance of the qualities it takes to be a true ‘star’.

For the past two days my wife Laurel and I have been on a culture trip to Sydney, starting with the brilliant ‘Paths To Abstraction’ exhibitiion at the National Art Gallery. For the first time ever I was able to follow the progression of abstract art from the impressionists of the 19th century through fauvism to its almost logical finale in cubism.

Melissa Jaffer

Then on to the Belvoir theatre to see the wonderful Melissa Jaffer in ‘Gwen In Purgatory’, a riveting play at once hilariously funny and gut-wrenchingly tragic. Melissa proves yet again what a fine stage actress she truly is and has lost none of her sharpness and timing, despite advancing years. I can only hope to be that much on top of my game when I reach her age – which isn’t all that far away come to think of it.

It was a great evening’s entertainment by a fine cast, made all the more special for me in that Cate Blanchett, one of my personal top ten most admired actors of all time, was in the audience as well.

You have until 19th September to see this play in Sydney and then it’s going to Geelong. Don’t miss it. It’s set to become an Aussie classsic, in my view.

The next day we went to the zoo, something we haven’t done for twenty years or more, mainly to see the baby elephants and hippo. We did see them and they were very entertaining. Just about everything else seemed to be asleep.

I finished the day with an audition for a short film that may be coming up in the next two months or so and which I would very much like to do. The concept is after the style of Vittorio de Sica or, if you prefer, Ingmar Bergman and is just the sort of thing that appeals to me immensely. It’s something to do with my European roots I suppose. I’ll keep you posted.

There is a selection of photos from our production of Skylight in the gallery (see menu).

Aaaaargh! I’ve just reached the point in David Hare’s book ‘Acting Up’ where he castigates Truffaut for doing exactly what he in turn criticised earlier French film makers for. Hare’s critique comes about because there was a Truffaut ‘season’ in New York during the run of ‘Via Dolorosa’ and Hare took the opportunity to revisit the films that took us all by storm in the Sixties and Seventies. He found Truffaut wanting and he cites the movie Les Deux Anglaises in particular as an example of a film that is “not very well directed” and adds that Truffaut “is more alive to the literary ideas in his work than he is to their realization through acting and image”

I have no argument with any of this. My problem is that I have just taken out a DVD of ‘Jules et Jim’ from the library and I just know this is going to be the film Hare visits next and that he will comment on it in the book. Which means, for me, that I have to stop reading until after I have watched the film, or risk being influenced by his comments, whatever they may be.

Reluctantly then, ‘Acting Up’ is set aside until I can in my turn revisit Truffaut in what I know I once regarded as a masterpiece in the genre. Will I still see it in the same way? Will Hare? I can hardly wait to find out.

photo credit: irina slutsky

While we were doing Skylight in Canberra Michael Godbee and I were interviewed by ChannelVision about the production. You can see the result by clicking on the link below. There are some clips from the play included.

Skylight Interview – Canberra

I’ve finally bitten the bullet and added my biog to Showcast. I was prompted by the fact that the new print run is due some time in October. There’s also an Internet version, of course, and you can see my entry here: www3.showcast.com.au/showcast/marksheridan

The great thing about the Internet entry is that, of course, you can keep all the details bang up to date and not have to wait a year to change contact information and so on. It’s also easier for people to find you in many ways. On the whole it’s only the professional casting organisations that have direct access to the printed copy and the detail in it is limited by space.

In the UK there is a similar publication called ‘Spotlight’ and no doubt the States also has something along those lines. I’ve yet to work there so I’m not very familiar with the American acting scene. A fun thing to do is to get hold of an old copy and thumb through it. It’s interesting to see how the style of presentation has changed, not to mention the age of the actors! Come on, ‘fess up, who’s been using the same pic for the past twenty odd years?

Don’t worry – your secret’s safe with me!

I’ve added my profile to the Dare2Audition website, a casting service for professional actors which also has a number of useful add ons, such as training information, photographic discounts and so on.

You can see the listing here http://dare2audition.com.au/id=marksheridan

I rather like this service. It’s all Aussie of course, and it’s how we found Jacqui when casting for Skylight, so it does work. The casting information alone is worth the visit and although it claims not to be a substitute for an agent, for most actors, particularly those starting out, it probably is of more use.

Did I really say that about agents? Ouch!

Okay, look, you may strike lucky and find someone brilliant like Bill Williams (who was my UK agent before she retired), who really will take an interest in you personally and have sufficient clout with casting directors to make a difference. But by far the majority do little more than get hold of casting lists and send you along with scores of others more in hope than good judgment.

You will know the kind of agent you have if ever you hear these words from the casting director: “What did they tell you about this part?”

If and when that happens, seek fresh woods and pastures new!

I’ve reached that curious point in an actor’s life where nothing seems to be moving even though everything is in place. It’s much worse in many ways than being out of work. Here we are with  a completed, tried and tested production that we know has legs, but no theatre currently to put it in.

On top of that we have two more shows lined up but on which we cannot move until we have resolved the future of Skylight. It’s a conundrum.

It’s not as if the people involved are standing still. We are busying ourselves with publicity, talking to the right people, preparing a presentation for theatre managers and so on. But the truth is it feels as if we’re wading through treacle. It all happens in some kind of slow motion, like a tape played at half speed. Worse, we’re unlikely to have any resolution of the situation much before October.

Fortunately my social calendar is filling up, otherwise I think I’d be on valium for the next six weeks or so. As it is I’m hosting a lunch for the cast and crew in a couple of weeks so that at least we can all remember what each other looks like. And maybe we’ll have a bit more news by then.

photo credit: Nikolai O.

The lovely Coralie Wood has very kindly invited my wife and me to the opening night of Swan Lake on Ice at the Canberra Theatre in September. We’re thrilled to be able to accept.

This will be another first for me. I have never seen a ballet performed on ice before and if the Sydney reviews of the company, Imperial Ice Stars, are anything to go by this is going to be a memorable evening. The season opens on Wednesday 8th September until 12th September, so contact the theatre for further details. Contact number for the box office is (02) 6275 2700.

It promises to be an amazing experience and of course there is that wonderful Tchaikovsky score.

Further details from http://www.canberraticketing.com.au/whatson/event-details.aspx?eventID=3808

During the run of Skylight a birthday popped up and, in keeping with the play, my wife Laurel gave me a copy of David Hare’s book, Acting Up. In it, the author charts his progress from writer to performer to actor of his own work ‘via Dolorosa’. It is a book I wish had been available to me thirty, or even forty, years ago, although whether it would have resonated with me then in the way it does now is another matter.

The thing is, this is an important work for anyone involved in working in the theatre and certainly one I would recommend that every aspiring actor should read; it has so much to offer.

At just over the halfway stage, I’m fascinated to learn that the things which irritate me also anger Hare. That our approach to working is so similar and that similar harpies taunt us both on and off the stage. Perhaps this is why I felt – indeed still feel – such an affinity with the character of Tom in Skylight and why he became such a real person to me. Or perhaps it’s simply that every actor works and feels this way, we just fail to exchange the information with each other.

I’m not sure. There is so much about our craft that is uncertain. Hare, on the other hand, has the writer’s gift of expressing much of this for us while holding up a much needed mirror to our often groundless anxieties.

This is a book for every actor who has ever stood in a dressing room as the ‘half’ is called, wishing to be a thousand miles away. Beyond that, it is a handbook for preparing, building, rehearsing and performing a role from the ground up, notwithstanding the fact that in the work under discussion Hare created his own characters.

Beg it, borrow it, steal it. Here are lessons from a master of his trade that each of us can learn from.

It seems like only a few weeks ago, rather than months, that we began the long journey to bring David Hare’s Skylight to the Canberra stage. Now we’ve closed and we’re all left wondering ‘where did the time go?’.

Our last two performances were minor triumphs, there is no other word for them. On the matinee we got a standing ovation. Lyn Wright came and said to me afterwards “It was wonderful. It was better than the original.”  That’s a huge call, but coming from an award winning film maker and actress it is still a tremendous complement.

Susie Coleman had this to say in an email to my wife: “Skylight” was GRUELLING but WONDERFUL!!!”

And Aussie actress Ann Burbrook who was there for the final performance wrote to us all saying “I was moved, surprised and delighted by a night of deftly crafted, well made, exciting theatre.”

I think, in fact I’m certain, that I have never done a play which received so many accolades, so much positive feedback, from critics, fellow professionals and audiences alike. It says much for the hard work of the cast and crew and the sure handedness of Aarne Neeme’s direction.

I am left feeling exhilarated, proud, exhausted and bereft. We have a show (and how) but so far, no theatre to put it in. Such is the nature of this extraordinary, wonderful, infuriating business we are in.

Yesterday Michael Godbee and I had lunch with Coralie Wood, publicist extraordinaire and a very well known, well connected, Canberra Identity, especially in the world of entertainment. And what an amazing person she is. In the space of less than an hour she had organised for a theatre producer to come and see the show, a television interview for Michael and me, and set up the machinery for having the show recorded.

Every production company needs a Coralie Wood on their team!

Today Michael and I did an interview with Stephen Henderson, executive producer at Channelvision, which, after editing will go live on Foxtel and be available on the web. I’ll post links here and on the Gypsy Entertainment website when I have them.

This afternoon there is a photo call at the theatre for the entire cast and this evening the cameras will be rolling throughout the entire performance. This will not only give us a web presence but also a show reel to show to producers, theatre managers and anyone else interested in furthering the show.

More later.

After an exhausting schedule of rehearsals, run-throughs, radio interviews and performances the cast and crew of Skylight are at last enjoying a hard-earned rest for three days.

The week has been a triumph for us with a great review in the weekend edition of the Canberra Times. The only disappointing thing has been the attendance figures which left us wondering if Canberra folk go to the theatre in winter time. Given the outside temperatures (below zero) it may be they prefer to stay home and hibernate.

Aarne Neeme (director) has flown west to direct Hamlet in Perth and unfortunately we won’t be seeing him again during this run. From now on we’re on our own. In the mean time, it’s back to our homes and loved ones for a while to catch up on everything we’ve been missing – including sleep!

Our next performance is Wednesday 21st July at 7.30 so if you can make it, please come along and make yourself known after the show. We’d love to see you. You’ll get a great show – and the drinks are the cheapest in town!

If the reactions of the first night audience are anything to go by, we have a hit on our hands. We opened last night to a well-filled house and right from the start Jacqui and Lincoln had them gripped. The laughter was spontaneous, the silences were palpable. And so it continued throughout the show.

I think David Hare would have been pleased.

For us as cast, the great thing was to hear the buzz of conversation as the audience left the theatre. Clearly, the play had excited their interest and left them with a lot to talk about.

For our part we were both elated and exhausted, but not so tired that we weren’t able to celebrate afterwards with crew, family and friends. Jacqui looked ravishing of course, especially with her bouquet of spinach (courtesy of her boyfriend Mark) and a pineapple dressed in glitter. I think I wandered around in something of a daze while Lincoln made sure work of the food on offer. It was a great finish to a wonderful evening for all of us.

I would, however, like to apologise on behalf of the cast and crew to the lady whose mobile phone call we so rudely interrupted. It’s just that we didn’t feel it was fair on the rest of the audience to pause the play at that particular point.

Today we finished our last rehearsal at The Phoenix Theatre, Coniston, which has been our home for the last three months or more. As I write this the set is being bumped out and loaded on a truck for its trip to The Courtyard Studio, Canberra.

Tomorrow is a day off and on Monday we’ll all assemble for the technical set up and run through. We have a couple of local radio interviews on Tuesday, followed by a preview for a few friends and invitees that same evening. Wednesday is our big night when all the hard work comes to fruition. It’s a daunting but still exciting prospect. There’s nothing quite like live theatre to ‘summon up the blood’.

Our resident cook...

One of the features of ‘Skylight’ is that Jacqui Livingston has to prepare and cook a meal on stage. It’s spaghetti with a tomato sauce and it goes on through most of the first act. We’re rehearsing it now and it’s a riot.

Jacqui’s two main enemies are the onions, for obvious reasons, and the chili peppers which have the potential to affect both of us. I have to say that just when my character Tom thinks he’s being at his funniest, it’s a little disconcerting to look across and see the leading lady apparently in floods of tears.

We went through the whole thing twice yesterday and our cook in residence did it flawlessly. Me? I had trouble grating the cheese!

Aarne is back with us after his sojourn in Adelaide and Skylight rehearsals are picking up pace. We are working the play in small sections and line by line. It is, I think, a great way to work – building the whole piece step by step, adding and rejecting as you go. And even at the end of this process, nothing is set in stone.

I sometimes think there is a misconception among actors – and some directors – that you have to replicate. That what you do in one rehearsal that seems to work must necessarily re-appear in subsequent workings of the play. I find this not just a lazy approach but also one that lacks any vitality or life of its own. Actors stop listening to each other and simply wait for their cues. The play still works if the dialogue is good enough, but there is no real vibrancy – there is no ‘freshness’.

I love working with people who will change direction at a reflex, find a new innuendo on the fly, react in a way not previously anticipated, respond in a flash to any change of inflection and take the scene to a whole new level.

On such a full sea are we now afloat.

More good news. I’ve just learned that Bruce Polonis is to join the Skylight team as Stage Manager. I’ve worked with Bruce before – he was the SM for the production of  ‘Proof’ that I did last year – and there is no better bloke to have back stage.

Calm, quietly efficient and apparently unflappable, it’s good to know that he will be taking care of the backstage complexities while we get on with the easy stuff!

Bruce is no mean actor himself. I saw him earlier this year playing the lead in “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” at the Wollongong Workshop Theatre. It was a memorable performance, full of energy and humour; a lot like the man himself. I’m looking forward to working with him again.

Ann Burbrook

We are just so fortunate in this company that we have so much talent in terms of the production team. With Aarne Neeme working elsewhere until the first week of June, the director’s mantle has fallen on the shoulders of Ann Burbrook, and for the actors it is an amazing experience.

Quite apart from being a wonderful actress in her own right, Annie is proving to be a dynamic, insightful and firm director who knows exactly how to draw the best out of her cast. Given that one of them is me, that is no small feat!

And she works us, hard. Not a word, not a nuance, not a movement is missed as we are led to consider every motive, every thought process that colours our individual and joint performances. I haven’t enjoyed such in depth rehearsals as this since those wonderful sessions with Buzz Goodbody at the RSC.

I have to say it is a huge privilege to be working with not just one but two fantastic directors each of whom has their finger firmly on the pulse of the play and so clearly complement each other. This is what makes working in this industry so amazing, when you are stretched to the point where you think there is nothing else you can give and the director asks for more. And you find it, with a lot of help and exploration and support. And then the real work begins!

As you can see from the photo – sorry about the quality, iPhone in poor light – the set for Skylight is now installed in the theatre and in fact we have already rehearsed in it. More about that later.

I can’t tell you how great it feels to have Kyra’s flat in place so early. Both Jacqui and I were surprised at how much space we had and also how solid the set was. Michael Godbee is not a man to do things by halves. This is a set you can lean on!

The furniture you see is not, on the whole, the stuff we will be using and of course there is yet a good deal of set dressing to be done to turn it into a home. But the basis is all there for us.

All ye in chilly rehearsal rooms round the world – eat your collective heart out :0)

The Set Takes Shape

The set for Skylight has been built, painted and is being installed in the Phoenix Theatre, Coniston, even as I write. It’s an exciting moment.

It means that we are going to be able to rehearse in the set for the next six weeks, prior to it being shipped to Canberra for the production. I don’t think I have ever had the luxury of that before. No last minute surprises, no tech hitches, can this really be happening?

The picture shows the very early stages of construction. I’ll put up more pix when the set is complete. The guy in the foreground is our producer Michael Godbee, who also was responsible for building the set.

Jacqui and I will be rehearsing in it for the first time on Sunday. Fantastic!

I’ve just been sent the the first draft of the poster for Skylight and it’s a beauty. That’s it to the left of this post. As you can see, it’s Jacqui who provides the glamour in this production against a backdrop of my study in grey.

The image will also form part of the flyer, which I’ll publish once it has been finalized.

The design was done by Ben Hawkins at Thomas Creative, a local design studio in Wollongong. Their website is at http://www.thomascreative.com.au David Thomas, of course, is the guy designing our set for us and he also took the pics for the poster.

If you would like to see the full image, including the text inserts and the performance dates, click on the link below or copy and paste it into your browser.

http://marksheridanactor.com/flyer

I have rehearsed in many strange venues including, on one occasion, a rather seedy drinking club with what appeared to be a brothel upstairs. But yesterday will go down in my book – and I suspect those of my fellow cast members  – as the strangest ever.

It wasn’t just that it was the theatre car park, or that there was an orchestra rehearsing within a few metres of us; neither was it the tap dancers strutting their stuff on the veranda, or the kids from the revivalist meeting next door who provided us with an unexpected and noisy audience. It wasn’t even the young person who wanted to know if she could join in on the grounds she ‘had done some acting’, or the bloke with the angle grinder cutting up metal pipes just outside the stage door; it was the afternoon charity group parking their cars that finally persuaded us to call it a day.

Aarne, Jacqui and Amelia, I salute you. Three solid hours of rehearsal against all the odds. Now that’s what I call professional focus!

Rehearsals are underway with Lincoln and Jacqui improvising their first scene together.

The thing about this pic is that it was taken while we were still rehearsing at the TAFE. As I write this we have moved into our new ‘home’ which I can now reveal is the under-renovation Phoenix Theatre, just outside Wollongong.

It’s not really our home of course, this is a touring company, but theatre director/manager Steen has offered it to us for the duration of our rehearsals and it certainly feels like home.

I’m stunned! For professional and time pressure reasons Lyn Wright has felt she is unable to continue with directing Skylight. Which meant Michael Godbee needed to find another director in a hurry.

Imagine how the entire cast felt when we heard that Aarne Neeme, one of Australia’s most prolific and experienced directors, has agreed to take over. (If you really don’t know who Aarne is, Google him).

My heartfelt thanks to Lyn for getting things started and I really do understand your decision. All I can say to Aarne is that I feel honoured and privileged to be working under you in my first professional theatre production since I returned to the stage. Welcome!

This little curiosity was a children’s programme for Granada Television in the UK. It was notable for me in that it was the only TV show I ever did in which I did not appear on camera. Instead I was the voice of the puppet on the left of the photo, whose name was Wriggle.

The rest of the cast are, from left to right, Susan Kodicek (puppeteer), me, Jan Harvey (who later went on to make Howards End), Alan Rothwell, Splodge the snail, Sydney Livingstone (voice of Splodge and with whom I worked at the RSC) and Ros Cerni, puppeteer.

I must say that being the voice of a hyperactive caterpillar had its moments. It was also uncanny how Susan and I managed to anticipate each other, her with the puppet movements and me with the vocal expressions. It was almost telepathic, given that neither of us could see the other. All communication was done through the puppet.

Alan Rothwell became a close friend, although I lost touch with him in the late eighties, and Jan and I were an item for a while. Nothing serious. More of a Showmance really.

Edward and Kyra

We’ve just completed our initial walk-through of the play, notable for being the first time that the entire cast was together. I can’t tell you how excited I am by what I see developing almost on a minute by minute basis, although of course not everything is plain sailing. We have yet to clear a path through ideas and motivations that appear to pull in different directions, and the all important notion of ‘trust’ has yet to be properly established.

Nevertheless, there’s no doubt in my mind about the potential in everyone, coupled with a confident certainty that Jacqui Livingston is going to prove a memorable and tantalizing ‘Kyra’.

Corin Redgrave

Today I learned for the first time that Corin Redgrave had died, aged just 70. We were at the RSC together in the Seventies.

I remember Corin not just as a very fine actor with an amazing intellect and keen wit, but also as a political mentor and comrade, in the true sense of that word. I later campaigned with another political activist who was to become his second wife – Kika Markham.

I am greatly saddened by his death. The theatre has lost an actor of immense presence and style. Humanity has lost one of the most deeply thoughtful and humane people I have ever met. I, for one, will never forget him.

Yesterday saw the start of our rehearsals for ‘Skylight’ and some very exciting news from our producer, Michael Godbee. Currently we are using a utility room at North Wollongong Tafe as a rehearsal room, but for not much longer. Later this month we move to a local theatre (name to be released soon) that we have been invited to make “our home”.

This is fantastic. What it means to us is that we have a permanent rehearsal space, but also that the set can be built at a very early stage allowing us to rehearse in it. I can’t begin to tell you the advantages of rehearsing in a fully working set! No tech or dress surprises for a start, and all the mechanics are conveniently out of the way.

photo credit: thomas brasington

Moonlighting....

I’ve had a request by email for the names of other actors who were members of Attenborough’s Private Army, the group of us who represented the 1st Airborne during filming of A Bridge Too Far. Unfortunately, the truth is I simply cannot remember all their names, although I am certain a cast list is available somewhere on the Internet. Those I do recall, other than those already mentioned, include Hilary Minster (who went on to play a key role in the British comedy ‘Allo, Allo’, Ben Cross (Chariots of Fire among others), Tony McHale (who later created the long running British soap ‘Eastenders’, and whom I saw play the same role as me in ‘See How They Run’ at the Theatre Royal, Windsor some years after the film), John Abineri’s son Daniel, David Auker, James Wardroper, David Killick, Tony Churchett, Frank Maughan, James Snell and David English, who is one of the funniest men I have ever met and who went on to found the Bunbury Cricket Club, among other things. For those others whose names I cannot now remember I apologize. I have not forgotten what you achieved.