The last time I turned up to work on a Saturday morning was back in high school when I did a weekly pocket-money stint at Coles in my hometown. This week has been broken a bit by public holidays, and so we finished the first of what constituted the rehearsal week on Saturday; it felt
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In the course of their careers, actors get to experience a wonderfully eclectic range of characters and human behaviors. We investigate the way people think and act, and have the often-daunting task of giving life to a character who seems light years away from our own understanding and experience of life.
Continue reading ...A new production begins – rehearsals get underway today – just after Christmas for QTC’s first production in Season 2016: QUARTET by Ronald Harwood. I’m delighted to be tackling the role of Jean Horton – diva extraordinare – and sharing the stage with some terrific Australian actors. Here we go!
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One of the more satisfying creative projects I devised when training actors was an extended exercise which I called Flying Solo. This was designed to give student actors the opportunity to devise, author and perform a one-person showcase for their talents. The experience of creating a piece of theatre from the ground up has a few advantages for those
Continue reading ...Good casting and a supportive creative team make directing almost a breeze.
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An image a day and a tweet or quote a day to sum up the passage of the next 10 weeks as I rehearse and perform in La Boite Theatre Company’s production of As You Like It by William Shakespeare. I get to play Duke Senior, father to Rosalind. This should be fun and a
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Quite without planning it, I found myself live-tweeting on the opening night of a recent production of Secret Bridesmaids’ Business by Elizabeth Coleman (for Toowoomba’s Empire Theatre). I happened to be in my dressing-room doing a final email check of best wishes and ‘Chookas‘ when the Stage Manager gave the company stand-by call for beginners.
Continue reading ...My role in the Empire Theatre Projects’ Company production of Secret Bridesmaids’ Business is a first in one respect. It’s the first on which I’ve gone entirely digital for script markup and lines-learning. I’m using my iPad 1.0. My apps of choice in the process have been Good Reader ($) and Rehearsal 2.0 ($) It’s
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As months go, March was rather special. It marked the ending of a significant period in my life’s adventures. I ended my tenure as Chairman of the Board at Queensland Theatre Company. Despite one or two little pangs, it felt absolutely right to be going now after nearly 8 years in the job and two
Continue reading ...The terrific iPhone and iPod Touch apps just keep coming, and this one is just in time for gifting during the holiday season. I had an email out of the blue this morning from a developer, John Parron. John contacted me to see if I’d take his creation ActorsRéz (for resumé) for a run. He’d seen
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