What’s your Playback story?
In the very dim past I remember going to a Playback Theatre show back when The Drama Action Centre was operating at Callan Park, Rozelle. I didn’t know what to expect but I do remember that it stirred something profound in me. I think for a lot of people, Playback Theatre seems impossible, almost magical. How do they remember the story? How do they know what to do and say? The experience prompted me to get into acting and I was involved with D’arned Sock Theatre Company mainly presenting Shakespeare productions which required endless rehearsals which was absolutely a wonderful experience but something was missing. I thought about the spontaneity of Playback Theatre and so decided to audition and the rest is history – about 18 years of history!
Has any particular show stayed with you?
We were doing a show in Western Sydney and I was chosen to play an indigenous Uncle. I wasn’t quite sure how to play it. It can be daunting to be chosen to play someone that is/ was real to the teller and the anxiety is to play it truthfully. In this particular story I was impressed by how glowingly the teller recounted the story of his Uncle. Somehow I used some element of what I heard and performed a wise old man – well my interpretation of a wise man. After we performed the story the teller was visibly moved and told me that somehow I had said and done things which he hadn’t mentioned but I had somehow channelled. That sent shivers up my spine. Maybe I had!
And your other passions?
I really love the musician role in Playback. I love making up songs and accompanying the actors. It also allows me to act like a director injecting a narrative here, an emotional tone there. I also love Commedia dell’arte, my work with the elderly in residential facilities as a Play-up! Valet, and I love art.
What does Playback Theatre offer?
I love a recent post on our Playback Facebook page – “The shortest distance between two people is a story” . That’s what Playback has to offer – connection through this mysterious thing called a story. We all have one – we are unique and yet we are all the same. And as an actor it offers me the opportunity to be surprised. I need to be both rehearsed for everything and yet know absolutely nothing! Thank heavens for the experience of Shakespeare! It is exciting to arrive at a theatrical piece which honours a person’s personal story. If and when you get it – it really does send a shiver up the spine!