Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actor who left teaching art in Australia to train at the Old Vic and made his professional debut with the Young Vic.
On the island
Eight records
She Stoops to Conquer
Night of the Burning Pistol
Abelard and Eloise
Don Quixote
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:23Was there an artistic background in your family?
No, not really. My father used to encourage me to draw, 'cause he used to like drawing. Mother was [loved] poetry and things. Yes. They both … were wonderfully encouraging to me altogether.
Presenter asks
1:02How did you get an audition with the Old Vic when there was so little opportunity in Adelaide?
No, there wasn't. In fact the first proper theatre that I saw was Olivier … doing Richard the Third and I decided then that I would be an actor. But I'd done a lot of amateur work and radio work … and saved up some money to come over here.
Presenter asks
4:48You could have stayed on at the Old Vic and eventually had a go at the big parts like Hamlet and Macbeth. Why didn't you?
By then I'd done Yerma in London for eighteen months. And it was either that or Dima in New York … I think you can get awfully set and in a rut with Shakespeare if you're not very careful. And there's something more stimulating about working in the commercial theatre.
Presenter asks
7:14This play 'Abelard and Eloise' has had a lot of sensational publicity. Isn't that bringing the wrong kind of public?
No, the nice thing about that is … we are getting people who are coming just to see this scene. But they are being converted to the live theatre. I don't think otherwise they would be there at all.
Presenter asks
8:06Painting was your first love. How many one-man shows have you had in London?
I've had three here in London, all with the Whibley Gallery. … in fact they started me off painting again. It was while I was doing [a show] and found I had my days free … they said, 'If you ever want to have an exhibition then let us know' … Jenny and I got a boat to Jamaica, and I painted for four months and came back with these pictures literally under my arm.
“The first proper theatre that I saw was was Olivier … doing Richard the Third and I decided then that I would be an actor.”
“I think you can get awfully set and and in a rut with Shakespeare if you're not very careful. And there's something more stimulating about working in the commercial theatre.”
“They are being converted to the to the live theatre. I don't think otherwise they would be there at all.”
“It was what started off as a self-portrait developed into the first series I've done. There's about twenty of them, all quite large, based on the show and on the Cervantes novel.”