Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A dancer, choreographer, actor and director, best known as the director of the Australian Ballet.
On the island
Eight records
In conversation
Presenter asks
4:06You were brought up pretty far from theatres and concert halls. Yet as a small boy you began to have this thing about performing. How did that start?
Well my mother was a frustrated actress, I think. I think she'd have been a wonderful actress and she used to as I was a sort of captive audience, even when I was in in uh my cradle, she used to recite Shakespeare to me. And it's a curious thing, uh c I suppose because I was a child, uh my favorite was uh quality of mercy and she had uh clothes that she used to wear at amateur things and because it was red, I suppose that was it. But it was very funny that uh years later when I played Shylock with Catherine Hepburn, when it she got to the quality of mercy, she always turned into my mother. I could never explain why, but I always could see my mother and not Kate.
Presenter asks
7:24Who were the stars you worked with in musical comedy?
Oh, Gladys Moncrieff, who was one of the great stars. Oh, everybody, everybody who came to Australia, I worked with them. I did everything. I was in about five productions of The Merry Widow and The Belle of New York and Katinka and The Desert Song and Rosemary, you name it, I was in it.
Presenter asks
8:35So you were dancing in this endless series of musical comedies in Australia. What was the next step forward?
The keepsakes
The book
Well, if I could have my choice, and if there was such a book, I would like Boat Building for Beginners. I'm sure there must be such a book.
The luxury
as I spend most of my life at the dentist, I take a lot of toothbrushes and some toothpaste.
Well, the next step was that Margaret Rawlings came to Australia to play in the barracks of Wimpole Street. And I was appearing in a pantomime, Sinbad the Sailor, and she came with her husband, Gabriel Toyne, to see a performance. And she said I met her afterwards and she said, Have you had ballet training? And I said, Yes, I've been with the Pablo Bucky. And she said, Oh, well, it's fascinating. Why don't you go to England? There's no ballet here. And I said, Oh, well, I just um earning my living here. So finally, when she and her husband left, I came on the ship with them. Now, she said, A girl who arranged my dances when I played Salome at the gate, is starting a company at Sadler's Wells. She's called Nignette de Valois. You better go and see her. Now I thought, Sadler's Wells, I don't want to go into the provinces. I thought it was Tunbridge Wells. So I didn't go for days. And then suddenly I realized that here was a ballet company. And so of course I went and saw Nignette.
Presenter asks
10:17Did Madame de Valois sort you out a bit? Or was it very tough training?
Yes, tough. She sent me to because she was marvellous. In fact, Whatever I may have achieved in my career, she was completely responsible for. She sent me to Kasavna to learn mimes, she sent me to Sambretta to learn she she was absolutely miraculous with me. In fact, she groomed me to take Anton Dollin's place.
Presenter asks
24:28Is it true that before you directed Madame Butterfly, your first opera, you took a few months off to learn to read a score?
Yes, because you see. In opera the the conductor is the captain. In the ballet the conductor has to follow the dancer. But in the opera what the conductor says goes. And this I knew and I thought I'm not going to be put in the position of having somebody turn round to me and say, Of course, Shudo, you're not a musician. How can you possibly know? So I took time off to learn how to read a score. Very, very roughly, but at least I knew where I was. A very useful asset, I should think. Oh, it's turned out to be. Absolutely invaluable.
Presenter asks
27:40If you could take only one disc of the eight, which would it be?
Oh dear I think songs of the event. Yeah.
“I always could see my mother and not Kate.”
“I never know why, but by the time it dawned on me, how did he get into her dressing room?”
“Whatever I may have achieved in my career, she was completely responsible for.”
“I said, Miss Veilis, she said, Now getting down to money, dear and I said, I don't want any more. And I think she nearly had a stroke.”
“I would like Boat Building for Beginners.”