 |
| Hugh Parker |
 |
| Rhys Muldoon |
When you've starred in everything from
House Husbands to
Play School having people come up and interrupt you during a chat is almost certainly an occupational hazard, an irritation. Let me tell you, however, in the unlikely event that Rhys Muldoon happens to butt in on your chat, the feeling is not reciprocated. I know this because it happened today. Drama Teen and I were interviewing
Queensland Theatre's artistic director Sam Strong about the 2018 program when up rocked Rhys. He will star as Isaac Newton in David Williamson's new play
Nearer The Gods in October. He's greatly looking forward to portraying Newton "an utter bastard" but that's not what he was chomping at the bit to talk about. He was desperately interested in
The Longest Minute about the 2015 NRL Grand Final where the Cowboys beat the Broncos 17-16 thanks to a Johnathan Thurston field goal. Rhys outed me immediately as a
 |
| David Williamson |
non-football fan. Clearly this is because he's an actor and I am not. That was the second surprise of the afternoon. The first surprise came just before we hit the record button on our
interview with Australia's most prolific and successful playwright David Williamson. Fan boy Oliver brought out a copy of
The Club for Williamson to sign. It turns out that two of Williamson's sons had to study
The Club at school. Class mates were less than impressed with the unfair advantage this would give them. Williamson decided that if his son was going to be targeted he might as well get the inside knowledge. He sat him down and told him everything about the play which was duly reproduced on the HSC paper. It was the only piece of assessment his son failed. Note to self. Never enlist David Williamson for homework help. If, however, you want a story featuring greatly conflicted individuals and moral ambiguity, Williamson is your man. His ability to capture an audience with a great stories showing no sign of fading and nor is his enthusiasm for his craft.
The
third interview was with Hugh Parker who will star as Richard Hannay in
The 39 Steps. I consider Hugh as one of our state's best comic actors. He says it wasn't always that way. Although he has played Hannay before in Scotland, he was better known for more serious roles before being approached by former Queensland Theatre artistic director Wesley Enoch to give comedy a go. He took to it like a duck to water and he's delighted to have a second opportunity to bring the boys' own adventure that is the
39 Steps to life again . I can't wait. And that's just the tip of the iceberg in the 2018 program. You can hear our review of the program
here.
No comments:
Post a Comment