THE PRO-FILE

ACTING IN A SERIAL (PART FOUR)

In part three of this interview Jackie Woodburne and Alan Fletcher examined the experience of living by the shooting schedule, being disciplined, learning lines and ... compromising.

In this final part of their interview they started by discussing what they perceive to be the major difficulties faced by guests actors who have to cope with serial televisions production process.

Jackie: I think the guests that come in for maybe one scene or two scenes are always the ones that are word perfect at rehearsal. With anything, that's great. It's so good when that happens. I think what is difficult is…there are about 20 of us….main cast ... in this show and you are going so fast that sometimes you forget there is a new person and they might be feeling nervous and anxious and not know everybody. They may not know where the canteen is and not know where to get scripts and you have to be a bit mindful of that. We are so locked into this groove that we sit in everyday and its very comfortable and round we go….and some else is trying to jump on. You have to kind of make a bit of space for them, don't you.

Alan: That's true. You should pull yourself up and stop and say 'Hi I'm such and such' and sit down and have a 15 minute rave with them and do all that sort of stuff but because you are flat out, you sort of give a rustic 'Hello, I'm such and such' and move on. The person sits forlornly on the couch waiting and they might wait for an hour and then they get up and do their bit and I'm sure they walk away and thinking was that alright - no one's told me. I suppose the first thing I would say to any guests is…if no one speaks to you that's a positive sign.

Jackie: I have had several of the young kids who have been on the show for a short length of time say 'No-one has said anything to me. Am I doing all right? Is it awful? Am I being OK, because no one has said a word to me'. They haven't said 'change it' or 'its going really well' or 'you need to work on this area'. Not a word.

And again I don't know that the speed of this show is an excuse for that because I think we all need to hear whether we need to improve, or sometimes a pat on the back is very nice but…

Alan: But you don't get a lot of that on television and it maybe something to do with the fact that every body else is going at the same speed as you are.

Jackie: I am sure it is.

Richard: Its not nice though, is it? It could be better.

Jackie: I think it could be better. For the young kids, absolutely. I think they need a bit of confidence building in the early days.

Alan: I was just thinking, one other piece of advice I suppose you could offer to a guest is - that when you are preparing for a small appearance in an on-going show where most of the time you are there to serve the plot, then prepare the material like you are preparing for an audition. In other words, prepare it with the propensity for change. I mean I did once see someone come in and the Director just turned round and said 'Can you do that in a Slavic accent?". (Laughter) And you saw the actress go pale. Then she rushed home that night and she rang a woman who was a Slavic greengrocer and prepared her accent and came in the next day and was terrific, but it was a big shock to her.

But she did a terrific job and the thing about being a guest that you can revel in, as an actor, is the possibility of change for yourself as a character because you know nothing about yourself. When you turn up you don't know anything. They have given you maybe a paragraph of character notes which is often irrelevant.

The other thing I would say is stand up for yourself. If you are in rehearsal and you don't feel like anyone is giving you anything in terms of how you should playing the scene, pop the hand up and say 'I just want to get something right here. I believe I am here to do this' or 'I believe that my character is feeling this at this moment' or 'this is the dynamic for my character'….is that the way everyone else sees it'. And if everyone says well actually no, we saw you pretty much as the clown then….whack the red nose on and come out with the gags, you know. But ask…ask, and get in there amongst it.

Richard: What about looking at the young people coming through, do you see patterns that you could warn people about there?

Jackie: I think in a show like this, the young ones probably get swept up by the publicity department quite a bit, which is fine, they are doing their job. But I think they get swamped not only emotionally but just in terms of time ... just logistically. A lot of time is spent doing publicity, that side of job might compromise the acting side of the job. They are both valid but you know...?

Alan: Jackie and I often talk about those young people you can recognize are definitely going to be actors in ten years time, you can pick them.

The others could easily be actors in ten years time but at some stage they will have to start making choices about what's important to them. You know when you meet an actor and you work with an actor…you know if acting is actually important to them. Or if peripheral things to do with acting like fame or money are more important. Everyone finds themselves as they go through their career and they all change and people become different and anyone of the young people we've seen go through Neighbours could easily go on and build a wonderful professional career. I think some of them display a love of acting early, whereas others seem to find acting pretty easy after a short period of time and they have more interest in the peripherals. They will probably change, I mean a couple of years of unemployment changes everyone's perspective of these things.

Jackie: That's right. But it is understandable. I mean it is incredibly seductive as a young person I would imagine to coming into this with no experience. You earn good money, more than you would ever thought you would earn…invited to exciting places….so you can't really blame the young person for becoming, you know...?

Alan: Though the whole time we've been on Neighbours I can't think of anybody who has gone of the rails…despite all that seductiveness. But we have seen it on other shows, where you know, the cast almost gets torn apart by internal jealousies and things that have nothing to do with being actors…they are to do with being personalities. I think the fact that we have got a really balanced cast…a really sensible cast ...

Jackie: This is really a very, very grounded cast I would say, in my experience, and very down to earth and very…

Alan: They are a bunch of dags really.

Jackie: Pretty much, yes, yes.

Richard: There are other stresses and strains. I have heard stories though … some people even fall asleep in the bath.

Jackie: I have nodded off at the traffic lights driving home Alan: Same here. I did it this morning on the way to work. Jackie: If you have a huge week ... Friday ... driving home, I have been beeped because I have just done the nod off at the wheel thing ... at a set of traffic lights, that's scary.

Alan: People fall asleep in make up chairs. When the make up is actually being applied to their face … you will observe people asleep. It is a hard thing. It's the whole business of keeping fit and eating light. It is very easy to go for the sugary foods to keep your energy up.
Richard: How many weeks a year do you work.

Jackie: Well, we only have a four week production break at Christmas but a lot of us have a extra few weeks out during the year and we tend to take a break in July/August for a couple of weeks.

Richard: So you have six to eight weeks a year.

Jackie: Yes, yes.

Alan: Spread out throughout.

Richard: What are the bonuses?

Jackie: You get to do what you love every day. That's the main bonus. I mean you are a working actor. That's it.

Alan: You earn good money. You have the opportunity of working with a large number of people, a large number of Directors. But the thing I love most about this job is that one day you will be playing high tragedy and the next day will be high comedy.

Jackie: That's right, yes

Alan: So basically you are doing six jobs a year. Then if you can have the luxury of going off and doing a little play and any other type of work you can get your hands on to keep yourself invigorated and fresh then it is the best job you can have in the world. I mean I have always considered that this is one of the best jobs I have ever had.

So here ends the Jackie and Alan double act. The Rehearsal Room wishes to thank them both for the insights they have shared and the time they gave to make this interview possible.

<< GO TO PART THREE