THE PRO-FILE

SERIAL TELEVISION (PART ONE)

	Jonathon Dutton's first professional acting job was on 'Neighbours'. Ultimately he became a regular cast member playing the character of 'Tad'. Now having moved on to pastures new, he is appearing in Sit Coms in the UK. In this interview, the first in a series of four parts, he discusses the experience of starting out on 'Neighbours'.
Photo © Alan Fletcher

Richard: Neighbours was really your first big gig. Had you done anything before then?

Jonathon: Before the guest role I did with you? No.

Richard: I remember that day quite well. You played a boy scout. I remember thinking, "This boy is quite good. He's better than some of the regular cast members and he hasn't done it before."

Jonathon: Oh, no! Not in hindsight. I remember watching it again with Ian Smith and Jansen about two years ago and there was that bit where I had to see a kangaroo and go "What! Where!" … and it was terrible. But apart from that, I had a guest role on Blue Heelers, a guest role on Thunderstone and then my regular role on Neighbours - other than a few commercials.

Richard: So, that first scene you did with me, that was your first gig?

Jonathon: That was my first television shot.

Richard: So, what was that experience like?

Jonathon: It's actually quite hard to remember, because it was so long ago and I was so young.

Richard: How old were you?

Jonathon: I would have been …? I started Neighbours when I was sixteen and it would have been exactly a year before that. So I would have been either just about to turn fifteen or just turned fifteen.

Richard: So, what do you remember about the experience?

Jonathon: Just being completely gob smacked by the whole sort of process … you know having seen these people on TV it's very very daunting for a fifteen year old boy to be working with them, I can tell you. But I also remember because I had been doing these workshops in front of the camera for two years before that … I remember feeling quite comfortable in front of the camera. That was a big plus I had.

Richard: Because you had been seeing yourself on the screen previously?

Jonathon: Yeah. But the speed at which it was done and the amount of work that had to be done in a day - that was what was really challenging.

Richard: It was a big day with that terrible fall over the cliff to do. I remember that. (Laughs)

Jonathon: Yeah, with the stunt double that wasn't the same skin colour as me. Very funny. I can't really say much more than that because my memory is a bit vague.

Richard: OK. But there were no difficulties remembering lines?

Jonathon: Umm … I learnt them so well. I spent a week looking at them every day 'cause I didn't want to muck the lines up because I felt it would look so bad and I didn't want to be embarrassed. I don't think I did muck up any lines …

Richard: Then a year later you were offered an audition for a regular part or did they just offer the part directly to you?

Jonathon: Actually I auditioned for a role for a character called Denny Cook and I got it. It was an on going role. But what happened was .. it was to play along side Jansen. But Jansen got glandular fever. And so they called me and said "We can't go ahead with the role because your character needs Jansen's character." So they re-wrote the whole story line and they wrote it for a girl to play opposite Rebecca Ritters. So, I had told all my friends that I was starting Neighbours on the Monday then I got a call two days later to say I hadn't got it. I was devastated.

Richard: Of course.

Jonathon: But then four months later the role of Tad came up. Jan asked me to come and audition for it and I got it.

Richard: So you had that 'green light', 'red light' experience?

Jonathon: Unbelievably disappointing that. I was absolutely shattered.

Richard: But that's very real isn't it? And those sorts of issues continue. You can never guarantee you've got the project until you have signed the contract and you are up there doing it.

Jonathon: I learnt never to take anything for granted in this industry. So that was a very valuable lesson to learn early up.

Richard: Once you got the role of Tad and you were doing regular scenes what were the challenges there?

Jonathon: The amount of lines is so tough.

Richard: Yes. You had taken a week to learn that first scene as a guest.

Jonathon: Yeah, that's right. But I was getting better at learning lines because I was still doing the workshops. But still, the amount of lines was … like … huge.

Richard: How many scenes were you doing a day?

Jonathon: I was actually speaking to David Myles, recently. He directed my first block when I started. And he couldn't believe I had been given so many scenes. I think I had about fifteen in the first week in studio. I had started on location the week before but I had fifteen for my first week in the studio.

Richard: They dropped you in the deep end?

Jonathon: Oh, yeah. I couldn't do my school work - I had to juggle all that as well. Fortunately I had an hour and a half cab ride to work every day so I could learn my lines then.

Richard: You basically learnt your lines in the cab?

Jonathon: Well, no. I learnt them all the time. When I wasn't on the set I was learning lines.

Richard: So, basically in your studio scenes that week you had about five scenes a day? If they were evenly spread which they never are.

Jonathon: Yeah! Probably more like nine on one day and two on the other two days. It was a lot. It WAS A LOT! Once again working with all these actors that I had seen on television before was very daunting because you don't feel like you should be there. I guess that was my mind set … that is "I don't actually belong here." I am not worthy of working with such actors because I didn't see myself in that light. And it wasn't until about three months after being on air, that I went "Oh, actually I can, sort of hold my own." That's when the confidence started to come and when that happens you can go to the next level. You can start doing more things with the character and talking to the writers and having more faith in your own thoughts. So then you can say "Look I am not really sure about this. I wouldn't mind changing this line." I wouldn't have done anything like that in the first six months because I didn't feel like I was … you know …

Richard: Permitted to contribute.

Jonathon: Yeah. I still felt like I was on dangerous ground. That's probably not a bad thing for a fifteen-year-old kid to do anyway. It probably would have been frowned upon if I had come in all guns blazing.

Richard: I suspect that most people would come in the way you did, which is uncertainly … everyone else being so experienced; it's their territory - so you defer to that.

Jonathon: Yeah. And it takes a long time to crack onto it being your territory as well, especially it being such a long running show.

Jonathon's next interview explores the changes that occur to the performance process over a long run. He examines such questions as the productive and unprodcutive aspects of self confidence.

GO TO PART TWO >>