THE PRO-FILE

SERIAL TELEVISION (Part Three)

	THE SIT COM EXPERIENCE After approximately five years on Neighbours, Jonathon Dutton made a new beginning on an English sit-com, "Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps". In Part Three of this interview he discusses the challenges of a new production routine and a new shooting process. To start, I asked him, "What was your first day like?
Photo © Alan Fletcher

Jonathon: It was very different. Comedy is very very different.

It was just getting used to different styles and realizing that Neighbours is a very different style of its own. New directors, new cast. More rehearsal time. I really enjoyed more rehearsal time because there was more attention to detail and you could ask questions about every line and you could speak to the directors about everything. Though that was in the studio. On location it was very similar to Neighbours

Richard: Define some of the other differences?

Jonathon: Well, instead of just playing the drama and the reality you also have to find the comedy in a moment, which is quite difficult to do when you have come out of something where all you have to do is be believable. I think comedy is about finding realistic situations funny. But when do you tweak it for comedy value. Of course on location you don't have a studio audience, so you don't know whether you are being funny or not. So you just have to go with it.. The crew, of course, laugh on the first round but then of course they are silent - so it's like you are doing a Neighbours sceene except that you are being a goose.

So it was a bit of an adjustment but the beauty of doing Neighbours for three and a half years was that the basics were all the same. Essentially it worked the same way. I knew how to talk the talk of the television world. When someone says, "Look after yourself," then I knew how to look after myself. When someone says, "Can you watch that light or hit that mark?" then I knew how to do all of that. That's where Neighbours has been absolutely invaluable. You don't really realize the skills you have acquired until you leave and start working with actors who are fresh out of drama school - you suddenly realize how much knowledge you do have of how it all works.

Richard: Are you talking about Australian actors who have just come out of drama school?

Jonathon: All of them. In the UK, drama students graduate knowing nothing about television. I think, NIDA does two weeks … a two week course and that's it. So I realized how valuable that time was. But then you still have so many differences you have to take on board, it is very different to Neighbours and Neighbours was very much one style. You lose perspective as a result of that.

One of the main things I concentrated on doing when I did the sit-com was to try and change the style. I tried to make it very different and I think that was a disadvantage at times because I think I tried too hard to be different and as a result I over compensated and lost what I was really trying to do. And that was to play the reality and the comedy. When I watched it afterwards I went, "Gee!!!" - I really lost a lot of perspective on it. I am quite looking forward to going back and sinking my teeth into another series.

Richard: Your going back to do another series of the same show?

Jonathon: I am doing two episodes of the same show. And then six episodes of a whole new show which is a better character for me, too.

Richard: So, when you were shooting you were performing in front of a studio audience which was something which you weren't used to?

Jonathon: Yeah, yeah … oh … that's a whole new experience.

Richard: Scary.

Jonathon: Very. It's like doing a theatre show. The tricky thing is that you have got to know all your lines because you can't muck it up too much because the audience gets bored and they don't find it funny the second time round so the laughs aren't as good. So you have to get it right straight away. But then if you muck up … you have to keep the audience interested so it's encouraged to play up to them so they laugh at you but you have to be careful not to play up too much because then they'll find you funnier than the show. And also you can get distracted from what you have to do. So there's a whole lot of things you have to balance when working with a studio audience. Plus you have to be so exact. Word for word - or they come down on you and say do it again. That's how well rehearsed it is.

Richard: So how long had you been rehearsing before you hit your studio audience?

Jonathon: A week. You go in Monday and you're there all week rehearsing. Then on the Friday you do the show … Friday night. So you've got a lot of time - it's only half an hour of television - which is good.

Richard: How many runs of the show do you do?

Jonathon: They want to get two good versions of each scene - if they can. So the audience is seeing each scene twice. You have been rehearsing all day so you go straight on and record the first one. Then you record a second one and they will pick things up if they have to. They try and keep it pretty tight so the audience doesn't lose perspective on the story - if they lose the story it becomes quite boring. But it's usally two hours. That's it. It's very tight.

They show the location scenes in between while they are moving all the cameras from one set to the next. When they have done that scene they move everything back and shoot the next one. It's very well organized. I did nine episodes out of the ten of this series. And then I did some pantomime.

Richard: So what's it like doing pantos?

Jonathon: Oh … panto is a whole world of its own.

In Part four of this Interview Jon discusses his pantomime experiences and his plans for the future.