THE PRO-FILE

SERIAL TELEVISION (Part Four)

	PANTO'S and THE FUTURE In Part Four of this interview Jonathon Dutton discusses his experiences in pantomime. Because of their exposure on English television Neighbours actors can get the opportunity to appear in the Christmas panto's that are a regular part of the British theatre calender. He also talks about his plans for the future.
Photo © Alan Fletcher

Jonathon: Oh … panto's a whole world of its own. First of all I had never done theatre before. Never been on stage. So the best thing for me was learning about hitting marks; what kind of things are expected of you in theatre; what to do and what not to do; how to be big enough and how to use your voice properly.

Richard: Were you mic'ed?

Jonathon: Yeah, we were. But they were big theatres so you still had to project to get to the back. But if I hadn't been mic'ed I'd have been screwed coming straight out of Neighbours. And … your used to playing for television which is small and so you think you are being big but then you watch it back, when they have a recorded version, you go "Jeez! I see what they were saying."

It's a whole different world. It's very intense. You do six weeks with these people and your in one town where the only people you know are from the panto. And you spend every day and every night with them. It's an incredible experience. And on top of that you are doing two shows a day.

Your hold world goes out of sync. You are getting up at midday and doing your first show at 2.30pm and doing your second show 7.30pm, finishing at 10.30pm, but then you are so fired up that you don't usually go to bed until 2 or 3 in the morning and then you get up and do the next show. And that's your life for a month and a half.

Richard: So it's hard work? When you came back to Australia what happened?

Jonathon: I traveled around Europe before I came home. I did that between jobs too. That's the main reason I wanted to go over there. But I had to find a place and settle back into Australia and obviously go for auditions as well. I had a few auditions. I got a guest role on Blue Heelers and a week on MDA and that's all I've had since I got back at the end of April. In May I didn't have an audition - there was nothing around. I did Blue Heelers at the end of June and MDA in August.

Richard: So that's two weeks work between April and mid-August?

Jonathon: Well actually it's since the panto in February. So, effectively it's in six months. You can see why parents get concerned about their kids saying, "I want to be an actor."

Richard: So what plan's do you have now? Or are you just waiting to see what's happening?

Jonathon: There are areas I want to work in. A specific goal is trying to get theatre experience. I want to keep on with my voice work. And I want to go back to London. I have an acting coach I was seeing and I would like to see him again. And I would like to keep writing and I would like to shoot a short film.

Richard: Are your explorations into short film about developing your skills as an actor, or is it about developing you as a director or a writer?

Jonathon: A bit of both. It's an interest. I really enjoy the process. But I think it is a good thing for an actor to know about the whole process of putting a project together rather than just coming in and doing the acting. But it's also just for fun. Who knows where that will take me? There are also a couple of little business ideas I keep working on so hopefully I can do something with that as well.

Richard: Good luck.

Many thanks to Jonathon Dutton.