Theatre
PRINCE UNLEASHED Traverse Theatre. Edinburgh Fri 17—Sat 18 Mar. then touring
O... ‘H i ’ "" .11 H where I‘ve made a mistake, and sat in the dressing l ' w v .‘ ' . .. , :"f room and thought, “Fuck, I‘ve got to go back on now.“ : ~ " 2' l . w " 7 In this show, you’ve just gotta fuckin‘ move on. I put a " " . ' ' " .1' il“ :'l 13:.“ SWEENEY TODD note on my mirror in my dressing room saying, “You‘re ' . t " i l in : .i ' 1' Theatre Roi/3L Glasgow MO” 20-55“ 25 Mar going to make mistakes." Sometimes when you go . : w i ' " 1:" ’ l r l . . back to your dressing room and think about a mistake, "- " :I i 2. i We live, of course, in the era of labour market flexibility. it drops the energy, you know? In this show there‘s no :' 1 r: i . l a". “ " Few people over the last generation have kept the time for that to happen, so that‘s good,’ he says. : . 2 . . l " " i 1' a: same job from school leaver to retirement. Perhaps the But how does he think of his career launch pad in : :' a ' -' , . 1 ‘.l v i r
greatest advertisement for this form of endless career reinvention is Jason Donovan. From Neighbours teen idol to pop star to West End actor, Donovan‘s two- decade career span has seen many a change.
His latest assignment is John Doyle‘s production of Sweeney Todd, a piece that converted its director from well-respected professional to the toast of Broadway. This version of the melodramatic tale of the demon barber of Fleet Street, with all its folkloric gore created a legendary kind of total theatre, exploring the limits of performance through exploitation of all the performers‘ skills, from musicianship and singing, through movement and on to straight acting.
But how does the Melbourne boy made good handle the notoriously rigorous demands of this performance style? With a phlegmatic kind of energy, it seems: ‘Once you‘re on you‘re in it, there‘s no time for reflection.‘ Donovan tells me. ‘There‘s many a time
Neighbours many years on? ‘I don‘t think of it as anything but a help,‘ he assures me. ‘Only other people look at me and ask, “Was it a help or a hindrance?" Ill look back at my career, which has been very diverse, there's some things I‘ve done right and some things I‘ve done wrong, but 99% of actors would give their right arm to have experienced what I‘ve experienced, and essentially that‘s come from Neighbours. Does that make me unhappy? No at all. It gave me a lot of opportunities to move in different directions.‘
Donovan goes on to tell me that he‘s about to lead in a production of Festen in Melbourne, another astonishing exercise in career contrasts. ‘It‘s certainly an ideal combination of the two shows. I‘m not that apprehensive about Festen, actually, and after you see this show, you‘ll know why. This one‘s like climbing a mountain with roller blades on,‘ he says. Labour market flexibility? He‘s had it for breakfast. (Steve Cramer)
THE 'rALéNTE'D MR RIPLEY Dundee Rep, until Sat 25 Mar .000
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88 THE LIST "