You can take the ....

You can take the man out of the theatre but you can't- well, you know the rest. Guess that sums me up. Twenty years ago I became disenchanted with the theatre and bowed out, turning my attention to radio. Great escape, Al. When one is not six feet tall or own a "Summer Bay" body, but has the perfect face for radio - that's your cliche for the day - and acting jobs don't come; go gracefully. Wrong! Theatre and the acting side of it is like a disease that is supposdedly cured but lies dormant in the body, ready to strike again. AWA - via 2CH invested time and talent ( Roger Pettit, John Pearce, Howard Craven, Len london, Stuart Jay and Tony Featherstone) to teach me the skills of radio. Max Rowley invited me to learn the skills of Coarse Acting, sorry to say, Improv was not an option then. I loved my time behind the mike amnd felt really settled - yet, there was that little nagging yearning for live performance It was a by chance unpaid gig on local(Orange NSW) radio, writing a script and getting to play one of the parts; coupled with another unpaid role, again on radio; that the old feelings began to stir. Bathurst Theatre Company invited me to play the part of a newsreader (voice only) in its production of Aliens, by Louis Nowra. Next up, an audition for a part in Tay Harding's Asparagus - a play, set in the present and 1940s about a Bathurst family, who through generations get to meet and/or cross swords with Ben Chifley, Dymphana Cusack, Gordn Edgell, Miles Franklin, Xavier Herbert, just to name a few. I scored the role(s) of Drummond, Minister for Education 1939 and Gordon Edgell of cannery fame. I knew from day one that I'd never be a hunky piece of girl-bait and that character acting was for me. I developed an ear for accents and enjoy letting them loose.I am who I am and if I can secure a role, that brings a laughter and some joy to just one, my race is won. Horses for Courses - your second and last cliche. So, here I go again. Oil the joints, learn the lines and skills and new techniques and it looks like a fun journey once more. I'm happy to be back.