Back Again! Joyful & Triumphant take 2
Three Actors return as cast members, this time playing different roles, in Joyful & Triumphant – together with their original scripts! Jane Waddell, Catherine Downes, Michele Amas
How do you feel about being back working together on Joyful & Triumphant?
JANE
It’s a privilege to be working on this marvellous script again with Michele and Cath – and of course, our director, Susan Wilson. The premiere was a bitter-sweet experience as Robert died just prior to the beginning of rehearsals. His presence was almost palpable as we worked to bring his final and finest work to life. It was a very special production and it had a long life after the initial season at Circa’s original Harris Street premises. We toured the play around New Zealand, we played seasons in Sydney, Adelaide and London before returning to Circa for a final season in 1997.
CATHERINE
Very privileged – and it’s fun!
MICHELE
It is such a rare thing to be able to work on a production again 25 years after its first season and to share that with some of the original cast members is really special. Loving it.
You are of course playing different roles this time, since the previous production was in 1992, Is it a temptation to play your current roles similar to how it was done the first time by the original actors?
JANE
I played the hapless Rose in the premiere production. Her journey through the decades is beautifully charted – as are the journeys of each character. This time, I’ve moved up a generation, along with Michele and Cath. I play Mum – Lyla Bishop and although I could hear Judie Douglass’s voice in the first couple of weeks of rehearsal, I’m now at the point where I’m making the role my own.
CATHERINE
No. I loved Dottie McKegg very much and I hear her voice loudly in my heart – ‘You are a beautiful actress darling Cathy and must you must create your own Alice. No, No, No, darling! Do it new.’
MICHELE
Its impossible not to hear the tone and delivery of the previous actor’s performance as we performed the show over 200 times. But it’s like revisiting a long lost friend. The idea is to create your own version of the role but it can’t help but be layered with echoes from its inception that’s for sure.
What was the most memorable moments during the last production?
JANE
I have many memories of touring – I recall an incident in Adelaide when Grant, who played Dad and also designed the set, was up a ladder adjusting the picture rail – he came down from the ladder, took a step backwards to check his handiwork and fell off the stage. He was carted off to hospital in an ambulance without any of us knowing what kind of injuries he’d sustained. He arrived back at theatre in time for our opening performance, in a wheelchair – but right on cue, he made his first entrance (on his feet) and turned in a bravura performance. He was such a trouper.
I also remember Dottie McKegg and Judie Douglass in the dressing room – they were always early to the theatre. Dottie would be sitting at her place, dressed and made up, including her hat, smoking a cigarette and doing a crossword. She used to look at Cath and Michele and me and say – ‘Oh you young things, with your lovely firm arms!’ That’ll be my line this time round!
CATHERINE
Dottie McKegg’s Alice!!
MICHELE
Being part of the Bishop family, touring around the country and overseas. The best thing for me was the way the play expanded and took off in ways we could never have imagined. When we realised how popular it was, we knew we were working on a classic that would run and run and would never date- that was thrilling
It must be exciting re-visiting this work and to be working together again but also with new cast members.
JANE
It’s a joy to be playing opposite Peter Hambleton, as George Bishop, the patriarch. It’s also a great pleasure to be working with Gavin again – in a straight role, rather than as the Panto Dame, in which he is, of course splendid. But he’s such a fine ‘straight’ actor and I’m delighted he’s playing my slightly shifty son. Kathy McCrae is a fantastically truthful Brenda, my daughter-in-law. I never meet my granddaughter, Raewyn – this time played by the very accomplished Lyndee-Jane Rutherford. And of course, it’s an absolute pleasure to have the impeccable Michele Amas as my daughter, Rose, this time round – and Catherine Downes as my irrepressible neighbour, Alice Warner.
CATHERINE
Yes. Loving the new creativity and the profound heritage we have shared, and are sharing again.
MICHELE
It must be scary for the new cast members to fit into the Bishop household. Hopefully the original inhabitants are generous enough to allow for fresh interpretations and room at the table for Christmas dinner – (and we are)
Why is it that you are doing this play again?
JANE
Who would say no to the opportunity to be a part of this timeless play about us – with another exceptional cast.
CATHERINE
It’s a bloody good play with very rewarding roles!
MICHELE
This play sold out when we first did it, what it says about the New Zealand family on a social, political and historical level is pure gold. Robert Lords insight into what makes us tick is excruciatingly accurate. And it’s really, really funny. That dry kiwi sense of humour is laced throughout the play and is instantly recognisable