The actor

I sat today watching Mark Richardson and Katrina Evans rehearse for Nostalgia is Dead. This is a new experience for me, writing a play. I have worked with actors before during my time as a film and video artist, but acting for theatre requires a different sensibility. Initially I was interested in observing how they would portray the characters that I presented to them and project them for a live audience. That interest was soon dispelled when a strange feeling came over me. Watching them rehearse I came to realise that they were taking my characters away from me. I had flashes in my mind of what they might look like and have even heard them speak. In a sense, I was close to them but their transcendence in to reality was the moment at which I felt them slip away.

 For a short while I was struck with a sense of loss as they began to feel like strangers to me, but by the third or fourth run through (on day one) something incredible happened. Both Katrina and Mark became the characters, but not the ones that I conceived. Just as my own life and experiences informed their realisation, so to have the life experiences of the actors informed their interpretations. In a sense, it was a cross fertilisation of experiences and perceptions that resulted in the two central characters. Although they are now strangers to me, I find them utterly compelling. This is the craft of the actor.