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AUSSIETHEATRE.COM: TALKING TO THE STARS |
| A Special Interview with
Octavia Barron-Martin AussieTheatre.com's Troy Dodds catches up with one of the theatre industry's true rising actresses, Octavia Barron-Martin, who is currently starring in the Ensemble Theatre play, Losing Louis, and she's the only interviewee on AussieTheatre.com so far to mention underpants and porn. Read on....  TD: You're currently appearing in Losing Louis at the Ensemble
Theatre, what has the experience been like?OBM: I'm loving Louis at the moment. The play operates on two time levels; I'm in the 50's which is the counterpoint and backstory for the present day cast which includes the wonderful Amanda Muggleton and Andrew McFarlane. It's quite a tough role this one, she doesn't get many laughs and taking Bella and what happens to her in the play home with me some nights isn't the happiest thing. But I adore her and adore the play itself, so much heart, so much subtext, I love the English sensibility for that; the unspoken... A Hollywood producer once told me he had a plaque on his desk which read "Make me laugh, make me cry, make me come or leave me alone". Louis has all three..... no comment on the latter..... just make sure you don't miss the opening scene, like my mother did on opening night (still haven't forgiven her) and you'll see what I mean, in a tasteful Ensemble way of course. TD: You've been quite lucky in relation to doing show after show after show at the moment, what's your secret? OBM: I hadn't really stopped to think about it or pat myself on the back but.... yeah.... I've been ridiculously lucky really since my first show with Ensemble, Vincent in Brixton which was also directed by the wonderful Andrew Doyle who has directed Losing Louis. Like any actor, I can't get too comfortable though, all I try and focus on is the job I'm doing right now and making sure I do the best I can and hope that with time and patience and application and just a little chutzpah and luck and great people around me and fingers crossed and some crystals and lucky underpants, it'll mean I can keep working. TD: What's your home - film, musicals, plays or another genre? OBM: I really can't say. That's Sophie's Choice to me. If I define it, or pick a team, it means I'll not get the opportunity to do the others and it would break my heart. Being an AND, not an OR in Australia is tough, people don't know where the hell to place you. I am chomping at the bit to do more screen work, like almost every actor, but theatre has taught me more in the last two years than I learnt about acting in the preceding 23 so I would be thrilled to have to opportunity to keep learning as I go, no matter what medium.....anything short of porn...... Hold on, what was Debbie? TD: What are your thoughts on the current state of Australian theatre? OBM: Australian theatre..... I think we're in a remarkable state for the level of funding vs costs. While subsidised theatre companies in the UK get 40- 50 per cent of their sizeable budgets from Government funding bodies, last i heard, STC was getting somewhere close to seven per cent. I think it's a testimony to the tenacity of our theatre companies commercial, subsidised and fringe that each has been able to carve out a niche and survive and, at moments, flourish in a climate where expenses are so prohibitive. I just gotta applaud producers who see how difficult the circumstances are and choose to keep going and produce work, especially when they choose to ignore the option of employing an ununionised workforce which would mean the difference between paying actors the national mimimum wage of $484.40 a week with no protections versus the minimum MEAA standard of around $750 with the protections of health and safety, overtime and other basic rights of a worker in a first world country that entails. It shows that they are unwilling to compromise the dignity, safety and quality of their actors and the quality of their production. It also means they are interested in maintaining the reputation of Australian theatre as some of the best in the world by playing their part to keep good actors fed, clothed, in the industry and making them look good and making them money. Speaking as a Sydney gal, am I frustrated that theatre in Sydney isn't getting the support it deserves and getting to people outside the Sydney CBD? Hell yeah! But I honestly think the more excited we can become about our own theatre and proud of the standard of writing, production and acting that we produce for a country so small in population, the better our industry will be. We need a shot of good old pride in our work. Nothing raises profile more than word of mouth. If we can make theatre and the arts a serious part of our National Identity, something we can point to and say "that's part of being Australian", then maybe then we could think about expanding and having more than 4 professional theatre companies in Sydney. I think we deserve it. Having seen some stuff on the West End recently, we have a pretty wonderful batting average in producing great, interesting work. TD: What's the best role you've played thus far in your career? OBM: Yet again, Sophie's Choice. Each one becomes my favourite as I play them. I loved playing Lisa in Debbie Does Dallas The Musical. It was so far from what I ever dreamed I would get to play; a sexy, evil, cheerleader who belts but circumstance and the wonderful Peter Ross and Martin Kinnane just put Lisa in my lap. She was so much fun and she, with the help of Peter, taught me to just shut up and trust my instincts. Faith in your own instincts; it's the most important thing for an actor, besides adaptability, ironically. Then going from that to the STC playing Vivienne in David Williamson's Influence and having the honour of cutting my teeth in the work of one of our best, if not our best, playwrights, amazing cast and director at the Opera House and around the country with one of our foremost theatre companies. I still can't believe it happened. Vivienne was beautiful to play and that experience has gone a long way to form me as an actor. Those two together, well for today at least. Tomorrow, I'll change my mind..... TOPOL!!!! See, I've changed it already.... TD: What are your aims and goals for the future? OBM: Nothing set in stone. I'm going to head over to the UK for a while in July and just see how it goes. I'm scared as hell but life is short and I gotta just take the leap and see how I go, I may come home with my tail between my legs..... Memo to self: take lucky underpants. TD: I don't expect you to launch an attack on a past / future employer, but what's your view on the Sydney Theatre Company and their want for more funding? It seems to get a run constantly around there - do you have an opinion on it? OBM: Hmmm..... I'm all for theatre companies asking for more money. It's really hard for me to begrudge them especially when I look at the funding for other performing arts companies. I'm in awe of Sandra Bates and everyone at Ensemble Theatre for maintaining a professional theatre company with NO GOVERNMENT FUNDING.... Wow... As much as I'm pouting that I'm not part of the new STC Actors' Company, I'm ecstatic that finally, a theatre company has the funding to support a company the way a subsidised dance company or orchestra or opera company has been able to for years. I thought it was a travesty that we thought so little of the form that a theatre companies weren't able to keep its actors on a wage, year round. I applaud Robyn Nevin and Rob Brookman for not letting up on the fight for more funding. Funding must be indexed to keep up with inflation and with a 17 billion dollar surplus, I'd like to see an investment in exploring our national identity. A nation is nothing without poets. It's not frivilous, our role is to give our country a sense of who we are and what we're proud of and what we need to work on. |