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Q: As an artist if you had the opportunity to pass on an important message that would contribute to the future. What would you offer?
A: Big question. Ok. My first thought is to focus on my students. As an actor trainer I am constantly examining what I teach as much as how I teach. I would want to say something about the big picture. Something that might inspire as much as it informs.
Q: When you say the big picture are you speaking about context?
A: More than that: I'm talking about intention and the reasons for doing. Something to do with understanding the importance of the art we practice. I think sometimes artists under-value the importance and relevance of their contribution to our cultural capital.
Q: How do you characterise your contribution?
A: I'm a storyteller and a teacher of storytellers and I see the power of a good story well told, I see its capacity to transform as well as entertain. Now I think about it, I would say that my specific focus resides in the importance of story. This was reinforced for me recently. If I may I'll answer your question with this anecdote.
Q: Please do.
A: A few weeks ago I attended a memorial service for a friend and sailing companion I'd known for several years. Richard was a generous, welcoming and enthusiastic friend. He went to great efforts to be inclusive and considerate of other people's needs and feelings. He was a great sailor and a great teacher. I consider myself a passably fair yachtsman and now when I venture forth on the waters of eastern Australia I often hear his words of wisdom guiding my sailing choices.
The experience of attending his service was full of sadness and joy as you can imagine. Sadness naturally at the loss of a friend and for also for others who missed him dearly. Joy for the heart-felt stories that some of his friends shared as they stood before the assembled. As I sat and listened to the stories of Richard something profound occurred.
I understood the power of story more than ever before. I realised I was getting to know more about Richard than I'd ever known. The stories went back years before I'd met him, encompassing his experiences with groups of friends I'd never met. As each story unfolded the picture of Richard grew and grew and I was introduced to a man of many talents: his appreciation for music, his unending positive approach to life, his ability to break down the inner workings of anything mechanical or electronic that took his fancy, has passion for racing cars, his love of the Whitsunday Islands, his sense of fun and play and mischievous approach to life and of course his enduring love for his wife and soul-mate Deirdre.
Richard was revealed to me through story. Each story had Richard as its essential ingredient. Added to this were the different complexions of each story-teller's experiences and ways of telling. The qualities common to each teller were love and care for their departed friend, a spirit of generosity and open-heartedness and a specific memory of a shared experience. Through these stories I received the essence of Richard, something for me to remember as much as I would remember my experiences with him. The stories were precious gifts lovingly received and lovingly told. The power of story was evident. The experience visceral. My imagination was engaged and enlivened. I was transported to other times and places and watched the play unfold from the sideline – laughing and weeping in and with memories that would now become my own.
The stories were profoundly enriching. Far more complete than a list breaking down Richard's qualities or activities could ever be. Just as it is with the separate pixels of an image or single words on a page or the individual ingredients of a meal, it is not until they are married together and we step back and savor the picture, the story or the meal, that we really experience the true nature of the whole.
Q: That really enriches an appreciation for the importance of story. How does that transpose in meaning for your students?
A: That the actor as a story teller plays her part in giving us the whole experience. To engage us and allow us to experience the story she must move beyond herself and enter the story she is telling. It is not about the actor in the story it is about the story in the actor.
Q: This feels like an illustration that art transcends.
A: Stories are window's, they enable us to see out and they help us look in. The stories I heard of Richard certainly gave me that window – I see him now as I look out and I see myself as I look in. Joy and sadness are one and the story is told. Yes art can transcend, as much as it can enrich and add value, as much as it can get under our skin and speak to us in ways where its meaning to us does not have to be explained or rationalised.
Q: And to sum up your message?
A: That we never forget this or under-estimate the potency of our individual contributions. That we value our art be it story telling or any other form. That we see the potency and the power of the whole and continue in our own small way to add to that whole.
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