Colin Friels: acting out
28 Aug 2018
The Water Rats star talks to us about his years on the boards and the state of theatre.
Colin Friels is a household name for many via his roles in the TV series Water Rats and more recently on the ABC’s Mystery Road, not to mention roles in classic Australian films like Malcolm and Cosi.
He has had a busy 2018, taking on a one-man show, Scaramouche Jones, at the Arts Centre in Melbourne, and he will be seen on the stage in Sydney later this year in The Dance of Death at the Belvoir Street Theatre.
“For me the quintessence of theatre is story,” he says sitting in the Truscott Lounge, a private space in Arts Centre Melbourne. “But it’s in danger of becoming just presentational, just presenting a look or a design.”
Friels is on record talking about his concerns over the changing nature of theatre, but he is still very much in love with the art form. “Theatre, when it becomes something that belongs in a museum, then it is useless and archaic,” he says. “Some of the best theatre I have seen is students who get up on stage and tell how they caught the bus that morning. If it is true and relevant now, it will find its form.”
The actor says he isn't necessarily a fan of traditional theatre stories, but he still finds excitement in breathing new life into old stories.
“Later this year I will be on stage doing Strindberg’s The Dance of Death. The play is 100 years old, but the take is refreshing,” he says.
Friels also talks about what he does to get into role.
“I have got to get my head in some sort of space before I can put the show on,” he says. “You have got to turn up every night to a live performance in neutral gear. I don’t know what’s going to happen until I get on stage; I am not going to forget the words, I am not going to forget where I move – that’s second nature – but I will just throw the rest out.”
That doesn't mean there aren't some last-minute backstage dramas. “I’ve had car accidents, and people die on me before a show, I’ve had dead dogs in the back of my car, I’ve had a horse in a float outside – all sorts of chaos,” he says. In the case of the dog, Colin took his beloved pet to the vet and was told it would have to be put down.
“I put him in a blanket, put him in the back of my ute and had to drive straight in to the theatre and just made it,” he says. “It was a huge part, I didn’t shut up for three hours, and I was okay, I was together, but there was a part in the play where there was an emotional shift in the play and that was it – I was off and I cried through the whole play. But I managed to get away with it.”
Colin Friels will star in The Dance of Death from November 10 to December 23.
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