Behind the scenes
30 Nov 2016
From Cleopatra to The Matrix and Cleverman, veteran actress Robyn Nevin has explored many different characters during her career. Here, she talks about the wonderful Julie Andrews, introducing kids to the theatre and supporting the arts.
Once upon a time Robyn Nevin might have happily explored a career in musical theatre, if screen acting hadn’t become so popular.
“In my 30s I was cast as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind by the American Broadway director Joe Layton,” remembers Robyn. “He was going to take me to New York and extend the range of my voice. And then I was going on to London. But the show was cancelled. So that was my near brush with musical theatre fame!”
Blessedly, Robyn has continued to enjoy a more varied professional creative life. She’s recently switched from playing Kate Keller in All My Sons (Arthur Miller’s heart- wrenching play about lost soldiers), to the sharp wit of Mrs Higgins in the new Julie Andrews-directed production of My Fair Lady.
“Each time, you begin again,” says Robyn, matter-of-factly. “That’s acting. It matters little to me whether I do two cinema roles in a row or not. I just look at the whole and see whether it will be something that will be really worth my while. You know, it’s my life! And I’m still doing it at 73, nearly 74, so it’s got to be worth my time.”
Kate Keller was worth Robyn’s time, but at a cost. The actor admits perhaps the role was “borderline too demanding” emotionally and physically to play eight times a week. “Your body, your central nervous system, doesn’t know you’re acting. Physiologically, you go through the states that you would were it real. The fact it’s not real doesn’t mean it’s any less of a strain on your physical, mental and emotional selves. So it becomes too much. I think I’ve turned my back on the Kate Kellers of the repertoire... that’s my decision for now and I hope I don’t change my mind!”
The wonderful Julie Andrews
“I’ve had the LP record with Julie Andrews’ performance in My Fair Lady since it came out (featuring the original Broadway cast in 1956),” declares Robyn, proudly. “It has those wonderful caricatures of Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison on the cover; so I was exposed to it very early, the wonderful music and wonderful lyrics.”
Sixty years later, Julie Andrews met Robyn Nevin to talk about the latest Australian production and the possibility of Robyn taking the very funny non-singing, role of Mrs Higgins.
“We had a lovely chat about George Bernard Shaw,” beams Robyn. “I’ve directed Shaw and I’ve acted in Shaw, so it was interesting for us to share our thoughts and experiences. Obviously, it was wonderful just to be in a room with Julie Andrews and she’s everything you would expect her to be: she’s charming and warm and real, down-to-earth, and, all of those things. Really. A beautiful woman.
“It was also absolutely wonderful sitting beside the principals at the first reading – because I’ll never be that close to them again! That was absolutely thrilling. And to watch Julie Andrews watching them and listening to them was actually very moving.”
An odd way to live a life
Although she still adores working in theatre, Robyn is planning a break from the stage after My Fair Lady to get back to more film and television work. She says she’s had no choice but to turn down roles in great television series because theatre actors have to sign a long contract, sometimes 18 months in advance.
Besides, she’d also like more time for life, and filming days tend to be easier to manage:
“It’s so much easier than the theatre,” she explains. “I’ve worked six nights a week most of my life so that’s been an odd way to live. I’m always going to work when most people are coming home... swimming against the tide, seeing all the lights go on in the living room as they settle in for the night and draw the curtains, and I’m about to start work. And as you get older, it gets more and more difficult to conserve your energy for the evening.”
Still, theatre has given her a sense of communion that she can’t get in film and television.
“It’s the connection we make on stage that relies on the audience,” she muses. “It’s the threesome: actors, audience, breathing in one space. It’s a communal experience you don’t get anywhere else apart from in church or live performance.
“It is.” (She pauses. And sighs.) “A very beautiful thing.”
Everybody has creative potential
A life filled with drama, comedy, romance, intrigue and make-believe still sounds fabulous, despite the work hours. And it is, admits Robyn, adding that creativity should be encouraged, especially in young people.
Just before Julie Andrews flew to Australia for My Fair Lady, she was putting the finishing touches on Julie’s Greenroom – a new television series for Net ix.
“It’s a series Julie has created, and acts in (along with a cast of new puppets created by the Muppet Show’s Henson Co), that teaches children about the arts. It’s just a wonderful idea,” says Robyn, admiringly.
Back in Australia, Robyn encourages parents and grandparents to help young people enjoy the arts by taking them to galleries, concerts, ballet and theatre as early as possible.
“When I took my grandson to Swan Lake, he was kind of riveted for the first maybe 30, 40 minutes and then he was very restless,” recalls Robyn.
“I can remember when he got to a certain age, he had what they call ‘growing pains’. Now he loves [the theatre]! He had an early grounding and that helped towards not seeing it as something so alien and off-putting, as I think a lot of young people can. So, I think, start them young!
“Try amateur theatre too. I think it’s wonderful for young children to participate in anything that encourages them to explore their imagination and their creativity. Because everybody has an imagination and everybody has creative potential. We’re all equal when we’re born. It’s about early exposure to books, music, art, theatre – the beginnings of a lifetime’s creative journey start with parents and grandparents.”
Art is the soul of a nation
Robyn is concerned artistic institutions such as NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) could struggle in a future of seemingly plentiful funding for elite sports such as Rugby League or Olympic swimming versus very little for creative pursuits.
She points out it takes a very strong-minded leader to back arts funding because most don’t see any votes in it:
“Art is seen [by a lot of people] as an elitist activity which has nothing to do with them, unlike sport. But sport is an elitist activity and people are proud that it’s so. People can barrack for winners in sport but can’t see the value in an artist unless you’ve had international success. High visibility too seems to be a measure of value to some people, and of course, that’s rubbish!”
The thing is, Australian actors, costume designers, animators, film makers and the like do enjoy fantastic reputations overseas (and yes, Aussies have won lots of international film awards, including Oscars and BAFTAS), but back home, they find themselves campaigning to keep local industries going. Robyn suggests that Active Retirees readers can support local creative talent by attending local productions and letting decision-makers know what art means to them:
“What would you miss if certain organisations were defunded? What does it mean to you and your children and their families? What does culture mean to children’s education and the spirit of the nation? The soul of a nation is very profound and it’s hard to express. And that’s why we have artists.”
About Robyn Nevin
In Robyn Nevin’s career so far she’s played all the great classical theatre roles for women (such as in Macbeth, Antony And Cleopatra, Hamlet, Cyrano De Bergerac), plus a few male roles too: Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, the Fool in King Lear and Lear herself in a reimagined Queen Lear.
She is highly regarded as a director and chief executive in theatre, holding appointments as Artistic Director and CEO at the Queensland Theatre Company then the Sydney Theatre Company, and was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for services to the performing arts.
Her film credits include Careful He Might Hear You, The Eye Of The Storm, The Castle and the Matrix films; and recent television credits include Top of the Lake, Upper Middle Bogan, Cleverman, and her award-winning performance as Shasta
in Water Under The Bridge.
She’s currently playing Mrs Higgins in My Fair Lady, directed by another actor/ director icon: Julie Andrews.
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