Alex Greig: A View from the Bridge - 'a wonderful story that is a pleasure to perform every night'

This week on drama on the waterfront, we talk to A View from the Bridge actor Alex Grieg.

(left to right) Christopher Brougham, Alex Grieg, Paul Waggot, Acushla Sutton in A View from the Bridge. Photo by Stephen A'Court.

DOTW: When did you decide that it was to be an actor’s life for you?

AG: I guess I've always had a desire to perform, but it was during the latter years of high school that I decided it was definitely the path that I wanted to travel.

DOTW: What was the first play that you remember seeing?

AG: Oooh Tough one... I think the first one I remember seeing was something like Red Riding Hood at Masterton Amateur Theatrical Society... Although that may be my brain playing tricks on me!

DOTW: You are currently playing the role of Marco in A View from The Bridge. That he is a newly arrived Sicilian immigrant in New York in the 1950s must have required quite a lot of research?

AG: Yeah, not much I could personally draw from for this role… I spent heaps of time reading snippets from the time online, and watched loads of movies either set or from the period... Oh and also played lots and lots of Total War: Rome II.

Alex Grieg in A View from the Bridge. Photo by Stephen A'Court.

DOTW: I believe you and the cast had advice from the Italian community here - in particular Massimo Tolve and Antonio DeMartino from Pomodoro Pizza - about how to talk and express yourselves in the way that they do. What were some of the things that came as a surprise to you about that? And how difficult was it to become a character who is so culturally different to a Kiwi?

AG: Turning off my Kiwi 'Meh' attitude and 'Hand in pockets' style acting was the hardest to accomplish in this role, I'm used to letting things roll of my back and let it go, but observing and talking with the fantastic guys that came in to talk to us, I soon realised I would have to bring some more flavour to Marco than I was used to!

DOTW: Marco has his own agenda – a good guy or not in your books?

AG: Marco is the good guy. He is certainly confused by the American way of life and how things are done, but stays true to his sense of honour.

DOTW: And working on an Arthur Miller play – what are some of the highlights about this?

AG: For me it is the way that Miller has structured the play... Your job is made a wee bit easier by following exactly what and how he has structured this play. It's very Shakespearian, if you follow the metre and stick to the words as written your job is almost done... He also crafts a wonderful story that is a pleasure to perform every night... More, more I tells ya!

Alex Greig (foreground) and cast in A View from the Bridge. Photo by Stephen A'Court.

DOTW: You have played a huge variety of roles. Have you got a favourite and why?

AG: I seem to prefer the roles that have a lot of internal (and often external) conflict, and most recently the part that has had the biggest chunk to bite into has been Shakespeare's play Coriolanus performed by The Bacchanals last year. It was a huge part and one that I jumped into eagerly!

DOTW: And finally, do you have role that you have a burning desire to play?

AG: I've always wanted to play Raoul Duke, or maybe even Timon.

Paul Waggott and Alex Greig in A View from the Bridge. Photo by Stephen A'Court.

A View from the Bridge runs in Circa One until 23 August. There will be a Fancy Dress 50s Night on 1 August - come to the show dressed in your 50s best for a chance to win fantastic spot prizes! To book, call the Circa Box Office on 801-7992 or visit www.circa.co.nz.

Acushla-Tara Sutton: A View from the Bridge - 'drawn into the detailed world that Miller created'.

This week on drama on the waterfront, A View from the Bridge actress Acushla-Tara Sutton talks about working on the next Circa One production and her newfound love of Arthur Miller.

DOTW: Is A View from the Bridge your first Miller play?

AS: It is indeed. And what a piece to start with! I’d never read any of Millers plays - contrary to popular belief, I actually studied commerce, not theatre, so the last four years were spent reading textbooks on marketing, human resources and tourism, not Shakespeare, Williams and Miller. I was, however, lucky enough to see The Price last year, which I really enjoyed, and after seeing A View from the Bridge appear in the 2014 Circa programme I managed to find a script online and fell in love with it. He has such a great way with words and I now understand why many believe him to be the best Western playwright of the 20^th century.

Acushla-Tara Sutton

DOTW: What are the things you have found most interesting about the play and Miller as a writer?

AS: The main thing that attracted me to this particular play was the language. It’s written dialectally so even just on the page you’re drawn into the detailed world Miller has created. It was also first written as a one act play entirely in verse and some of that poetic intention is left behind, which enhances the dialogue Miller has written in the version we have today. I also enjoy Miller’s focus on relationships: what they should be and what they can be … but you’ll have to come see the show to understand what I’m talking about.

DOTW: And the most testing?

AS: Hands down the passion of the piece. I’m playing a young Italian-American woman who has been raised in Brooklyn, New York, just emerging from puberty. Each one of those components affects the scale of her emotional responses, so altogether it is an extremely passionate piece. Being a New Zealander the key challenge has been embodying that passion, jumping far out of my comfort zone.

Acushla and Jude Gibson in the A View from the Bridge rehearsal room.

DOTW: When you first read your role of Catherine what was your first reaction?

AS: I fell in love with her beautiful naïveté and identified deeply, as any woman can, with her struggle and confusion as she attempts to navigate the adult world for the first time. I dislike the word ‘tragic’, but I think it describes her situation best. A sweet young girl, falling in love for the first time, confronted with an unexpected hurdle. She’s tragically sweet.

DOTW: Last year was very busy and successful for you. What were some of the highlights?

AS: In total I did 5 shows and a directing piece for Victoria University, as well as full-time tertiary studies. Finishing my studies was amazing. I finished in November, half way through the run of Con in Circa Two. After four years of juggling performance and studies it was great to be able to focus purely on my first passion. I also toured for the first time, performing in festivals in Wanaka and Christchurch with NZ Site Specific shows Salon and Hotel.

Alex Greig, Acushla and Paul Waggott. Photo by Laura Kavanagh.

DOTW:  And this year seems, so far, pretty busy too.

AS: It’s my first year ‘in the real world’ so it’s been a little nerve-wracking, especially in an industry known for its risk. It has been pretty busy, which I am so thankful for. I’ve worked behind the scenes on a couple of films, performed in the return season of Kings of the Gym, a development piece called 2080 and am now working on this show. I also recorded my first audiobook reading for RNZ and worked on a commercial. Long may it continue!

DOTW: And after A View from the Bridge – have you any plans?

AS: I’ll be heading up to Auckland after we close this show to see my sister perform in Hairspray. Aside from that (and a well-deserved rest!) I do not have anything booked in for the year yet. Time will tell I guess. For the meantime I’m just keen to get this show up and running and for the public to experience the intensity we’ve been living with for the past four weeks.

The A View from the Bridge cast on the 4th of  July.

A View from the Bridge opens on 19 July and runs until 23 August. There will be a $25 Preivew on Friday, 18 July and a $25 matinee on Sunday, 20 July (although the matinee is nearly SOLD OUT!). To book, call the Circa Box Office on 801-7992 or visit www.circa.co.nz.

The words of Arthur Miller: “The theatre is so endlessly fascinating because it’s so accidental. It’s so much like life.”

The cast of The Price have assembled their favourite Arthur Miller quotes for drama on the waterfront - most are from The Price, but some are from his other works or interviews he gave. They give great insight into the man himself. (For more insight, come along on Thursday, 29 August from 7.15pm for a pre-show talk in the Circa foyer, "Arthur Miller: Inside of His Head" by Victoria University lecturer Dr Lori Leigh.)

“Well, all the plays I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from.”   - Arthur Miller

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"Not that I'm mixing in, but I don't have to tell you the average family they love each other like crazy, but the minute the parents die is all of a sudden a question who is going to get what and you're covered with cats and dogs." - Gregory Solomon, The Price

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Victor You really got married at 75?


Solomon  What's so terrible?


Victor  No. I think it's terrific. But what was the point?               - The Price

                                                                                   

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"Good luck you never know until the last minute, my boy". – Solomon, The Price

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"So many times I thought the thing he wanted most was to talk to his brother, and if they could...  But he's come and he's gone.  And I still feel it, isn't that terrible.  It always seems to me that one little step more, and some crazy kind of forgiveness will come and lift up everybody. When do you stop being so foolish?"  - Esther Franz, The Price

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“What's the difference what you know? Do you do everything you know?” –Victor, The Price

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“…everything has to be disposable. Because you see the main thing today is shopping. Years ago a person, he was unhappy, didn’t know what to do with himself; he go to church, start a revolution, something. Today you’re unhappy? Can’t figure it out? What is the salvation? Go shopping.”  – Solomon, The Price

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“Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value.”  - AM

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“Success, instead of giving freedom of choice, becomes a way of life. There's no country I've been to where people, when you come into a room and sit down with them, so often ask you, "What do you do?" And, being American, many's the time I've almost asked that question, then realized it's good for my soul not to know. For a while! Just to let the evening wear on and see what I think of this person without knowing what he does and how successful he is, or what a failure. We're ranking everybody every minute of the day.” - Arthur Miller, Paris Review,

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“Betrayal is the only truth that sticks.”  - After the Fall

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“The theatre is so endlessly fascinating because it’s so accidental. It’s so much like life.”  - AM

The Price runs in Circa One until 7 September. To book, call the Circa Box office on 801-7992 or visit www.circa.co.nz.

Why Arthur Miller wrote The Price

In this abridged version of an article written for the New York Times in 1999, playwright Arthur Miller explains why he wrote The Price.

The Price, Circa Theatre, 10 August - 7 September

The Past and Its Power: Why I Wrote 'The Price'

"The sources of a play are both obvious and mysterious. The Price is first of all about a group of people recollected, as it were, in tranquility. The central figures, the New York cop Victor Franz and his elder brother, Walter, are not precise portraits of people I knew long, long ago, but close enough, and Gregory Solomon, the old furniture dealer, is as close as I could get to reproducing a dealer's Russian-Yiddish accent that still tickles me whenever I hear it in memory.

“…everything has to be disposable. Because you see the main thing today is shopping. Years ago a person, he was unhappy, didn’t know what to do with himself; he go to church, start a revolution, something. Today you’re unhappy? Can’t figure it out? What is the salvation? Go shopping.”  – Solomon

Behind the play -- almost any play -- are more or less secret responses to other works of the time, and these may emerge as disguised imitation or as outright rejection of the dominating forms of the hour. The Price was written in 1967, but the 60's was a time when a play with recognizable characters, a beginning, middle and end was routinely condemned as ''well made'' or ludicrously old-fashioned. (That plays with no characters, beginning or end were not called ''badly made'' was inevitable when the detonation of despised rules in all things was a requisite for recognition as modern. That beginnings, middles and ends might not be mere rules but a replication of the rise and fall of human life did not frequently come up.)

Arthur Miller.

Indeed, the very idea of an operating continuity between past and present in any human behavior was demode and close to a laughably old-fashioned irrelevancy. My impression, in fact, was that playwrights were either uninterested in or incapable of presenting antecedent material altogether. Like the movies, plays seemed to exist entirely in the now; characters had either no past or none that could somehow be directing present actions. It was as though the culture had decreed amnesia as the ultimate mark of reality.

The Price grew out of a need to reconfirm the power of the past, the seedbed of current reality, and the way to possibly reaffirm cause and effect in an insane world. It seemed to me that if, through the mists of denial, the bow of the ancient ship of reality could emerge, the spectacle might once again hold some beauty for an audience. The play speaks to a spirit of unearthing the real that seemed to have very nearly gone from our lives.

Which is not to deny that the primary force driving The Price was a tangle of memories of people. Still, these things move together, idea feeding characters and characters deepening idea.

Nineteen sixty-eight, when the play is set, was already nearly 40 years since the Great Crash, the onset of the transformed America of the Depression decade. It was then that the people in this play had made the choices whose consequences they had now to confront. The 30's had been a time when we learned the fear of doom and had stopped being kids for a while; the time, in short, when, as I once noted about the era, the birds came home to roost and the past became present. And that Depression cataclysm, incidentally, seemed to teach that life indeed had beginnings, middles and a consequential end."

- Arthur Miller, 1999

New York Times

(abridged)

The Price opens in Circa One on 10 August, and runs until 7 September. To book, call the Circa Box Office on 801-7992 or visit www.circa.co.nz.

All My Sons: The Reviews Are In!

The reviews are in – and we are buzzing!

Here is just a taste of what they have to say …

Jeffrey Thomas and Emma Kinane in All My Sons. Photo by Stephen A'Court.

“Susan Wilson has again brought Wellington an unforgettable Miller classic.

A few years ago her ‘Death of a Salesman’ was a knockout.

‘All My Sons’ is another one.” - Lynn Freeman

 “The second half is an explosion of emotions … the confrontation between idealistic son Chris Keller and his father Joe makes for one of the most electrifying moments I’ve seen in 17 years of reviewing.

“Wilson has brought together a dream team. Jeffrey Thomas, Emma Kinane, Richard Dey - these three actors turn in career best performances, supported strongly by Martyn Wood and Jessica Robinson.

“Paul Jenden’s costumes are a delight.

“Arthur Miller’s story resonates with a 2012 audience in ways he could never have imagined. … It is a masterful and insightful work that is one of the year’s must-sees.” 

- Capital Times

“Having seen so many modern plays, it was refreshing to go to an old classic -

I was on the edge of my seat for the entire second half of the play … You could have heard a pin drop, the audience were so captivated. 

“Jeffrey Thomas dominates the play with his portrayal of Joe Keller. Even though you are suspicious of him, you just cannot help but like him.

The other star was Emma Kinane playing Kate. She gets it pitch perfect – it is a magic performance.

“The stage is also worth mention -  a wonderful replica of the backside of a 1940s house, and the back lawn. The artificial grass actually went all the way to the first row of seats, which made you feel very close to the action.  

The costumes were also spot on, especially the frocks for the ladies.

“All four of us raved about the play. … and the Circa performance of it was first class.”

- David Farrar, Kiwiblog 

Jessica Robinson and Ricky Dey in All My Sons. Photo by Stephen A'Court.

“I’d never seen a production of All My Sons… Susan Wilson’s inspiring direction of this particularly powerful and passionate production means that I shall now seek out more of a similar genre.

“Particular congratulations must go to Kinane, Thomas, Dey and Robinson who held the audience in the palm of their hands as they took us on a roller-coaster ride of emotions.

“Awesome set as well!“

- Kate Spencer, City Life News

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"Susan Wilson’s production beautifully captures the sense of time and place.  The realistic set of a house and backyard with symbolic weeping willows down the sides, the mood lighting, the costumes and make-up and the hair styles, all convey perfectly a sense of style of the period.

Arthur Miller is a truly great writer … a compelling piece of drama … well worth seeing."

- Dominion Post

(Left to right) Beck Taylor and Dino Karsanidis in All My Sons. Photo by Stephen A'Court.

Meet Beck and Dino – the two young boys who alternate the role of Bert.

Beck Taylor

Beck is ten years old and goes to Houghton Valley School. He is a very busy boy. He loves karate, swimming, soccer, guitar and circus and participates in these each week.

Beck got a part in a feature film called Love Birds when he was eight. “The part was large and we spent seven weeks flying up and down to Auckland,” said his mother, Tanya. “He stumbled into acting - the mother of a friend from school thought he'd be good. He loves it!”

And from Beck...

"Being in All My Sons is extremely fun and the people are really nice. Acting is awesomely cool  :D"

Dino Karsanidis

Dino is 11 years old and and is currently in his first year at Hutt Intermediate School. He is going to take part in the school production of Aladdin next term and he also enjoys learning the drums.

“Dino had a knack for re-enacting movie parts, so we sent him to Hutt Theatre Drama School, which he has attended for 2 1/2 years,” says his mum, Liza. “This part in All My Sons is his first major role!”

Dino has said this of the play: "I like the play because I like how there are some funny parts and there are some sad parts and there are action parts as well".

All My Sons runs until 7 July in Circa One. There will be an audio described performance for blind and visually impaired audience members on Sunday, 1 July at 4pm, with tour tours commencing at 3:15pm. This performance will also be open to the general public. For more information or to book, please call the Circa Box Office at 801-7992.

All My Sons: 'a compelling story with a collection of complex, finely drawn characters'

The actors playing the four leading characters in the Arthur Miller classic All My Sons tell drama on the waterfront their reactions to being in the play.

(L to R) Jessica Robinson, Richard Dey, Jeffrey Thomas and Emma Kinane in All My Sons. Photo by Stephen A'Court.

Jeffrey Thomas plays Joe Keller

“I've done a lot of plays at Circa over the years and there are some that I tend to group together - like Chekhov. What do you call such a group? A number? A series? Yes, I've done a series of Chekhov plays and now I seem to be embarked on a series of great American plays. Last year it was August: Osage County, this year All My Sons. The might of Hollywood is such that it tends to overshadow American theatre. These two plays are breathtaking reminders that there are American plays that rightfully deserve to be called "classics" and Arthur Miller is a playwright who gives his characters some wonderful speeches to perform. I just wish things could have worked out better for him and Marilyn.”

Recently seen                                

Circa plays - Mauritius, Rock ‘n’ Roll, The Winslow Boy, August: Osage County

Television - Spartacus.

You may not know … he’s playing the Dwarf King Thror in The Hobbit.

Emma Kinane plays Kate Keller (Joe’s wife)

“Everything about this show is huge; the emotions of the characters, the legacy of the play and the playwright, the production values, the size of the cast and, of course, the audience expectation.  Pretty scary stuff. 

Vintage is in!  It is such a luxury to dabble in 40s fashions and hair.  Paul Jenden has already made two gorgeous dresses that I feel fabulous in - high waists, big shoulders and huge full skirts - you really know you're wearing a dress, you know?  And this weekend I've been playing at home with curlers and setting lotion, experimenting with the best way to get those 40s soft wavy curls.  It's looking so good right now I'm tempted to keep it like this after the show finishes, but I know I won't... it's fun for now, but it's too much work for everyday.  I don't know how they did it.  I guess it had something to do with not having Facebook...”.

Recently seen

Stage - Lonely Heart, Fuddy Meers, Sex Drive

Television – Outrageous Fortune

You may not know … Emma has a feral chihuahua called Phoebe.

Richard Dey plays Chris Keller (their son)

"There is something about Miller. He once said he could not imagine a theatre worth his time that did not want to change the world. It is that sharp passion for theatre that I feel involved in, in being part of this production. I love Miller’s dislike and almost rejection of the 'American Dream' and his insight into the idea that we are all our brothers’ keepers. I am extremely privileged to be part of such an incredible cast and an incredible play." 

Recently seen

Stage - Tinderbox, The Thirty – Nine Steps, Salon, Entertaining Mr. Sloane

You may not know …  this is Richard’s debut on Circa’s main stage

Jessica Robinson plays Ann Deever (Chris’ fiancé)

“I feel very lucky to be working on this production of All My Sons. This is the kind of play that made me want to be an actor – a compelling story with a collection of complex, finely drawn characters. I feel just as lucky to be working with such a great cast including Dino Casanidis and Beck Taylor who play Burt; it's the first time I've been in a play with a child in the cast.”

Recently seen

Stage -  Our Man in Havana, Eight, Aladdin, Live at Six, The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later

You may not know …  Jessica can sometimes be found singing in cabaret shows around Wellington.


All My Sons opens in Circa One on 2 June and runs until 7 July, with a $25 Preview on 1 June and a $25 Special Sunday on 3 June. To book, call the Circa Box Office at 801-7992 or go online at www.circa.co.nz.