Q. John, your daughter Hilary has been writing plays for many years now, going back to ‘Wolf Lullaby’ and ‘Fortune’ at the Stables Theatre. How long has the idea been brewing for you to act in one of her new works? Do you think that you have both chosen the right ‘vehicle’ by playing Scrooge in the light piece, ‘A Christmas Carol’?
A. It is a delight to be acting in one of Hilary’s plays at last. I suggested A Christmas Carol to her, with me playing Scrooge, and put the idea to Mark Kilmurry at the Ensemble. Like me (and Charles Dickens), Hilary has an affection for pantomime, music hall and melodrama. But she also has a fascination for the dark side and exploits it to the full in this adaptation. Dickens’ story is a cry of outrage and disgust with a capitalist society’s cruelty and inequity…That is very much to the fore in our version.
Q. Folklore has it that you have been an actor/writer since early in high school when you devised your own one-man shows. Over your long and illustrious career, which have been the roles that you have played that have really captured your imagination and you have just loved playing?
A. Among the roles I have most enjoyed are Richard I, Cyrano de Bergerac and Brecht’s Arturo Ui— all of which combine the comic and the grotesque…I love Hamlet because he is a barometer of one’s own life and experiences; and Shylock because he so eloquently expresses the despair of the outcast.
Q. You are over 80 now, and still you are seen regularly on our mainstages. Clearly your love of acting and theatre still drives you. Are there any roles in the theatre canon that you would still like to have a go it? If a young playwright, not family, wrote a new play, and had you in mind to play the lead role, would you consider it?
A. I would happily play a role written by a new young dramatist if it appealed to me …I recently played a crusty old bugger in the new American play Grand Horizons, and before that the searing role of The Father in a French play about senile dementia.
Q, You are of the same vintage David Williamson, arguably Australia’s greatest living playwrights. Interestingly you have both chosen Kirribill’s Ensemble Theatre to perform your work. What is it about the Ensemble Theatre that you like so much? Is it the perfect setting by the water, the intimate theatre space, the Ensemble team headed by Mark Kilmurry? Definitely, some sort of alchemy seems to take place there.
A. The Ensemble Theatre is a delightful place to work, with a loyal and friendly team in Administration, a strong work ethic and a loyal following. With minimal funding from the public purse, it achieves wonders…The atmosphere is one of a warm and generous family.
Q. Everyone has their moment(s) in the theatre when one is absolutely transfixed by what is happening on stage. Can you name a few of those moments/ even scenes which took your breath away,
A. I have witnessed many great moments in some 70 years of attending live theatre, but to name just two that stick in my memory: Olivier’s OTHELLO, which I saw 4 times. He filled the theatre with an energy that seemed effortless…The great Georgian actor, Ramaz Chkvadze: His King Richard III was a monster born of Stalinist tyranny; his Lear a heartrending collapse of the psyche.
Q. Do you have a preference, is it to play a dramatic or a comic role? Is one easier to play than the other? Can an actor be equally talented in both guises?
A. I love exploring both tragedy and comedy. The Greeks got it right: the two co- exist in our lives. I think Lawrence Olivier was more of a natural comedian than he was a tragedian…Paul Scofield, heartbreaking in tragedy, was hilarious in comedy and I’ve always preferred Ian Mc Kellen in comic roles…..A good actor has to be able to reflect all aspects of life, and that means both the comic and the tragic….
John Bell is currently playing Ebenezer Scrooge in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, written by Charles Dickens and adapted for the stage by Hilary Bell, is playing the Ensemble Theatre, 78 McDougall Street, Kirribilli until 29 December 2022. Running time 80 minutes without interval. Recommended for ages 8 and above. Rating 4 stars.
Production photography by Jaimi Joy