One of the most highly anticipated works in Black Swan Theatre Company’s 2015 season is ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’, David Mamet’s iconic play about the cut-throat world of real estate. Actor Damian Walshe-Howling, known for many onscreen roles including ‘Underbelly’ and ‘Janet King’, is making his debut with the company taking on the role of smart-talking up and comer Ricky Roma. He caught up with OUTinPerth to share all the gossip from the rehearsal room.
“Rehearsals have been great, I love all the other actors. I really admire all of them. It’s become such a cliché to say that but it’s fantastic working with Peter Rowsthorn and Luke Hewitt, Steve Turner and Will O’Mahony and Ben [Mortley]. …It’s been so great. Kate seems to really be enjoying herself and I feel like we’re a good group, you know. We’re really enjoying each other’s company. That’s almost half the battle won, when you’re doing theatre.”
‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ is one of the most well-loved and frequently produced plays in the Western World. As well as an all-female version staged in Perth in 2012 and a popular film adaptation, it also made a recent return to Broadway starring Al Pacino. Walshe-Howling had an opportunity to talk shop with Bobby Canavale, a personal friend of his who played Ricky Roma in that particular revival.
“I think I actually knew that he’d done the role before I got the role but then when he was out in Australia just recently we caught up. We had dinner and we picked each other’s brains, it was great, he was so generous. We just talked about it, we talked about his interpretation and every actor can have a different interpretation of things to a certain degree but it was funny, we both had quite similar ideas. I mean Mamet writes so beautifully, there’s so much that’s universal in it.”
Walshe-Howling said that the unique, punchy style of dialogue is one of the factors that contribution to the play being so influential in the theatrical world. “It’s sharp, it’s laser sharp but at the same time it’s like dropping a whole bag of marbles and having to pick them up. There’s excitement in it. You don’t know what’s going to happen next. And I think there’s something really naughty about the amount of swearing in it.” he laughed.
Many would feel daunted at the prospect of taking on a prominent role in such a seminal play, but for Walshe-Howling, it’s a thrilling opportunity. “I’m like ‘fucking bring it on’. I just say ‘Let’s go, you know.’ I just think it’s such an opportunity to do something that is such an incredible piece of work and I don’t take it lightly, that’s for sure. I don’t have trepidation. Am I nervous? Of course, I’m human, you know. But I also know that the characters in the play are nervous. Really, at the heart of it, there’s so much beauty in this play because there’s so much vulnerability. Because why else are you that desperate? You’re only that desperate when you’re that vulnerable. Unless you really explore those realms of life, I don’t think you live fully, you know.”
Sophie Joske
Image: PRIMOLifeCrib Creative
