Let me speak or the tiger gets it....number four of our Meet the Cast and Crew series features James Greaves, ex-Trestle stalwart and one of the most experienced mask actors around...

How did you get started as an actor, and who were your main influences?
More by accident than design. I knew I wanted to be an actor but hadn't any experience apart from playing a king in my infant school's nativity. I was stage managing my secondary school's production of Pinter's 'The Caretaker' when one of the guys pulled out so i ended up playing Mick. No turning back. Hard to pin down my influences. The Medieval Players were amazing and the ever brilliant Jonathan Kay of Attic Theatre. Stuff that now would be called physical theatre. 

What is your most exciting performance experience to date?
Probably waking up in my hotel room, pulling back the curtains and seeing the Sydney Opera House and knowing I was performing there that evening. Hate to brag but it was SO cool. That and playing William Hare in a brilliantly funny version of the Burke and Hare story for Ophaboom Theatre Company. They let me speak!

In your opinion, what does mask theatre offer audiences that they cannot get from other forms of theatre?
I think it engages the audience in a different way to straight theatre. The audience has to constantly interpret the dialogue, effectively writing their own script as the play proceeds. It's an intellectual exercise in reading body language and gesture, something we are all innately good at.    It's ultimately very satisfying.

What tips would you give an actor who is just starting to explore mask/visual theatre?
You can do too much thinking about what you're doing. Sometimes your conscious brain can be your worst enemy. Trust your instincts to find the right movement or gesture. And trust the mask to do the rest.

What do you enjoy most about the rehearsal process?
Coming up with the ideas. That bit where you make little breakthroughs. Or finding a new gag. Great fun. That and the pub afterwards.

What is the most useful piece of advice you have been given in your own career and by whom?
I'm not sure really. I know that whatever it was was probably brilliant and probably said by my old drama teacher, Bruce Edwards, the man who made me play Mick in 'The Caretaker'.

James Greaves

If you have your own question for James, ask it via the comments box below...