Accomplished film, television and stage actor Helen Thomson from Wentworth Falls has nothing but admiration for one of the all-time acting greats, Geoffrey Rush.
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She and her two “stage sisters”, Helen Buday and Eryn Jean Norvill, were handpicked by Rush to perform in Sydney Theatre Company’s production King Lear, now showing in Sydney.
Thomson said Rush, who plays King Lear, has brought a lightness to the role.
“He’s a great clown – he has an enormous sense of play in acting, he’s highly inventive and cheeky on stage, bringing a lot of that to King Lear, making it different to others [who have played the role],” Thomson said.
“He brings a lightness and levity to sections of it [the play] … he has an incredible physicality with his long, wiry limbs and rubbery face that can change.”
The pair first worked together in the mid 90s in Melbourne Theatre Company’s The Dutch Courtesan.
Thomson recalls Rush writing reams of notes about what worked and what didn’t in his character portrayal, as a good memory jogger for future performances.
In King Lear, Thomson says the play is “a little bit Game of Thrones” with its treachery, murder, drama, comedy, sex, violence and fabulous costumes.
“There’s a lot to look at and enjoy,” she said.
King Lear was written in the 1600s but still holds appeal because it deal with common human experiences – falling in love, death, jealousy, loss of power, heartbreak and family tension.
The play is spoken in old English, but the audience should not be put off by this, Thomson said.
“Don’t come thinking you’ve got to understand all the language because you won’t. As long as you understand the gist of the story that’s okay.”
Lear decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters. To determine their share, they must express their love for him. Goneril (Buday) and Regan (Thomson) shower him in flattery. The youngest, his beloved Cordelia (Norvill), says nothing. And so begins Lear’s descent into madness.
King Lear is now showing at Roslyn Packer Theatre in Walsh Bay, Sydney, until January 9. Limited seats remain.