Well-versed In The Work Of The Bard

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday September 14, 2006

KILMENY ADIE

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

September 19-23

Illawarra Performing Arts Centre

Adults $43; concessions $35

Bookings: 4226 3366

Tim Walter has been inside the heads of two characters for the last three months; and he's still discovering new things about his roles and the play in which they exist.

Walter is one of the cast members of Bell Shakespeare Company's touring production of The Merchant of Venice, directed by Anna Volska, which opens at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre next week.

In the show he plays Bassanio and has a small cameo as Arragon. The latter, Walter says, is a comic role he plays with an outrageous French accent and flamboyant costuming and provides him with a stark contrast to the love-interest Bassanio.

"For an actor, doing Shakespeare is something that really stretches you," he says. "You learn a lot from it."

"The characters are so well drawn and rounded. I'm finding more in them. Even now, when we have been performing this play for four months, I'm still discovering more in my character and the other characters on stage. It's a testament to how great the writing is."

Walter has performed in Measure for Measure, Wars of the Roses and A Midsummer Night's Dream for Bell Shakespeare and been a member of the 2003 Actors At Work team.

Other projects he has been involved with include Jet of Blood, the Australian premiere of Bat Boy: The Musical, The Cherry Orchard, A Season at Sarsparilla and in workshops developing The Saint Plays for Melbourne Theatre Company.

Fortunately, Walter says, he has honed the process of learning his lines and does not struggle to memorise Shakespeare's prose.

"The discipline of speaking verse is a great learning curve to get the essence of the poetry and make it clear to the audience," he says.

"The music of words is a real skill I've honed over the last few shows. I find because it's written in verse somehow makes it easier to learn because of the rhythm and music to it.

"It's a bit like learning words to a song. You know the structure and you know instantly if you're going wrong whereas other words are a bit more random."

For the past three months Walter has toured Australia with the production and, after a two-week holiday in Sydney, he is looking forward to the Wollongong visit. It is the final leg of the tour before it finishes its season in Sydney.

"It's a bittersweet feeling because by the time you finish you have been performing for four months," he says.

"So part of you thinks 'that's enough time' and 'it's time to do something new' and you're keen to move onto another thing. But another part of you (knows you have been working) with a fantastic group, travelling around and it's sad to say goodbye."

KILMENY ADIE

© 2006 Illawarra Mercury

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