Interview with cast members of The
Frontline at Curve
I met up with two of the cast of
The Frontline, one of Curve’s Inside Out Festival productions. Med Jannah and
Amelia Eatough snuck out of the technical rehearsal in the Studio to fill me in
on the production
I started by asking Amelia about
her characters “I play two different characters and they are both completely
different. One is called Val who has completely lost control of her son and is
at the end of her tether, absolutely distraught at life, about her son about
what he is turning into, who she’s become and very upset about the things she
has done in her past. Then Casey is completely opposite. She’s a stripper but
very grounded in her life, she is looking to the future and is dating one of
the of the characters”
Med plays just one character, Miruts, “a drug dealer who is very proud of his Ethiopian heritage. Although
he does it in a way that puts him at odds with the people around him. So he can
be quite confrontational but there is a lot more to him than appears on the
surface.”
I wanted to find out how they both
got involved with the Curve’s new local actor training programme, supported by
Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Med: “I’m part of the Leicester
University Theatre Society and an email came through about Curve doing a
project with people you wouldn’t normally see in theatres, give us experience
and courses we can go through this year and eventually be able to showcase our
talents with what we have learned in Curve. When you get an opportunity like that
you can’t turn it down. So I auditioned and made it through.”
Amelia: “I finished uni last year,
doing a performance degree and am now doing a day job and working on this
course in my spare time. I want to be a professional actor.”
Amelia spotted that Andrew Lloyd
Webber was a supporter of the programme
and was immediately interested. Med only found out at the audition and realised
this was a much bigger deal than he thought. While this production is not a
musical, as such, there is singing in it. Hence the Lord’s involvement.
The original production had music
by Arthur Darvill but this production has got a whole new soundtrack by local
friends of Curve, Sheep Soup.
Amelia: “They have come in and made
it completely their own, changed it up which was a wonderful opportunity to
work with and learn about a visiting company”
Med: “We have got to see a show
being built up around us”
I wanted to know where this
experience would lead. Hopefully.
Amelia: “I came into the course
hoping it would open doors, I would get to meet people. The play, The
Frontline, is the culmination of the end of a year course”
Med: “Over the course we have been
looking at classical theatre as well as modern theatre; stage movement and
stage combat; musical theatre, singing.”
Amelia: “We get free tickets for
shows and work with loads of different practitioners, all different styles, age
ranges and experiences. We’ve worked with media teams. Some of the people on
the course have never actually done a show before.”
So will they be just cast adrift at
the end of their year with Curve?
Amelia: “We are being sent off with
professional actors as mentors and I am jumping straight into White Christmas
(Curve’s festive offering this year) which came directly from being on this
course and come the new year I am trying to get more professional credits.
Which is where my mentor will come into their own guiding and advising me. On
the Press Night we will be given a list of people who can help us, agents etc
who will be in attendance”
Talking to these youngsters it is
obvious that once again Curve has created a unique climate for young talent to
be nurtured and supported as ongoing actors.
