PHILOSOPHY OF ACTING
Jane Longhurst has learnt a lot during her time at the forefront of Australian drama
There have been times Jane Longhurst was tempted to turn her back on performing. Because as much as the award-winning actor, broadcaster, voice artist and presenter loves what she does for a living, she knows the industry comes with its peaks and troughs.
The 52-year-old, who has starred in some of Australia’s most-loved TV shows including Blue Heelers, The Flying Doctors, Neighbours, A Country Practice and Rosehaven — has also realised the longer she performs, the more she loves it.
“It’s very easy, and at times tempting, to give up,’’ Longhurst says. “Ironically, however, I am discovering the longer I remain a performer, the more interesting the work becomes.
“The hunger remains to find your voice, to lend your voice and to help others find theirs. That’s what keeps me keen.’’
Longhurst travelled to the US, leaving Tasmania 10 days ago, for a family holiday that will culminate with a two-and-a-half week residency in New York where she’ll work with Manhattan theatre company Elevator Repair Service acting as “a fly on the wall” in a bid to learn about the group’s creative processes.
Elevator Repair Service came to Ten Days on the Island in 2013 and performed at the Theatre Royal, which is when Longhurst met the performing arts group.
“I helped organise a residency with six members of the ensemble up at Tarraleah with 20 Tasmanian theatre artists for a mini-weekend intensive masterclass,’’ Longhurst says. “Now it’s my turn, just in reverse’’.
The residency is part of a year of professional development for Longhurst, who has received funding from Arts Tasmania and Regional Arts Fund.
She has enlisted three mentors — Hobart writer and theatremaker Halcyon McLeod, Melbourne performance artist Nicola Gunn and Elevator Repair Service in New York.
“I chose all these artists because of their individual work histories as artists working at the vanguard of live performance,’’ Longhurst says.
Engaging with mentors comes at a “crucial” time for her, as “an independent, mid-career artist”. As well as learning about each professional’s theatre philosophies and processes, she hopes to learn more about her own strengths and vulnerabilities. She’s also interested to learn how her mentors manage the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” that come with an arts career.
“There’s an awful lot of time as an artist where you lead a very solitary life,” Longhurst says. “You may be busy applying for funding or developing projects, but you can be vulnerable to mental health pressures that accompany a professional career that offers little work continuity, spasmodic financial support and relatively few professional opportunities to exercise your craft. To be able to gain access to these mentors and learn why they create the work they do, how they do it, with whom they collaborate and to what end, this is a rare privilege.”
Longhurst grew up in Hobart and attended Taroona High School but left the state at 21 to pursue acting in Melbourne. She returned to Tasmania a decade ago with her husband, actor Guy Hooper, and their two children.