DOGE RETURNS
THE Cape Times caught up with Graham Hopkins who reprises his role as the Doge, opposite recent Fleur du Cap best actress winner Jennifer Steyn, in the highly acclaimed Scenes from an Execution, now on at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio until April 22.
You have been a professional actor for about 34 years and have earned countless nominations and many awards in almost every performance genre that you have tackled. What are some of the highlights of your career?
It has certainly been a fulfilling career so far and I am grateful for that. There are too many highlights to mention but some of my memorable roles include playing Cecil Rhodes in the SABC series Barney Barnato and the controversial businessman Monty Atkins, in The LAB. There was Henry Higgins in the South African State Theatre musical My Fair Lady, for which I was pleased to receive a DALRO award. Also playing Parchester in the 1995 British touring production of Me and My Girl, for Pola Jones and then winning a Fleur du Cap award for my portrayal of Yvan in Art.
Although you are Joburgbased, you have performed extensively in Cape Town in recent years. What are some of these productions?
Most recently I played opposite Anna-Mart van der Merwe in The Mother at The Fugard Theatre. Other shows which would have been seen locally include me playing Captain Andy in Cape Town Opera’s internationally acclaimed production of Show Boat, which toured to the UK and Ireland and then for Pieter Toerien Productions there were Tuesdays with Morrie, The History Boys, Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense which had sell-out seasons in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, and for which I managed to win a Best Actor award in a leading role.
Apart from being a professional actor and voice-over artist, you are also a business partner in a highly successful experiential communications company. Tell us about that?
Yes, I am indeed fortunate. I am also a business trainer, scriptwriter and a partner in the company 360 Degrees which is a one-stop-shop covering a wide variety of services such as events, marketing, production, brand activation, product launches, video, entertainment, conferencing, incentive travel, promotions, corporate and industrial theatre as well as staging, hospitality services and road shows.
How do you juggle the two professions?
I have very understanding partners, who understand that, for me, acting on stage comes first. So I am able to step away from the company while still keeping an eye on finance etc. from a distance.
With Scenes from an Execution, you reprise your role as the Doge, one that you portrayed some 23 years when the play premiered at the Market Theatre, also directed by Clare Stopford. How does it feel?
I am really looking forward to re-creating the role, hopefully as a somewhat older and wiser Doge. It’s a fantastic play and a wonderful role. It is beautifully written and it
articulates the conflicts in an immediate and entertaining way. Doge is the artists’ patron and the primary antagonist.
Tell us about the play from an Execution?
This play is regarded as one of British playwright’s Howard Barker’s most accessible and commercial works. He makes 16th century Venice the setting for a fearless exploration of sexual politics and
Scenes
the timeless tension between personal ambition and moral responsibility, between the patron’s demands and the artist’s autonomy. Essentially, the story revolves around Galactia (played by Jennifer Steyn), an impossibly transgressive artist, who is commissioned by the Venetian republic to create a painting celebrating the triumph of Venice at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.
What emerges in her uncompromising pursuit of truth, is the ugliness of slaughter. Galactia herself is brilliant, vain, arrogant and politically naive.
Will she be co-opted by the state? It is, at its heart, a study of the relationship between the artist and the state.
It must be rewarding working with seasoned actors and a dynamic group of young actors?
I am delighted to once again team up with director Clare Stopford, and to be working with Jennifer Steyn and, of course, Nicky Rebelo.
It is also heart-warming to share the stage with such incredibly talented, recently-graduated young actors, Khathushelo Ramabulana, Cleo Raatus, Elizabeth Akudugu, Phoebe Ritchie and Lauren Blackwell.
Scenes from an Execution runs at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio until April 22 at 7.30pm with a matinee tomorrow at 2.30pm. Ticket prices range from R90 (Early Bird special available until April 3 only) and R130 to R160, through Computicket, Shoprite or Checkers.