Forever Horatio

AUTHOR: Edmund Pegge PUBLISHER: Wakefield Press RRP: $39.95

REVIEWER: Mary Ann Elliott

EDMUND Pegge worked as an actor in England and Australia for five decades, performing worldwide on stage, in film and television.

These tales from a (self-styled) strolling player have seen him in supporting roles with many famous actors and directors; as he says, “never Hamlet, always Horatio”.

The seeds for his acting career were sown early on, playing small parts at prep school. Arriving in Adelaide in January 1954, the dry, burning heat and relentless sun were a far cry from cold, grey England. From early student days at NIDA (then a two-year course, now three and fiercely competitive), playing Shakespeare to students with the Young Elizabethan Players, and gruelling tours, Pegge takes us through all the tricks and trials of a working actor’s life; the good times interspersed with the inevitable lean spells.

In a profession where nearly nine out of 10 actors are out of work at any one time, Pegge does not encourage aspirants unless they have a driving compulsion.

It seems one has to choose between recognition and continuity of work. Not one to sit around waiting for a plum role to come up, Edmund Pegge has instead enjoyed numerous encounters and adventures, rubbing shoulders with the great.

His mantra is, as Mr Micawber says in David Copperfield: something will turn up.

Endearingly self-effacing, Pegge’s wry good humour surfaces frequently in his engrossing account of an actor’s life.