Benjamin Cawley
BENJAMIN Cawley has an impressive list of credits to his name – covering everything from TV, films, the stage, and even a video game. He played Edison in Shetland (opposite Douglas Henshall) was in Grime Kids, Doctors ,and Dr Who. He is currently playing the role of Ross in the Leeds Playhouse production of Macbeth.
I’m currently reading:
A super-fascinating book by a guy called Bessel van der Kolk, and it’s called The Body keeps the Score .Hewas born in the Netherlands, and he’s in his eighties now, but he has spent his entire career and professional life studying how young people and adults react to, and hopefully in time, cope with trauma. His conclusion in the book is that the only way that we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experiences and learning to befriend what is going on inside ourselves. Reclaiming ownership of your body and your life, if you like. The subtitle of his book is ‘Brain, mind and body in the healing of trauma’, and that just about sums it up. Not a light read, I will give you that, but one that is both analytical and personal and also compelling. I do a lot of my reading at bedtime. I wasn’t that much of a reader as a youngster, if it was anything it was comics, but I seemed to start picking up proper books as I turned into my twenties. I am always observing the people around me, wherever I may be, just mentally noting down how they move, or sit, or react
– I think that every actor does it, because you never ever know when a little bit of information from someone you have seen will come in handy.
I’ve been listening to: Music is a huge part of my life, it always has been and it inspires me so much. I love jazz, it seems to ground me the most – John Coltrane is one of my absolute favourites. I can have music on when I’m learning a script, it doesn’t seem to intrude, but I cannot have the spoken word, or any kind of chatter – far too distracting. It has to be silence.
On TV, I’ve been watching: To my shame, I haven’t watched any of the latest strand of Shetland, because I’ve just been far too busy.
I’ll let you into a little secret – all the scenes that I was in when I was in the cast were shot in Glasgow, so I never got to see any of that stunning scenery. The series that I do watch, however, and it ran for three series on the Disney Channel, is Reservation Dogs, which is set in Oklahoma, and which follows the stories of a quartet of indigenous teenagers who will do just about anything to get away and off to California. It’s funny, completely irreverent. The writers were all indigenous, as were the directors, and most of the performers and crew.
The live performance I’d recommend is:
Anything at all by The Cinematic Orchestra, who are a jazz-fusion outfit with four albums to date. They are a sort of collective, and they often use guest singers. One of their number is a guy called Stuart McCallum, who I saw at a Womad Festival, and he was just incredible.
When they appear together, they have such terrific energy, and they create a unique atmosphere. They also use a lot of visual effects, so if you see them billed anywhere, just grab the opportunity!
My next box set will be (or my last boxed set was….):
My latest order was the complete Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which I used to watch on TV as a youngster. He was a unique director, one of the very best, and the series uses some top-notch actors. I am not going to binge-watch it all, promise, and what I’ll do is treat myself to a couple of shows at a time, and savour every second of it. I love black and white shows and films – my favourite of all time is Casablanca.
The App I couldn’t be without is: Google Maps – I have no sense of direction at all, and I could easily get very lost putting on my shoes. I’ve been in Leeds for a while now, and I still have to use this app to get from my digs to the Playhouse. If I didn’t have it on my phone, I’d still be on my way. The other one I use a lot is Shazam, to identify music, or to remind you of the title or performer of a particular song.
What is right at the top of your ‘To do’ bucket list?: I stayed in Ethiopia for a while as a child, and. I’d really like to go back and see how it all is today. So much must have changed. Then there’s the Northern Lights, which would be wonderful to see, and I’d also like to visit the Himalayas. Then there’s the skydive that I’ve always promised myself. I got up the courage to book one, but the day before it was supposed to happen, I fell ill, and it had to be cancelled. I now must build up that courage again! And I’d loved to have seen Robert de Niro on stage, before he moved entirely into film. Everyone says that he was an astonishing presence in a live performance. I guess I’ve missed out on that one.
Macbeth, Leeds Playhouse, until March 23. www. leedsplayhouse.org.uk