THE chance to perform in one of his favourite plays has lured much-loved Aussie actor David Wenham off the big screen and back to the stage.
The Lord of the Rings star has joined the Melbourne Theatre Company for its remake of Arthur Miller's masterpiece The Crucible.
"My representation overseas can't stand me doing theatre because it takes me out of action," Wenham says as he prepares for Thursday's opening night. "But it's what I want to do. If it means passing up other possibilities, them's the breaks."
The intensity of live performance takes the Sydney actor back to his roots, before he found fame in the TV show Sea Change and films such as Gettin' Square, Moulin Rouge and Australia.
Wenham didn't even stand in front of a camera during his three years at drama school. All his early work was on stage, where he thrived on the uncertainty and energy of different audiences.
"I've ended up spending more time in front of a camera than on stage, but the stage is where I come from," he says.
"People who have never done theatre before, and have only worked in front of a camera, would find it very difficult, I think, to know how to command a stage and work with the logistics of being on stage. They're very different. The theatre is quite tricky, actually."
The Crucible, from the playwright who also wrote Death of a Salesman, is the source of one of Wenham's most enduring stage memories.
He first saw a professional production of the play more than 20 years ago at the Sydney Theatre Company with John Howard in the lead role of John Proctor.
Wenham says he remembers it vividly, despite having seen "literally hundreds" of other plays since
"It is one of my favourite plays of all time, absolutely," he says. "I think it is truly one of the greatest pieces of writing in the past 100 years and my respect and awe for Arthur Miller just increases during the rehearsal period. It is faultless."
Set in Salem during the 1690s, The Crucible describes the tragic events that follow a girl's death from suspected witchcraft.
Community fear whips up a witch-hunt and locals are forced to prove their innocence or face fatal consequences.
As suspicion falls on Elizabeth Proctor (Anita Hegh), her husband John (Wenham) must decide whether to save her or hide his own dark secret.
Wenham says it is a timeless play, which "simply can't be said for most things".
"It will never age. It's amazing," he says. "It's always going to be set in Salem during the 1600s, but regardless of where you live, and in what era, what those people are going through will always resonate."
Wenham is working under the direction of Sam Strong, who joined the MTC this year from Sydney's Griffin Theatre Company.
Their Melbourne rehearsal room is a world away from Hollywood, where Wenham has worked on blockbuster films and was once invited to the Playboy mansion for a private film screening with Dennis Hopper.
But he says there is nothing quite like the excitement of live performance.
"That's the exciting thing about working on stage -- it's the unknown every night and it really has to do with the composition of the audience," he says.
"You can feel it when you walk out there. You know very early on what the make-up and energy of the audience is. When you can take them along with you, it's the most satisfying experience for an actor."
From here.
About the production
