Briony Rawle
Nic Jackman is a recent graduate from LAMDA’s three-year acting course and is in rehearsals for the Donmar Warehouse’s new production of Arnold Wesker’s Roots. The play is set in rural Norfolk in the late 1950s, and concerns the greatly anticipated arrival of Beatie Bryant’s new, verbosely socialist boyfriend Ronnie. Sadly [spoiler alert], Ronnie goes the way of Godot and never actually turns up, effectively terminating his engagement to Beatie but leaving her with the triumphant realisation that, in fending off her family’s jeers and criticism, she has found her own voice.
Roots is the second in the ‘Wesker Trilogy’ of plays, sandwiched between Chicken Soup with Barley and I’m Talking About Jerusalem. The plays discuss class and political issues from a working class perspective, and were, to Wesker’s dismay, often identified with the ‘Angry Young Man’ plays and ‘kitchen sink dramas’ of the 1950s and 60s. Although the trilogy fits the general demographic of these genres, there is more to them than simply raging against the machine and dreary domestic grind; Wesker described Roots as a “lyrical work about self-discovery”.
The Donmar production is in its third week of rehearsals and Jackman is positive about the process so far: “Rehearsals have been really good,” he begins. “The first week was table work, pulling it apart, finding every detail on the page and getting a better understanding of the play, and then we got it up on its feet in the second week.” Jackman then mentions that the cast were taken to Norfolk to meet the relatives of the actual family on which the play is based. “That was really fascinating. It was brilliant for our research and allowed us to ask about the nature of the person, what they were like, and what they thought of the other people in the story.” This was particularly useful for Jackman, as his character, Mr Healy the farm manager, is “a sly one, really”, who enters the story intending to sack Beatie’s father, but chickens out when he meets Mr Bryant’s wife and daughter: “He’s quite a stern figure, but with the women around he turns into a bit of a coward.”
Being an actor myself, I was keen to probe Jackman about how he landed this part, hoping for a nugget of insider gold to squirrel away into my internal encyclopaedia of good ways to get a break. Jackman was picked up by an agent, who got him an audition for the part while he was still in the final few weeks of his training, so I suppose the golden nugget here is nothing more complex than simply to be a very talented LAMDA student. “They phoned on the same day to ask if I’d like the part. I said, of course I would, it’s the Donmar!”
However, walking out of drama school and straight into a rehearsal room with established actors at a major West End theatre is quite a leap, and Jackman was understandably nervous on the first day of rehearsals. But he was soon put at his ease by the levelling effect of beginning a play from scratch: “Everyone’s in the same position, it’s the first day of a new project and you’re all learning about each other and about the play for the first time.” This encouraging news suggests that the ethic in director James Macdonald’s rehearsal room is far from the strict hierarchy and luvvie cronyism that forms the largely out-dated stereotype of the industry.
When I ask Jackman if he has any advice for recent graduates or young actors who find themselves in his position, his wise advice is simply “to listen. You’re going into a play with very talented and experienced actors and you learn from listening – observing what’s going on, chatting to the other actors, learning from their experience. I’ve learned a lot that way.” Implicit in Jackman’s answer is that he doesn’t just learn about the play from the other actors, but also about the business of acting, and in an industry that seems to be constantly shifting its shape this is invaluable advice for new actors in professional theatre. It might be tempting to brush up as much as possible on the play and then enthusiastically spout ideas across the rehearsal room, hoping to impress everyone with all the homework you’ve done, but this has to be balanced with the ability sometimes to simply shut up and absorb. This doesn’t stop at real-life interaction, as it’s also important for an actor’s stage life; listening is the first rule of good acting, so it’s a good skill to practice both in the rehearsal room and on the stage.
Finally, I ask Jackman what he hopes for in the future: “I’m always excited to audition for new things, and it’s great wondering what you’ll do next, what job will come up, what character you’ll play. That’s the wonderful thing about acting, you never know.” He talks about having a good deal of stage experience from LAMDA that has left him “armed and prepared” for the industry, and mentions that the school now also teaches screen acting. “I’d like to do more film and TV. Or just more theatre – I sound greedy, don’t I?” No, I say. You sound like an actor.
Roots is at the Donmar Warehouse from 3 October to 30 November. For more information and tickets visit the Donmar’s website.
Photo: Nic Jackman (Mr Healey) with James Macdonald (Director) in rehearsal for Roots. Photos (c) Stephen Cummiskey.