Like most good overnight success stories, actor Eryn Jean Norvill has actually been putting in the hard yards for years. On stage, she’s played Juliet, Ophelia and Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac and has done the obligatory turn in Home and Away on the small screen. Yet it’s likely to be her role as Catherine in Sydney Theatre Company’s new production of Suddenly Last Summer opposite Robyn Nevin that will garner her most praise.
What was it that made you want to play the role of Catherine?
This is the first Tennessee Williams play that I’ve done and I may possibly have a compulsion to play them for the rest of my life. He writes such powerful and formidable women and there is so much to dive into in his plays. A lot of it is biographical and deals with the demons in us all. It’s such dense and scary material it requires you to be very brave with how much you explore your own boundaries and the audience’s as well.
Especially his women. You don’t get women like that really. He was writing back in the 40s and 50s and he speaks about sexuality, being a gay man himself, in terms today that we still don’t tackle. I think there is something about the way he struggled with his own sexuality and identity that echoes with me as a woman. The way he asks questions about whether we’re being honest with ourselves or not is something I relate to now.
Elizabeth Taylor famously played Catherine in the film version of Suddenly Last Summer, though Tennessee Williams said she was miscast.
It’s interesting that Tennessee said she was miscast – I think Elizabeth Taylor is quite formidable and scary. [With] those monologues, it’s very difficult to hold that amount of screentime with such finesse. Of course some of the performances are great, but they turned it into a Hollywood love story which I don’t really think it is, even though the desire and sexuality is in there.
What is it like going head to head with Robyn Nevin, the grande dame of Sydney theatre?
It’s probably the best thing to happen to me for quite some time. She’s incredible, she’s generous, she’s a masterclass – that’s a stupid word to use – but watching her theatre knowledge is quite remarkable and I’m learning a lot. Also she’s fun and she’s cheeky. It’s wonderful to be playing these two women who have a battle of wills and being up against someone as immense as her is a real privilege.
How do you feel about the Australian theatre scene at the moment?
I think that we are trying to be a community, though I think that there are some identity questions that need to be asked about who we are and who we want to be as theatremakers. Perhaps there should be some waves of change, and maybe there will be. But it depends on show to show, which is not the most wonderful feeling as an actor.
You go from one family to the next and whether they are functioning or dysfunctional is one thing. At the moment, I can say I’ve always wanted to be working in this way, where the work comes first and the room is really rigorous, everyone seems to be sparking and excited and frightened together and there is a real work ethic. That doesn’t always happen.
You often put on your own work. Will there be more of it soon?
Yes. Emily Tomlins (who I collaborated with to make A Tiny Chorus) and I worked together on Cyrano, and we took time outside rehearsal to workshop our next show, which is really exciting. I’m going overseas as I have another collaborator there, so hopefully I’ll get some juices flowing and make some stuff and bring it back here.
I miss my smaller community and it’s nice to have a little bit of control back over work. Sometimes working freelance as a gigging actor you can feel like: ‘I have a lot more to give or say’. I think that’s going to be a big push this year for me.
You’re well known for clowning. Who’s the king of clowns at the moment?
I studied with Philippe Gaulier in Paris a couple of years ago, and hands down, he’s a funny man and a brilliant teacher, so that’s one king. But I have to say the queens of the clowning are leading. Amy Poehler and Kristen Wiig – those women are pretty inspiring to me.
There is a weird archaic idea of women not being as funny as men but also that Hollywood paradigm of whatever a woman is, which is confusing in itself. They are definitely people I look up to and I hope they keep doing the ridiculous funnies and the funnies that are not particularly polite. I love that.
What makes you laugh?
I have a really weird sense of humour. Sometimes I like looking at fat babies falling over. It’s bad but it makes me laugh a lot. The simple things get me. People falling over, awkward situations. Oddity is the thing. Also there is a skit that Kristen Wiig does on Saturday Night Live – I watch it when I need a giggle. She’s this weird woman from the 50s who has these child doll arms and this huge forehead. Huge foreheads make me laugh, huge foreheads and fat babies, because I was both of those things. I was a fat baby and I had a huge forehead.
Great theatre comes from …
Great collaboration. I was sitting in the theatre before we did a [Suddenly Last Summer] run, looking at all the people on stage, listening to our sound design, looking at our set, watching our camera men and watching Kip (Williams, director) finesse, and I thought this is a good team. Everyone cares so much and is an exceptional artist in their own field, and when that comes together - and that can be rare - you usually have something special.
-
Suddenly Last Summer is at Sydney Opera House until 21 March
