Actor Jeff Meadows in Betrayal
Shaw Festival Actor on Pinter, Tennessee Williams and Anton Chekhov
Known to audiences for his roles over the past eight seasons at The Shaw Festival, Jeff Meadows plays his first Pinter role as Robert in Theatre and Company's Betrayal.
Jeff Meadows well understands David Hare's quote – with Harold Pinter "you never know the hell is going to happen next." He's currently having a grand time in Betrayal with castmates Brian Marler and Ingrid Doucet trying to figure out answers to Harold Pinter's endless questions.
"I think Robert is really interesting. I think that he is fascinatingly complex with his inability to deal with the situation and his reluctance to acknowledge the affair to his friend (Jerry-Brian Marler) that ‘s been going on with my wife ( Emma - Ingrid Doucet) for so long. These are questions I have been asking myself since we started that I just can’t figure out. That’s the great thing about this play. You have question after question after question, that you are just plagued with and you cannot figure out the answer. In the playing of it, it’s so rich and rewarding – lots of fun."
The subtext almost eats up the actual script when you think about it.
"Pinter has given you history, he’s given you a profession, he’s given you a social climate that you live in. He’s given you everything to convey all that. To make sense of all that with what he has given you on the page, is very Chekhovian. Chekhov does that too. He gives you this abundance of life and then you go onstage but you don’t ever say what you are feeling or what’s going on with you. Similarly, with Betrayal, there’s a big elephant in the room, but nobody ever says, hello you’re having an affair with my wife. Pinter never says that."
The audience is your judge and jury.
"I think the audience has a sense of anticipation and eagerness for us to say what should be said and we never do. At our first preview we got ooohs and ahhhs… and little chuckles when bits of information were being revealed that they know. It’s like a web you get caught in. The audience has the information. We have the information but we do not express the information."
Let’s talk Shaw. Tell me about playing John Buchanan in Summer and Smoke.
"Whew.... that was pretty hot and sultry and sexy. Tennessee Williams, once again, another brilliant playwright, very similar to Chekhov as well, where it is very "in the moment." A great play has characters that are filled with complexity, and layers, where you think you have one thing on the surface and once you penetrate deep deep into the true essence of who they are, you just find this abundance of ‘stuff’ that is inside. It’s so rewarding as an actor to do that because it is endless. It could be anything and you just stretch and stretch and stretch as far as you can go every night and try to reach the gods if that’s even possible."
Tennessee Williams said that Alma Winemiller was very close to his real personality .One wonders what Alma is going to do with her life.
"Similiar to Harold Pinter. There’s no answers. Williams just leaves you with more questions about why this happened and how did it happen and why does it continue to happen? Where do they go from here? Where does Alma go? There’s a famous story where someone has spoken to Tennessee Williams after the play and she said "Oh dear, Alma’s just going to turn in a really sad person after this," and he cackled and said “No, no. I think she goes on and marries somebody and has a happy life and she’s going to be fine.”
What was it like being part of R.C. Sherriff's war drama Journey’s End?.
"That play was one of most amazing theatre experiences I’ve ever had doing a play about World War I in our day and age where we probably think we will not have to wrestle with these demons anymore. The play was fabulous because it was ordinariness and every day catastrophe of soldiers trying to come to terms with where they were or where their next piece of bacon was going to come from or where they were going to get their next cup of tea. Meanwhile, outside bombs are dropping and friends are dying so it was really great to be in that production."
You are also reprising the role of Victor in Anne Marie MacDonald’s Belle Moral – "the ear in the jar"...
"Here is another piece about family secrets and I just think that play is so witty, intelligent, provocative and has a real … magical quality to it. I think it was a bit challenging for some of the audience at Shaw but some of our audiences jumped on board and really went with it. You couldn’t get a seat the last time we did it a few years ago so I am glad that we are bringing it back. It will be at The Court House."
Who is your favorite playwright?
"I have had the pleasure to do Chekhov, Williams and now Pinter. I would have to say that the three of them are sort of neck and neck right now but I would definitely have to say that Chekhov is probably a few steps ahead. I think he has such incredible astute observation of the human condition and what suffering is and humour and that willingness and that hopeful quality that we have just to endure and live and I think Chekhov really nails that."
Jeff Meadows returns for his ninth season at The Shaw Festival as Victor in Anne Marie MacDonald's Belle Moral and Harry Foot in Ferenc Molnar's The President.
Part Five - Betrayal director Daryl Cloran - And All For Love at the National Arts Centre.
