Ep.29 Be my Valentine, Surely!

Jessica Osbourne chats with us about playing Shirley Valentine this month for West End Productions at North Fourth Arts Center

video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/tHua9cEB26s

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https://www.westendproductions.org/buytickets/

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https://www.youtube.com/@funkymonty1

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome back to Alternate Stages, the podcast devoted to sustaining live theater. We've been on hiatus for the past seven months, in which we've forged new relationships with national theater experts, whom you'll be hearing from as guests of upcoming episodes of the podcast. And the hiatus allowed me as an actor to get my feet wet in five recent musical productions, including City of Angels at Albuquerque Little Theater, Anastasia with Devin Frieder Productions, The Sound of Music, and Mary Poppins, both at Landmark Musicals, and the holiday concert Comfort and Joy, produced by my friend Abby Greenwald at Albuquerque Public Library downtown. I also used our hiatus to develop further chapters of the Shylock Origin story I've been writing, Refuge, or The Scribe of Granada, which will be sharing as special bonus episodes of Alternate Stages podcast for our paid subscribers. And I did a ton of historical research during the hiatus on the oldest state capital in the U.S. Yes, you know it is Santa Fe, New Mexico. Well, I was giving group historical tours in the fall. I hope you used the Alternate Stages hiatus to catch up on our past 29 episodes and to see some great live theater. Send us a comment on any theater you've seen or done or want to be interviewed about. My guest today. Guest today is Jessica Osborne, star of the delightful production of Shirley Valentine, directed by Colleen Neary McClure for West End Productions, which runs May 29th to June 14th at North Forth Center for the Arts. Get your tickets for Shirley Valentine using the link in the podcast notes or at WestEndProctions.org. Shirley Valentine was written during what I call the golden age of pond crossing theater in the 20th century when mega hits crossed the Atlantic in both directions, like Les Miserables, Chess, Le Liaison d'Anjerouse, Evita, Cats, Nine, Sunday in the Park with George, and of course, Willie Russell's fabulous play, Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine. Of course, two fabulous dramadies written by Willie Russell, Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine. Shirley Valentine won Tony Awards on Broadway for its original British star, Pauline Collins, who later also starred in a lavish movie version of Shirley Valentine, set primarily in Greece. And fun fact, while Pauline Collins was filming the movie, the Hollywood star Ellen Burston took over her role in the Broadway run of Shirley Valentine. It's a solo one-woman show that has been described by actresses who tackle the role as a 52-page monologue. Pretty impressive. Our inaugural episode of our second year of podcasting is with Jessica Osborne, who plays the lead in Shirley Valentine. Welcome, Jessica. I'm sure you're having a busy week getting ready for opening night.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

It is a busy week, yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Well, congratulations on first of all on the role, second of all, on the production and the upcoming opening. I remember loving seeing the movie with Pauline Collins many years ago. Um especially the Greek, the Greek scenery. I'm getting old, but Greece is still on my bucket list.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Oh, you should go. It's exactly how it looks in the pictures. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Yeah. So have you been you've been to Mykonos?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Uh where I think this is Crete. Crete. And I've been to Santorini. Um so Santorini is the Santorini is the one that you see in all the pictures with like the white buildings, and like it's technically um on an old um, well no, an active volcano. Um, but um, so they've they've had to like rebuild it up actually, like since the 1950s, but it has those traditional like white buildings and the bright blue and all of that stuff. So when you think of Greece, what you're actually seeing is Santorini usually.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Um, so I've been those two places, and I went there not last year, but the year before. Um, and I did my own little Shirley Valentine adventure.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

That's great. That's great. Very impressive. Well, thank you for that bit of background. And it's a one-woman show um opening this Friday, May 29th, at the fabulous West End Productions. It runs for a few weeks, and uh tickets will be available on the link in the podcast notes. So, first of all, Jessica, thank you for joining us. You're in the middle of a very busy week.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Yes, but you've made time.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

You've made time for us and for your podcast fans. Um, how's the show going?

SPEAKER_00 5:03

It's actually going really well. I mean, I I I've I've done the show once before about 10 years ago. So I was kind of hoping that it would be there in my archives, you know. Um, and uh and it we've we've spent a lot of time going like re-going over the text, obviously. Um, and it has helped to have that previous knowledge of the show to get to this point. And so when we jumped into rehearsals, I really did feel ready for an audience, which was really nice to like come into the full-blown rehearsals feeling at that stage. So yeah, I feel ready. I'm ready to to start actually chatting with the audience and having a good time with them.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

So that's wonderful. Just from that brief glimpse you gave us, your voice, your manner of speaking, it's like, as we said in New York, it's like butter. I feel transported already. That's great. For our our other listeners who don't uh maybe know your background, what could what do you want to share about your origin story and and what made you the Jessica Osborne who is uh got her name in lights today?

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Gosh. Um well I lived uh obviously I'm from England, obviously. I am a northerner like Shirley, not from the same place, but the opposite side of the of the country. Um when I was 16, I went to drama school in London at a place called Italia Conte. And um yeah, so when I um when I I fell in love and I lived with an American and I ended up moving over here to the States and I sort of lucked into the theater community and the film community pretty early on, um, actually. Um, and I used to bash around with some of the, you know, old UNM theater program people or people that had just graduated with that and originally was sort of hanging out at the Vortex, doing some sketch comedy shows and and things like that. Um, and then I moved away for a little while um to LA and I did a little stint there, like, you know, doing some work over there. And then I decided to come back because I missed the creative element that I always found here in Albuquerque. There was something that just kept you going. And like the minute I landed back in Albuquerque, I got asked to do uh a web series, I got asked to do multiple plays, a couple of readings, and you know, I just felt like I was constantly doing things. I got I was part of a musical improv trope over at the box for a minute there. And um I became in a Western, I became a member of the company member of for Ox Dog Theatre, and I was there for quite a few years doing a bunch of plays there and musicals. Um, and then uh when Western started up, that was right after I directed Colleen in um Mothers and Sons over at the Ox Dog, and she was like, you know, we want to do English plays and tell them how, you know, our we see it, because of course, you know, we've lived there, we've grown up with it, so we want to be able to tell them the way we see it. And I was like, yeah, absolutely. And then she went, so here's Shirley Valentine. And I went, okay, sure. Let's do a 52-page monologue. Why not? Um, but it was it was really great timing for me because I I felt like I'd had a lot of growth in all of the types of roles that I'd done, and I hadn't done a one-woman show before. And it was, you know, the ultimate challenge. It's funny, it's charming, it's vulnerable, it's there's exciting moments, there's dark moments, you know, like there's just it's just such a full gamut for an actor to to dig their teeth into. And and now coming back at it again, I feel like I only sunk my teeth into it like barely, you know, like like a tiny millimeter in last time. And now I feel like I'm actually getting to take a big chunk out of the apple. So yeah, that's me.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

That's wonderful. Yeah, that's really wonderful how revisiting a role can be so different. I I've revisited plays and been in different roles in a in a revisit, but never revisited a role. But this is maybe a um a role that it can is conducive to that. Um, so well, first of all, I want to ask you, many actors are scared of the one person show, the solo show. Did you have any trepidation about, oh, can I handle a show all by myself? Um, or maybe it's not your first, maybe surely Valentine number one wasn't your first solo show. What the art of the solo show, can you can you de um terrify that first other us other actors?

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Well, for me, um, so I was always very into comedy. You know, I'd started with sketch comedy and and some improv a little bit. And then as an old friend of mine, Rusty Brotherhood, who's involved with like sketch comedy that I did, he's a stand-up around town. And he was, he would, he ran a stand-up competition called the I can't remember what it's called now, but um uh third Thursdays, it was called. And he would do a competition every every week and basically have people come out and basically compete for the best comic in that night. And he kept going, you should come, Jess, you should come, you should come, you know, you should come do this. And I was like, No, no, like this I act, I have a script, like that's what I do. Um, and he's like, But you'd be great. And I was like, no. But then one day I I turned 30 and I went, you know what? I'm gonna do shit that scares me. I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try. So I wrote a story about my grandma, my great grandma, and um, and I thought, well, it's just like a monologue, isn't it? You know, and so I went and I did it, and I caught the stand-up bug for a little while. So I have been doing a little bit of stand-up here and there in town and in LA and like in London and stuff, and I'd sort of like been toying with actually talking with the audience already. So so it was kind of a natural progression in a way to do a one-woman show. Like I had I'd done plays with multiple people, I'd done musicals with lots of people, I'd done a two-person show, a couple of two-handers. And one of the scariest things about being on stage when you're with with with other people is that you don't know what's gonna happen, what they're gonna do. And in there's there's like a double-edged sword, like in some ways, they might pick up and like bring you along for the ride and like you know, save you if you go in trouble. But then sometimes when it's not your fault and you're like, I don't know what to do, how can I help? You know, I had one particular play where we uh we knew we weren't particularly confident on a particular section of the script because we'd never it had been under-rehearsed. So we had the script like behind on the counter on this on the stage. And and I didn't say much in the scene. I would go like, uh-huh. Yep. And the other person had like all the monologues, you know, and I'd be like, Yeah, that sounds good. Like tiny one-word pieces. So I when he got and I saw that they got lost, I went, Oh crap, like I have I have nothing to say. And I remember like running behind the counter and like flipping through the script, trying to desperately find like where they were and trying to help them that way. So there was I had some really scary moments, you know, doing a two-hander, and I thought, you know, I I thought, you know what, I don't I don't I'm gonna have to save myself. And and like that part was kind of both terrifying but also freeing because if I screwed up, it's all my fault and I gotta fix it. Um, which is also the kind of lesson you learn when you're doing stand-up. You know, if something bums, you just gotta pull the audience back, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

So um I felt like at that particular stage I did it, I felt like I was ready to embark on that conversation with the audience. And it felt actually a lot more easy because it wasn't my words, it was somebody else's words who had crafted it and I'd written it so well. You know, Willie Russell is a wonderful writer. So, like knowing that that you had that amazing, funny text to lean on and not my own words, that that felt a lot more safe for me, you know.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Yeah, yeah, interesting. It could be terrifying to have your own words um not road tested and having them to support you. So tell us, Jessica. Shirley Valentine, for those who don't know, it's a story of a person who is uh turning an age and and deciding to change their life, right? Am I right about that?

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Essentially, yeah. I mean, yeah, I the way I see it is you know, she takes stock of where she's at in life and and and yeah, she basically decides, you know what, no, I'm gonna do something about it. And I think that is essentially, you know, what the midlife crisis is, really, isn't it, half the time? Sometimes people run away from it and bury their head, and then some people go, you know what, no, I'm gonna make a change, and they make that change, and it's it's quite terrifying, and it's but it's quite brave. Um so you kind of see her struggle, you know, in the beginning of like, well, this is just how life is, isn't it? You know, and then uh and then when she actually when you see that she's she's about to make the change, she decides that she's gonna do it, and you're like, will she? Will she? And then you know, and then the third check, you actually finally see that she made a change, and uh and what that has then meant. Because of course, even making the change doesn't mean all the problems you know go away. You still have things that get pulled up by when you're making that change. In fact, some way in some ways you become even more vulnerable, you know. So yeah, it's a wonderful journey, and I think it's uh it's a very good lesson for anyone that's sort of felt stuck in their life, you know, especially after we've all experienced the isolation of you know, the COVID situation, um, and like that ability to break back out in in be sociable and and learn how to navigate a new life, a new world, a new career or a new relationship, etc. Um, I think we can all kind of relate to the isolationists that she was feeling because we've lived it now. So that's quite unique. Um, and I'm I'm sure the majority of us, at least at this stage, unless they're pretty young, have had one of those relationships that just didn't work and wasn't working.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

And taking that brave step to step away from it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

Yeah, that's great. And sometimes I don't know if it's a a young person thing or later in life, we we need the permission to change our life. I almost said a word I don't like to use, which is curate our life. That feels snobby to me, but um, you know, it's important to choose your life and not just go along for the ride. And I think that's kind of what the writer of Shirley Valentine is saying. Like be active and participate because you know, um, you only have so much time on this blue marble, yeah. And uh you know, and she ch she I think chooses some of the bluest part of the blue marble. So tell us about that. Do you show she what is it? She goes to Greece or something?

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Yes, yeah, she gets the opportunity to go on holiday for free to Greece.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Oh, for free.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Yeah, a friend pays for the ticket for her, and so that's that's the thing, you know, like sometimes we feel like sometimes it just takes that catalyst, doesn't it? And so she has a catalyst to make that decision to go to Greece. And um yeah, so we get to see her in that environment and and how how you know how that particular journey goes, which is not perfect. It's not, you know, it is wonderful, but also, you know, she has a lot of self-reflection moments. I mean, I think that I think we all when we've hopefully we've all had the experience of being by the ocean. If they have, if we haven't, then I you know, I'm sad for someone, but um there is something very um reflective when you're sitting in front of the ocean and in the calmness, and it sort of makes you go in to yourself and sort of think about everything. And she she has that moment and and uh she learns a lot about herself, about what she likes, what she doesn't like, what she'll put up with, what she won't put up with, and it's sort of a very freeing moment for her when she gets to to Greece.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Yeah. And I imagine it's a lot of comedy knowing Willie Russell, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Oh, absolutely, the whole thing. Even if you're crying, you're gonna be laughing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Oh, wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Yeah, there's definitely highs and lows, and there's definitely like moments where you know she's she's crying, but even through that, there's comedy, you know, right? She makes a laugh in a joke every single minute, you know. So yeah, it's it's a delight. He's a delight. I'm so grateful that I got to play with his words because and I've gotten to do it twice now. I got to do educating Rita a while back as well with with West End. And and it it's just his words are beautiful, like how he writes women so well is incredible, you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Yeah. Wow. I remember years ago, I mean, literally decades ago, seeing someone do educating Rita, and I remember laugh crying in that. And and I and I think that's a little bit of a trademark of this author. So how wonderful, and how wonderful that you've gotten to do it and revisit it. Um one of the things I, you know, I always wonder like uh where at what point in a visit to a foreign land do people say, oh, I think I am a little more at home here. Like it's not day one of a visit or a vacation, but maybe a few days in you're like, oh, I I get the groove of this place. Does that happen for her right away, Shirley? Or does it does it take a while for her to kind of get her feet under her in Greece?

SPEAKER_00 19:24

I don't think I don't think it happens right away. Um I don't want to give too much of the play away, but it's not exactly what she thought it was gonna be when she gets there. Um and uh so she's she's she goes from feeling alone in her own home, surrounded by people to being on holiday feeling alone, surrounded by people. So you know that the the lesson there is that you know that you have to change you as well. You can't just move the circumstances to a different place. Um so th those first few days is not it's not all sunshine and roses, you know, but she does find her groove and she meets new people, she takes a risk, and um and she takes a pretty huge risk for for somebody of her life and you know, of her lifestyle and and and background. And and when she takes that risk, that's when she realizes I could I could jive here. But I also like part of me wonders also is because she stays there because that's where she took the risk. You know, would she still be the same if she went back home? So um yeah, it's interesting. Everything's speculation, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

That's great. You're you're making me feel like I need to go to Greece. And this is specifically Mykonos, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Uh Greece, or is it they don't actually ever specify which island she's actually um but I would assume Mykonos um it well no, I don't I don't know because I think Mykonos now you're not actually you can't stay there. It's a visiting island, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

I could um yeah, you know, and something tells me after seeing this play, a lot of people are gonna be booking tickets to Greece.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

I hope they do. I hope they do. Yeah, it is a great place. I I like I said before to you, I have I have been able to go there once and like it was wonderful. It really was. It was such you could really you could really get the essence of like how the Greek mythology came to pass because like being able to see somebody on the mountaintop, like just in the distance, like I could imagine them thinking, oh my god, that's a god, you know, because it looks so far up, and yet you can see there's a human being up there. Um, same with like the water, like you can see the water like skimming across, and like like the dew looks like little sprites. So I was like, Oh, that's When nymphs and sprites, you know, idea came from. And it looks like they're chasing each other because of the way the wind flows, the water. And it's really cool. Really cool.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Such a great experience. I definitely recommend it. So go book your tickets.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody go to Greece. I wish we had a sponsor who's a travel agent and then they can throw Jessica a free ticket to Greece. And thank you. Maybe we'll work on that. Anyway, are you a lot alike? A lot similar to Shirley or a lot different? And how did you make the journey from Jessica to Shirley?

SPEAKER_00 22:46

You know, so like I don't have kids and I I have two dogs. They're my babies. I did, however, have a marriage that didn't work. And uh so when I first did the show, that was a little bit more fresh. So I was able to pull from some of those experiences and some of those feelings to relate to her. Um but I've I've never been really stuck in the house talking to the wall. Um so that even even in the isolation that we had with with COVID, I always had a very robust social life. So that part was something that I I think was was was diff difficult at first for me to sort of really really understand because I've always been quite a sociable person, but I am also a little bit of introvert. So when I get my alone time, I kind of like my alone time. Um so finding the parallels between her and me, that was where like where what I had to sort of go on the journey to find, you know, because I think in some ways she does kind of enjoy her alone time, but it is obviously quite oppressive because she doesn't feel like she has anyone that she can truly talk to. Um, so that part I I have been blessed that I've I've usually had somebody that I can talk to. But when I first did the show, I was surrounded by lots and lots of friends. And this particular go-around, um, I've started I've been working from home for the past, you know, five years now. And even though one of my housemates worked with me, and like even though I still had a social life, there definitely was a couple of moments where, you know, and this is um where I was like, I genuinely don't know who to talk to about this. So I definitely had a couple of moments that made me reconnect in a different, more tightly intimate way this time with Shirley. Um and I think we've all had the friend that inspired us, but then also let us down. And um Jane is is one of those people for her. So I I definitely could could relate to that because I've definitely had a couple of friends that I thought were were closer than they actually were, and then they disappeared, you know. Um Shane doesn't disappear, but the the relationship, the dynamic changes, and you know, so when you have that transition, so there's definitely a lot of me in there, but I would definitely say there's a lot about Shirley that's very her and uniquely her.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Yeah, that's great. Well, and of course, you probably well, I don't know, maybe you do you do you speak in a slightly different dialect or accent to be Shirley than you do right now in in daily life? Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Yeah, I mean, so you know, ironically, a friend of mine played Shirley in London, and and she used to go, you sound so American. And um, but because we both came from a similar area of of England, but where uh where we're from, it is a similar sound-ish. Um, it's just definitely got some tonality differences. There's definitely some um placement slight differences, and um and uh so yeah, that there's similarities but but different as well, you know. So yes, I definitely have a Shirley voice, shall we say?

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Yeah. What what's a phrase that you would say differently than Shirley would say it? Can you say some uh a sentence to two different ways for for us?

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Um well she's she has there's a there is one of my favorite phrases where she goes, you know, I know this sounds a bit soft. Um and I I I would probably go, I know this sounds a bit daft or stupid, you know. So I there's you know, the when you kind of know the dialect and the words of what she's meaning, obviously I can translate it, hopefully, through my meanings, but but yeah, we we don't really say that. Um and uh trying to think if there's anything else in there. Can't nothing else is coming off the top of my head, but because we're both from up north, there is a lot that is very, very similar. You know, my my town does have a whole lot of different phrases though, and I was surprised that in Shirley there is a term where she compares herself to um somebody out of the bagwash, and I thought that that was specific to my town, so it was kind of surprising to hear it come out of somebody from Liverpool, and just so for those that of you that don't know what that means, the bagwash is basically it was a laundrette, so it basically the all the all the older ladies that had tea bags for their under their eyes because they were so tired from life, they would it was the old bag washing place, so like and I always thought that that was a specific term that was just to leave ups and grimsby where I'm from, but apparently it's also in Liverpool.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

So that's great. Well, most Americans probably wouldn't discern the difference between a London and a Liverpool, but you come from the same town as the Beatles for our American audience to know. Do you know any Beatles? Have you ever met a Beetle?

SPEAKER_00 28:28

No, no, but I I do know I do know a couple of Scouses. I had a friend from Birkenhead, and and I uh and I've got a friend from central Liverpool. So I I had a couple of people that I was able to go, you know. This says child wall. Well, how do you say that? Or chill wall. Oh, okay, doesn't read the same way, but okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Um, you know, yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

No actual Beatles.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

Yeah, yeah. So uh tell us some some of the particulars of working on this production. You were directed by Colleen. And uh who else is involved? Designers or costumers or any of that stuff?

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Uh yes, we've got Rhonda Bakanoff who's done the costumes. Um, we've got Samantha who is backstage helping us um sort of run the props masters and all that stuff, and I've got Kelly, who's our stage manager, and her husband Milde is doing the lights and the sound cues in the booth. So we've got a really solid team, and then Ryan Jason Cook designed the set, and uh Dean Swift painted the set.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

And so, yes, also good, they're both phenomenal. Yeah, both great.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

Yeah, very blessed to have them. And uh Ryan actually um did uh did the set for us on the first show as well. So he got to revisit his work and adjust and tweak based on what he now felt, you know. So that was kind of cool. Um in a different space as well. Yeah, yeah, they've got a rotating set, which is cool.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Oh my goodness, that's great. So it's at North Fourth Art Center on uh on four fourth street. And is it oh, I can't remember the cross street. Gregos, thank you. And it'll be running three weekends starting this weekend and running through the 14th. You have matinees on Sunday at two o'clock, yes, and on Friday and Saturday, uh they are at 7:30. Great. I'm so excited. Um, I've never read the play, but I loved the movie when it came out, and I think seeing a person do the do it live and in the flesh is even more exciting. Um it's this is great. So, and then is there anything you want our um burgeoning audience to know about um where you might pop up again in other shows or other venues? Um, I know you maintain uh uh some sort of a channel on social media. Uh where could people find and follow you?

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Um, that's a good question. I don't know that information. Um my YouTube channel is um at Funky Monty1. Um so if if I have anything happening, um I do try to put something there. Um and uh my Instagram is just at Jessica Osborne. Um same with my Facebook. So if you want to see what's happening, I I I do put many marketing things going on there.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

But um but we'll put all that in our episode notes so people can find you and uh and what else?

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Yeah, but now I've actually like I'm I'm pretty much I'm I'm I've primarily moved back to the UK at this point now, so this will be kind of one of my last shows in Albuquerque. Um unless uh unless I happen to be in town for work because I I work in the film industry, so sometimes the film industry has been pulling me back, and I've got a put a couple of potential projects that I'm hoping happen here. So if it coincides with a good time, then I might, you know, might do another show here, but timing's always gonna be weird.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

So that's great. So do you have you uh or do you like to uh do film in the day in theater at night, or is it just too much?

SPEAKER_00 32:19

I mean, I am uh, you know, like I I'm working on a film right now that's just been rapping from Texas and or two films that are rapping in from Texas, and um yeah, so I do. I I work in the day, um, rehearse at night. Um when I'm in the UK, I'm working at night, rehearsing in the day because of the time zone. Um but yeah, so it's it's been interesting, it's been interesting to to match the journeys because you know, film schedules can be a little crazy, and so depending on the project itself, I've had to be very discerning about can I handle a project at this time and you know, um, and so far I've managed to do it sometimes, not as much as what I used to do when I was older, definitely. When I was younger, I mean now that I'm older, it's a little harder for sure.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Yeah. Well, and if if you're someone with a big role, they'll make it work.

unknown 33:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

That's great. That's great. Well, I I I'm I'm a little melancholy to hear that you're departing because I was thinking I'd love to work with uh Jessica Osborne now that I know her, but um we'll just have to keep our eyes open for that opportunity next time you're back. And do you are you like sort of regularly here on a seasonal schedule or only when there's a project?

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Well, I don't know what that's gonna be yet because this is the you know, I've just made that change. So um yeah, my a friend of mine who also is in the theater world, she said, you can just do a one play a year, Jess. Come back for one play a year. So I don't know. Well, why if I did that, I'd have to know that we're booked and scheduled for a specific thing so I could plan my year around it. But you know, yeah. Um, but so yeah, I'm just at the moment I'm playing it by ear because like I said, uh so far I've been I've been back in the UK for about six months and all of my work has been US based.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

So um oh interesting, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Yeah, so we'll see we'll see what the future brings there.

SPEAKER_02 34:23

Um and so uh could you share sort of uh a bucket list of projects in case someone were to want to lure you back to New Mexico by producing a show you you knew you wanted to be in? What what would be on the bucket list?

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Oh gosh. Um I mean I'm always down gosh, that's hard. I'm not very good at knowing like plays. I know that sounds terrible. I usually like get to learn to know them from what people have said, hey, take a look at this, or or I've gone to see it, you know. Um let's see. We did a play called Burn This, and that was pretty fantastic, but I don't think I'm right for the role anymore, so there's that. Um yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

I mean You mentioned early on uh a few minutes ago that you did some improvisational mu music improvisational theater. Do you do do you do singing and dancing musical kind of things?

SPEAKER_00 35:32

I do, I do. Um yeah, I played uh Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors and Sister Amnesia in Nonsense. And I would love to do Sister Amnesia again. Like she was so much fun. She is one of the characters that I I had just a blast doing. Um, so yeah, I I think if something came up like that, I know like at one point we um Colleen and I talked about doing Blood Brothers, and that is something that I think I would love to to sink my topic. Um, yeah, that's one of the I've always sort of like wanted to do. And I would love, I would have loved to have played around with like mean girls or something like that, but I think I'd probably get old for that now.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

Um well if I may say I believe there's more than one mean girls production going up, and Albuquerque is coming up.

SPEAKER_00 36:22

There is so you may have your choice of choice of poisons there, but um yeah, and there is I'm trying to think. Oh, uh, there was a play called Closer that's a four people play Harold Pinter. I've always wanted to delve into that, that always looks very interesting. Yeah. Um, I just remember reading it like a long time ago and being like, oh, this is this, you could sink some teeth into this. I because I love playing with silence. Like I love I love that awkward pause. I love playing with that.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Um and there was that's and that takes some expertise, I must add. Yes, playing with Pinter Silence is not for the faint-hearted, it takes a really practiced hand, which I'm sure you are. Uh it scared me when I was younger to to have to do Pinter, but it's I agree with you. It's it's really fun. It is what we work with in the theater, the silences.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Yeah. There was a marvelous play that I saw in New York called, I think it was, I think it was The Greyhouse, I think, with um oh god, I'm so terrible. Um Lori Matcalf. Lori Matcalf, yeah. Um and she was incredible. It was in it was very simultaneously meta and realistic and very theatrical. Um and it was a wonderful, wonderful play. And and I bring that one up because it made me remember the silence, like the whole beginning was completely silent for about five minutes, and it was watching a masterclass in managing silence on stage, you know, with what everything that they were directed to do and how they were being in this moment. And yeah, that would be an interesting challenge to play with. Um, and I did way like way back, one of the first couple of plays that I had uh directed was um Dangerous Liaisons and and Hedda Gabler. And and at the time it was I loved being on the other side of that to like delve into that with the actor, but I think now, um, at least for dangerous liaisons, I would love to take a stab at Motoy now. I think now I'm at the right place age-wise, that it might actually work. And uh I've got enough life experience that I'd love to play with that. So I guess those there's a there is a couple. I found a couple. Yay!

unknown 38:41

That's great.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

Well, can I do what we call lightning round with you? Uh, ask you some questions, and you just give us your quickest answer without a lot of thought. Uh with your permission, of course.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

I will give the shot.

SPEAKER_02 38:55

Okay. First role you ever played as a wee young thing.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Oh, Alice Fitzwarren. No, that's not technically true. Uh so um actually the first role I played, I can't actually remember the name of the character, but I played a um a young girl, 13-year-old, it was when I was 13, in a movie that was about um drug use in communities, and I believe it's still playing in England. Um, but the first role that I remember actually getting on stage was um if professionally was as Fitzwarren, and that was uh pantomime, uh British pantomime, um Dick Whittington. Um and she was the love interest on that. Oh fabulous. That's great.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

Okay, um, favorite role you've ever played?

SPEAKER_00 39:47

Poetry, little shop of horrors.

SPEAKER_02 39:50

Yeah, wonderful. Where did you do that?

SPEAKER_00 39:52

At the ox dog.

SPEAKER_02 39:54

Okay, oh, here in town, yeah. Great.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Yeah, before it closed down.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

I could have done that forever. I could have done that for I'd happily have done it for a year. Uh, the cast was incredible, the crew and the team was incredible. Like it just we had a blast. We had people coming back to the city. Who was your Seymour? Um, it was Tim McCalpin.

SPEAKER_02 40:14

Oh, I know Tim very well. We just did Mary Poppins together. Oh, thanks a couple weeks ago, a few weeks ago.

SPEAKER_00 40:20

And who was your moshnik.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

Yeah, okay. Yeah. What about your dentist?

SPEAKER_00 40:27

Oh, that was Brian Lamb. Um, he's um he hasn't done as much theater in recent years, but he's a local magician, actually now. But he was wonderful, he was very fun. And in our version, um, he also played all of the other little male main characters that would come through. Okay. So if there was a role, he played them. So he would like dress up in a you know, um, an old lady's outfit, or he would be like, you know, just another person in the customer shop. So like he rotated all of those little roles. It was a true sort of you know, off-Broadway style version of the show that we did.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

Almost like 39 steps or one of those twice.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

That's on my bucket list. I've always wanted to do that show.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, that was great. That's yeah. I would you which role would you play?

SPEAKER_00 41:13

There's only one role for a woman.

SPEAKER_02 41:15

Well, the I I personally feel the two clowns could be any gender, but uh, I don't know if others agree with me.

SPEAKER_00 41:23

Yeah, I've only ever seen it with you know, with one woman and two men. But I guess, yeah, I mean, to be fair, you are playing multiple characters, so yeah, you could do it either way. I guess I don't I wouldn't really mind. I think because you get to just jump into different characters and play so many fun roles, I think it would be cool.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

And and the uh the the traditional female role in that is actually three characters at least, three three main characters who are um both uh all distinct. Um, so yeah, great, great show. Uh oh, I hope you get that chance. I think that's great. Okay, continuing the light lightning round. This is a tough one.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

What's a role that you absolutely hated, or that caused you to learn something very difficult?

SPEAKER_00 42:09

Colleen will hate me for this. Um, I really hated playing Ma in Da um because she was mean. She was um, and and I I found it really hard to relate to her, and so I really struggled playing her. Um, and what I learned is that I don't like being the anti-hero, like I don't like being the antagonist. Of course, now I think I might take a different view, but I if it depends on the kind of show it is, you can take great pleasure in being the bad guy, but I was the bad guy, and I really didn't like playing the bad guy.

SPEAKER_02 42:48

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's tough. I I agree with that. It's um it's hard to know that you're the bearer of the audience's um negative hate. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, okay, and final lightning run question. What is a special skill that you had to pick up sight unseen for a role?

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Ben chosen.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 43:16

For since for sister amnesia. And I mean, I don't know if I I I don't I wouldn't say that I became amazing at it because I definitely know my jaw moves when I say, but um, but what I because she talks through her puppet. So um I had to sing, well, I am talking, you know, like that. So um it was one of those things that I didn't know that I had any skill related to it at all. But when I was uh I used to be um in dance competitions as a kid, I was quite a good dancer, and um and we would be standing there waiting for a adjudication, like holding our numbers and uh you know, having to be presentable, and we used to just sit. Of talk to each other through our smiles as we were standing on stage, and so we got used to just not moving our mouths much, you know, so that they didn't think we were talking. And uh so it was a skill that I didn't really know that I had, but like I and I had to cultivate it and work on it, of course, to play Systomnesia and and the puppetry, like I guess that goes hand in hand with it, the puppetry of being then manipulating this as the distraction from the fact that your jaw's still moving slightly.

SPEAKER_02 44:34

Yeah, yeah. You know, and what a lot of people don't understand is that ventriloquism requires very good diction. You just have to hide it.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

Yeah, yeah. The hardest ones are M and P because those ones you you actually use your mouth with. So you're trying to P, you're like trying to M, you know, you're trying not to move it as much, but using your teeth instead. So it was a huge, huge, like great, it's great practice for your addiction, you know. In fact, it's become one of my warmups is to to sing one of her songs to try to make sure that all my my tongue is moving around um rather than just my mouth, you know. So yeah, it's become part of my warm-up now. It's like one of the things I do is sing through the the whole nonsense musical before I go on show.

SPEAKER_02 45:26

An actress work is never done, and then there's no work like balance. That's great. Any last thoughts you want to leave the audience with?

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Um come, you're gonna have a great time, you know. Um, both men and women are gonna really relate to this because I think everybody's been in a situation where they needed to get out and they needed to make a change, and that is the most universally understandable thing about this play. And it's funny as hell. You're gonna laugh. You're gonna cry. It's a comedy.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

I can't wait. I can't wait to see it. It'll be so great. Well, thank you very much, Jessica. Uh triple threat quadruple threat, quintruple threat, actor, singer, dancer, writer, director, Jessica Osborne. It's been wonderful getting to know you a little bit. Congratulations. And have a good yeah, have a great run in in Shirley Valentine starting Friday, the twenty-ninth.

SPEAKER_01 46:19

Thanks a lot. See you later. Thank you. Bye.