It was just after 11pm in the UK when ArtsHub phoned the Wales Millenium Centre to speak to actor Owain Arthur, the star of the National Theatre of Great Britain’s One Man, Two Guvnors, the multi-award winner West End and Broadway hit play once described by a Daily Mail critic as ‘the funniest show in the western world’. One Man, Two Guvnors is heading Down Under as part of Great Britain Arts 13’s program, which will showcase the finest arts and culture from the UK throughout the year.
Arthur was in good spirits, despite confessing he was ‘in a bit of a shock’ after an ‘outstanding’ performance in a theatre filled with more than 1000 patrons. ‘The reaction I got here tonight was incredible. Apart from the first night ever, this is the most apprehensive I have been,’ explained the Welsh actor who had just returned home to perform after wowing critics and audiences since taking over the role of ‘sandwich-loving man’ Francis Henshall from one of the UK’s most popular comedy stars, James Corden, as his understudy.
‘It was the first time that I got paid to be an understudy. For some actors it is a tough pill to swallow, but I saw it as an opportunity to be able to play a leading role in the West End.’
Arthur knew he would have the chance to shine in at least four performances during their London season and whenever skeptics insisted in reminding him ‘it was only understudying,’ the actor could see nothing but a great opportunity to work with an incredible cast, a respected director, Nicholas Hytner, and one of the world’s most prestigious theatre companies.
‘You get to understudy a brilliant part in an amazing play and that’s the main reason I did it,’ he explained.
An experienced actor, Arthur has to blame his grandmother for his love of the craft. He was still in primary school when she offered to pay for afterhours drama lessons. ‘I think she must have seen something in me to suggest that but I did it anyway; I enjoyed it and carried on with it. It’s been been a snowball effect ever since.’
Arthur was only 11 when he was cast in the soap opera Rownd A Rownd, although his role was meant to be only temporary, he ended up working in the show for 9 years. Would this be something we could talk about or would he react like Melissa George if we touched on the subject?
‘Don’t you worry, we know about Neighbours and Home & Away here! I grew up with Home & Away and Neighbours. In fact, I’m going to bust a gut to try and be an extra in Home & Away when I’m in Australia. We’ll see how we go,’ he says following it up with his contagious and distinctive laugh.
As far as Rownd A Rownd goes, Arthur believes it has contributed to his success as an actor today.
‘I have no qualms about what I’ve done in my life; regrets I have a few, but then again too few to mention, to quote Frank Sinatra,’ he laughs. ‘For me, from a very young age it is where I’ve learnt my craft and so I have nothing but admiration and I’m grateful for what they did to me, because it was a starting block for me and they developed me as an actor; so I don’t think an actor could ever be ashamed of work they’ve done in their careers because even if you think it’s a good job or a bad job you still learn from it.’
Following his long stint on TV, Arthur went on to hone his craft at one of the UK’s most renowned acting schools, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. ‘From there, I got an agent, and the rest is history basically.’
As an understudy in One Man, Two Guvnors, Arthur filled in for Corben only the four times he was promised at first, and got asked to take over by director Nicholas Hytner during the interval of his first night performing the role.
‘It is a fairytale. I doubt that has ever happened to anyone to have been cast in an interval like that.’
His performance won rave reviews and after touring locally in the UK, the actor will now lead the cast on an international tour through Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It’s every understudy’s dream come true. So what exactly is Arthur’s secret?
‘I think that understudies try and mimic the person they’re understudying and I didn’t do that. I wanted to put my own stamp on it, I wanted to be myself in the role as well, so the advice I give is try as best as you can to make the part your own, forget who you are understudying when you’re on stage and just go for it.’
It seems to have paid off. Even the queen herself turned up to enjoy one of Arthur’s early performances. He jokes that while his favourite artists only got to perform for four minutes to His Majesty at the Royal Variety show, he got her attention for a whole two hours and 10 minutes. ‘That’s when it daunted me how fortunate I was to perform in front of her and to have made her laugh as well because the word back from the palace was that she enjoyed it immensely.’
Fortunately for Australians, it seems that a much better performance is in store. ‘You’ll get to see a better performance than the queen saw. You will! There’s no two ways about this because, with comedy especially, you perfect things. You learn what gets best reactions, what works basically, you tweak things and try and see how things work out best; and yes, definitely, by the time we come to Australia the show will be at its peak.’
’To be able to take that to the other side of the world is going to be an experience, good or bad, I’m not going to predict anything or jinx it in any way but I think we’ll all learn from it and evolve with it and I have a sneaky feeling in my belly that is going to be a good one, a cracker.’
One Man, Two Guvnors is an updated version of Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters and its title is pretty self-explanatory. It’s comedy at its simplest and most physical.
‘It’s done with good taste and Nicholas Hytner, Cal McCrystal and Richard Dean have impeccable taste and I think that the combination of the three of them has just come up with this amazing recipe for a play.’
‘I have never said this about another job that I’ve done on stage. If you like the theatre definitely definitely come and see this. If you don’t love the theatre definitely definitely definitely definitely come and see this,’ he adds.
ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS
Sydney Theatre Company : 30 Mar – 11 May 2013
Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse : 17 May – 22 Jun 2013
Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide: 28 Feb – Mar 9 as part of the Adelaide Festival.
For more information about GREAT Britain Arts 2013 visit greatarts13.org.au or check out our dedicated Festival Focus.
