More DRAMA this weekend as actor and director Julian Wickham makes his debut as a playwright. Playing With Fire puts the acquired skills of students from his Barcelona-based English Drama School to the test. The play spotlights three of contemporary society’s greatest evils: infidelity, deceit, and facebook. It is, Mr Wickham confessed to lookingfordrama, an autobiographical piece.
Your life …
I trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. I was an actor for a long time in the UK, mainly theatre work, including with the RSC, then I moved into film. Work dried up there, and I prefer theatre … I’m an old-fashioned guy. I moved to Barcelona to bring flair and my experience in theatre to the English-speaking community.
Your school …
We are based at the Spai Mon Theatre in the Gòtic. We do workshops on improvisation, script work and study techniques such as The Method, Alexander and Meisner. Ideally, with more experienced groups, I’d love to do Shakespeare. I work with a movement and a vocal coach, who teaches range and projecting the voice. My students are international English speakers, classes are held in the evenings and cost €10 for a two-hour session.
Your play …
It’s about two women who meet in Barcelona, their relationship and how that changes when a male enters their lives, so, how a fly in the ointment can destroy or build a friendship. It’s funny, yet dark and sinister. It’s based on my experiences and on characters that I met here, notably, a former landlord.
Why act … ?
Confidence, for one. Theatre is physical, dramatic, it requires that you be extrovert and extravagant on stage. In film, by contrast, the slightest change in the face can change a scene and you can have 6 months to get a scene right. With theatre, you have one night to do it.
Anything can happen.
See English Drama School Playing with Fire,
21st and 22nd of January, 8pm
Spai Mon Theatre.
