The “Family” Man

Coral Drouyn talks to actor Michael Dalton just one week out from the opening of the Australian Premiere of Jimmie Chinn’s play A Different Way Home.

Jimmie Chinn was a prolific “Soap” writer in the UK, well known for shows like Emmerdale and Coronation Street. It makes sense that he was drawn to the medium because serial TV is about family stories, and characters, and the need to connect with each other. But he was also a teacher, an actor, a director and a playwright. Chinn’s plays are more literate, more funny, more poignant but just as much concerned with family connection – how to find it, how to cherish it, even how to live without it. He wrote 19 stage plays, but many more for radio, which was his first love. He died in 2011 and by that time the play A Different Way Home was already in actor Michael Dalton’s safe hands, but he didn’t feel ready to do it. It’s a pity the playwright didn’t have a chance to see Dalton play BOTH roles in this two hander, which has only once before been played by one actor.

Michael Dalton – Actor – isn’t a name that instantly springs to mind with theatregoers, despite the fact that he was playing the title role in Oliver! in the West End of London when he was only nine. The reason we don’t know Michael so well is that a woman moved in and took over his life – that woman is a bit of a Diva, but wildly attractive, called Dolly Diamond.

“I realise that people have different reactions to ‘Drag’ performers,” Michael says “But in reality, Dolly is another character that I play, it’s an acting role. True, I have carte blanche with what she says and does, and I have the freedom to break down the fourth wall, to interact with the audience. I can do things through the “Dolly” character and cabaret that ‘legitimate’ acting doesn’t allow for.”

But every now and then an actor needs to test himself, to see how far he can push himself. Barry Humphries found that with Dame Edna, and simply invented other characters. But sometimes the test needs to come from interpretation rather than creation. When Michael read the play he was excited.

“It’s beautifully written, and there’s a lot of black comedy, but the characters can’t be conscious of it. Putting back that wall, living the lives of Leslie and Maureen, through understanding them, meant starting at Ground Zero. It’s a learning process for me. This is a brother and sister who are estranged. A tragedy, a family death, brings them back together. Each of them feels right is on their side, but they have different perceptions of what happened. We all see life differently sometimes and it’s hard to accommodate someone else’s point of view, especially if you don’t communicate what it is. My Director (Zoe Warwick) and I are working very hard at understanding WHY they don’t connect”

I asked Michael which of the two characters he identifies with more, Les or Maureen.

“Strangely enough, I identify with Leslie more, and I didn’t expect that,” he tells me. “I thought Maureen would be easier, but it’s not about just putting on a frock. Exploring Les is giving me more insight into myself. After all, when Dolly gets put back in her box, I am a man after all.”

This promises to be a very exciting night of theatre for Michael, and for the audience. It only plays from 6^th-11^th October 2015, so put it on your list. I shall certainly be there.