| Women in theatre: Janet van Eeden speaks to Fiona Ramsay |
Janet van Eeden, Fiona Ramsay
 Watching Fiona Ramsay in a recent revival of The Book Club by Roger Hall one is struck by what a rare treat it is to see a woman performing a one-woman show. The fact that Ramsay is such a consummate actress is one reason why she continues to perform to full houses around the country. But it did make me wonder why so few women seem to have that much quoted term: sustainability.
I asked Ramsay why she thought so few women make it in the South African theatre industry.
Theatre is the most demanding of all disciplines in the arts. It requires considerable stamina, a lot of energy and boundless commitment – but its rewards are immeasurable. When asked which aspect of my profession I enjoy most I draw attention to the film and television award ceremonies – like the Oscars and Emmys - and a look at the theatrical awards – like the Tonys. In the latter event the actors receiving accolades and medals clasp them in workmanlike hands, with faces that have been lived in, voices that have tasted life, and physiques toned more for stamina and power than for glamour. The actors that accept awards for film and television often have delicate hands, thin voices and faces and bodies substantially aided by the advice and knife of the plastic surgeon, and shaped to look great on celluloid.
There are, of course, actors who move comfortably and effortlessly between many genres and mediums in the industry – often due to economic needs rather than artistic ones because, sadly, the theatre is often viewed as the poorest relative in the arts. However, it does remain one that provides the best nourishment.
Many actors return to the stage because it is the "oxygen" of their craft – and one leaves a theatrical experience re-energised; one has reconnected with creativity and rejoiced in the singular and unique experience of the play with the audience and actor as one. An actor has more control in the theatre – what happens in the instant is his/her responsibility – which is so different in television or film, where the actor is the last component or element in a long line of pre-production.
I formed TROUPE THEATRE COMPANY while studying at UCT with fellow students, and it has been the mainstay of my career because it has not only enabled me to initiate my own projects, but also to produce plays of those writers whose work I admire, and to direct, design and nurture. This outlet has been and remains crucial to maintaining my equilibrium within the see-saw world of show business.
To sustain a career in theatre I have had to initiate many projects, I have had to take risks mounting productions on a shoestring, and I have explored and extended some boundaries or limitations of my talent by venturing into areas that casting agents or directors may not readily have seen in me. I have followed my personal dreams of what I want to do with my life in theatre. Once I have conquered one aspect of the arts I always feel ready and curious to take on the challenge of a new one – and that could be a new role or a new direction. The ability and luxury of working in theatre, film, television, teaching, writing, directing, and so on, provides so much stimulation that I just want and have to continue doing it.
So to sum it up, I think you need energy, stamina and commitment, must enjoy risk-taking and challenges, and must have boundless dreams!
It seems as if the lack of good scripts is one reason for women being side-lined. But my play A Matter of Time, which was strongly driven by a woman who took no prisoners, was not a great hit in Grahamstown recently. In fact, when the play was optioned for a film, one male director especially insisted that the first change to be made was that "Sarah" should become "Sam". I survived six gruelling volte faces with this director until I threw in the towel. He was then dumped by the producer – a woman who had liked Sarah initially – and we now have a female director on board and a different version of A Matter of Time is still in development in the UK. What do you think about the quality of scripts available for women?
There are certainly more film scripts these days which are not only written for women, but favour older women. This, I think, is a direct result of actresses becoming true leaders in the arts. There are now more female producers, directors, writers, and so on – and heads of big movie studios are not all cigar-toting chauvinists. More than half the world’s population comprises women and their stories are now held in higher regard and so are being told. The roles for women have emerged as more interesting and more complex, reflecting the emancipation of women since the turn of the century. The developments within the feminist movement have impacted on the subject matter and issues being examined. Icons (and good actresses) like Helen Mirren, Susan Sarandon, Meryl Streep and Dame Judi Dench, for example, all compete well with their youthful counterparts and remain symbols of glamour and guts. In previous eras plays were populated with ordinary people like doctors, lawyers, postmen, butlers and so on, who were invariably male. Now the tide has turned and there are far more women in professions once the domain of the male – now more and more women play these on television and in plays. But as I mentioned earlier, initiating your own project remains the best way to play a new character, explore new territories – either real, emotional or imagined – and often ensures it gets done!
There is another problem which comes up when scripts focus more specifically on women. One's plays may fall into the trap of being classed as the theatrical equivalent of "chick lit". Even the play The Book Club, which sparkles with witticism and is so intelligently written, focuses on the life of a woman going through the empty nest syndrome. You and director Alan Swerdlow adapted it for South African audiences and there was so much to enjoy. And yet I heard a critic say he hates to admit it, but he thinks it is a play for women. I have seen in the film world that a woman can be a central character in a mainstream movie only if she is different or challenged in some way. For example, think of Monster, TransAmerica, Boys Don’t Cry. Otherwise films such as Steel Magnolias, The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and others are definitely classed as chick flicks. I was shocked recently when I tried to get my Scriptwriting students (I lecture part-time in Scriptwriting at UKZN) to watch Thelma and Louise and the young men balked at it. Why do you think that happens?
The global market has become a niche market in many respects, with every minority group being catered for in terms of its culture, entertainment and taste. It is therefore not a surprise that a play like The Book Club – which deals with the life and plight of a middle-class middle-aged woman whose life changes when she joins a book club – should have limited appeal. But if men do come to see it, there is ample examination of and reference to the male psyche in the form of her husband Wally. But I first performed the piece in Johannesburg and Cape Town in 1999 and have toured to other parts of the country and Namibia with it. I do change some references to base and locate the play in the area I am playing it, which evokes an incredible response from the "locals". I revived it seven years later and set it in Durban when I performed at the Hilton Festival recently and was pleased to see that it does not seem to have aged, nor have the issues in the play become passé. It is written with wit and wry humour and that is ultimately what the audience is being asked to relate and respond to. In fact, those words could well be said by a man and adapted! I wonder if someone shouldn’t do it? An interesting observation is that men can get away with making scathing sexist remarks under the banner of comedy, and people laugh – while when women make the same sort of judgements against the other sex, it is seen as cheap and forward, of chick interest only, and usually not as funny.
Going back to you personally, you have had a stellar career. I remember watching plays in Cape Town when I was doing my Honours in Drama and afterwards. You, Richard E Grant, Ian Roberts, Henry Goodman and other luminaries had already formed the Troupe Theatre Company. You used to perform mind-altering plays at The Space and I was a complete devotee. You also spent some years in Britain acting in the West End, am I right? Why did you decide to come back to South Africa, and do you regret that decision in any way?
I came back at the end of 1998 for purely personal reasons, as my career was doing quite nicely in the UK. I enjoyed the stimulation of being in a city so chocful of artistic endeavour and I spent many long happy hours in galleries, theatres and concert halls. I loved working with the National Theatre, working with Tom Stoppard on his acclaimed Arcadia, and then playing Lady Macbeth for three months in London, working in rep and meeting so many actors from different backgrounds and training fields. I also enjoyed being thrown into having to do "another" job part-time to pay some of the bills – living in London can be very expensive – and so had experiences in law firms temping as a secretary, being a PA to a high-powered businessman in the City of London and working in the famed jewellery emporium Tiffany & Co. I would never have done any of these things had I lived in South Africa. I remember thinking while in the UK – and having gone successfully from one theatre job to the other before landing some roles on television – that I was merely reflecting British culture back to the British, and I asked myself if this was what I wanted. I am not sure it was a conscious decision not to return to the UK, but on coming back to South Africa I was immediately in demand for theatre work. Strangely enough, The Book Club was the first play I did. I had, of course, been back and forth to South Africa while living in London, doing the odd play and bit of television, but it was with the founding of Speakeasy Vocal Academy – my school – that I realised I had done the right thing. I train in all areas within the profession, but also use my talents and skills to empower those in the corporate sector and business. The extending of skills to become a dialogue coach has opened another world of movies behind the camera to me and is wonderful. Most recently I worked on the Shawn Slovo film Catch A Fire, shot in South Africa with US actors Tim Robbins and Derek Luke, coaxing South African accents out of them. During this time I travelled to Los Angeles to work on pre- and post-production and met directors and casting directors who suggested I come to LA and work! So who knows? There are always endless possibilities in this profession. And when I think I may be a little long in the tooth to start up in another country, my thoughts turn to Sir John Gielgud who acted until he was 90!
How have you managed to survive in this tenuous world of the arts? What gives you your bread and butter income and what would you like to do more of if you could?
As outlined above I am involved in many different aspects of the industry. I am lucky that I have not had to do corporate theatre, which pays well but has made little inroads for public and artists alike in broadening the ambit of theatre. I would say it is my vocal coaching that earns the bread and butter, but it is an area I find constantly challenging as I discover and develop new methods of teaching. I have developed a unique way of teaching accents which grew out of my having to acquire a legitimate British accent while living in the UK. While attending classes with a vocal coach I became aware that the more English the sounds, the less the personality of Fiona remained. So the challenge became to alter the way I spoke without altering me! Speakeasy Vocal Academy strives to do just that: to get people speaking easily! Communication has become the most important talent in today’s world of technology and access to everything through the internet. I assess clients where I analyse their voices and we discuss what they hope to achieve with training, after which I devise a series of classes to meet these needs. These needs are either individual or those of a company. Often the mission statement of the company is incorporated into the course, so one is empowering the individual with new communication skills while understanding the company brand. But I don’t coach at the expense of acting or directing commitments, and manage to juggle all these roles fairly well. As you may have gathered I constantly have new challenges and things I want to do! But I suppose if asked what I would love to do, it would be to head a theatre complex. I have done a lot of developing of new scripts, nurturing new talent and helping with particular projects. So I would love to be an artistic director where my talent and knowledge gained over so many years in the arts could be utilised.
Could you ever see yourself in any other profession? What would that be if you did?
When I was at school I always thought medicine a noble profession – something that helped people - and in my final year at school I did become a student nurse for a month at the general hospital. This was an invaluable experience, teaching one the fragility and resilience of the human body and spirit.
In the same year I directed the house play at school and in the last week of rehearsal my lead actress playing Anne Boleyn realised the weekend of performance coincided with the St John’s matric dance. The lure of the dance and possibilities of being kissed on the cricket green were more appealing than donning a 17th-century dress and singing "Greensleeves"! The upshot was that I took over at very short notice and it became a seminal moment in my deciding to study drama at UCT. Up until this point I had played a number of princes, an old man who lived in a car, and Owl in Winnie the Pooh, so a full-blooded character from history was a treat. The memory of the sensation of being on the stage and commanding it at only 16 was tremendous, and I suppose I have held that in my heart.
In my early professional days I worked with Barney Simon – the man who championed the "workshop" method – and we created the character of Mia, a human rights lawyer, for Born in the RSA. Since then I have played something like 10 lawyers – and am currently filming the fourth series of Justice For All. So perhaps I could have been a lawyer! The great aspect of being an actor is you get to be everyone!
Just as a matter of interest, did you choose to stop broadcasting on the radio in The Art of the Matter or was it a change forced on you? How did you enjoy having to man a radio mike for (was it three or four) hours and rely mostly on adlibbing? Would you like to do more radio?
I was part of the restructuring at SAfm – where the idea was to change the demographic listenership of the station. I had been on radio first with Jeremy Maggs on a media-related magazine programme and then had three happy years with the dedicated arts program The Art of the Matter, and two years with Cultural Exchange and the literature programme Between the Covers. Sadly there is no programme that is now devoted to the arts. I do enjoy the medium of radio immensely and do miss it. But sadly, just when one feels one has a sense that you not only enjoy it but that folk like listening to you, you are off the air!! I do hope to go back to broadcasting when another opportunity arises. I have a number of ideas for programmes which would include my vocal coaching skills, but will have to see what transpires. After returning to South Africa I was on the radio every weekend. So now not doing that means I do have my weekends free – something I enjoy, as getting away to the bush is a big plus in my life!
What’s in the pipe line for you? (I know that’s always an awful question!) I saw last night that you were listed as a guest appearance in Hard Copy. Aren’t you going to be a permanent fixture in that series anymore? (That’s a pity, in my eyes!)
I am currently filming Justice For All and Hard Copy at the same time – which meant that my presence in Hard Copy had to reduce. I love the series and think Dorothy is a vital component. People have remarked that they miss her in the third series! I am off to the premiere of Catch A Fire, Phillip Noyce’s film of Shawn Slovo’s script that I worked on last year. It is taking place in Leicester Square in London and it is a big first for me to be walking down that red carpet one often only sees in the glossies or on television. I will also be taking a few weeks out to soak up some British theatre and visit my brother who lives in Manchester, and friends and actors I worked with while there. I come back and start rehearsals for the West End musical version of Thoroughly Modern Millie. I play Mrs Meers – a fantastic role – which Maureen Lipman played in London. So I will be rehearsing during the festive period and opening in the New Year. A very exciting project in 2007 is playing Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf with Sean Taylor! So 2007 will be a good year!!
If I gave you a magic wand and asked you to create your perfect role in a film, play or in life in some way, what would it be and which medium would you choose?
I would love to collaborate with a writer on a film script and have one or two ideas about researching and exploring the lives of prominent women who played significant roles in the liberation of the country. I think creating a role from news reports, anecdotes and archives must be one of the most rewarding experiences. I really do want to explore the medium of film more – I feel more relaxed in front of the camera – and had a wonderful experience earlier this year when I played the villainess of the piece in a Disney film shot in Cape Town. It was an adaptation of an Alfred Hitchcock story, The Three Investigators. And I loved the experience so much!
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