Major James
A ‘sudden’ booking: I learned I had passed the audition a month ago, which was enough time to grow the moustache and have my hair cut, but the script arrived at rehearsal – the day before the shoot – and the re-writes hit me when I arrived o set. My scene was also the first one to be shot, so make some fast decisions, and ensure that I was ready for re-direction that may change the course. The scene was a railway carriage, and I was the highest ranking officer there. The direction of the scene was to illustrate the racist feelings toward the Chinese workers prevalent within the Senior ranks of the Army during World War 1, but I went in another direction, and my background helped.
Working with the Merchant Marine in the last few years, I realised that the Victorian view of the World still ruled in small communities of privileged, white, males. Like starting a conversation with: “I’m not a racist, but…..”, you know that there will soon be a racist remark coming. My character got to say some truly xenophobic things, but delivered them in an everyday conversational delivery that made it obvious that this was simply normal for the character: Like discussing the weather, or the performance of your local sports team. The fact that the words I used made me (and others) wince, I made it plain that the reason the character spoke this way, was because he was brought up, and lived in a world where it was normal to look down on other races of different colours, simply because they were not English; just as Women were looked down on, and animals were disrespected. My Director agreed with me that it was a powerful approach.
As the scene took place in a boozy, smoky atmosphere, I got Make-Up to give me a little rosy hue to my cheeks, to look as if I drank Scotch a lot – from lunchtime onward, in fact - and I was also the designated smoker on set; non-filtered, home-rolled smokes, too. I was nearly croaking by the end. Of course the uniform and awful, knee-length trench boots, aided to my stance and bearing, the rest came from my diaphragm: A successful characterisation, without much prep or rehearsal time.
