7 minute read
Coffee with a Coastie – Rodney Dobson
coffee WITH A Coastie
RODNEY DOBSON
LOCAL MUSICAL THEATRE ACTOR
Welcome to Coffee with a Coastie. This month we had the great pleasure of chatting with Central Coast local Rodney Dobson. He has had an incredible career in musical theatre. Performing in Annie, My Fair Lady, The Full Monty, Legally Blonde, Evita, Chicago, Les Misérables, Singin’ in the Rain, Wicked, Miss Saigon, Buddy, Sweeney Todd to name a few, and is currently performing in Moulin Rouge! The Musical at The Capitol Theatre in Sydney, where we were lucky enough to catch up and chat with him.
You were born in Wonthaggi VIC and lived and studied musical theatre in Perth. How did you end up on the Central Coast?
When I was 8 or 9 my parents felt like there were limited opportunities in Wonthaggi, though didn’t want to move to the big city of Melbourne and Perth was felt as halfway between a country town and the big city. Then if you wanted to pursue your dreams you had to head back to the east coast. So I tossed a coin and ended up in Sydney, until I had kids and looked outside of Sydney to the Coast and the beaches and I was like I want that one.
Has there been any mentors along the way? If so, what have they taught you and what is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
There have been many mentors along the way. My first mentor would probably be my trumpet teacher. He would say things like the difference between an amateur and professional is an amateur practises until he gets it right, and a professional practises until he can’t get it wrong.
Do you remember when you first realised performing on stage was what you wanted to do?
It’s a good question. I often think about this a lot. You kind of get addicted to the praise of the audience applauding. Not many people do a job that finishes with a round of applause and a bow. You get a real rush from the feeling of hitting a great note and getting a great response for the audience and I’ve traced it back to when I first experienced it when I was doing little athletics. I used to run against men when I was around 16. I was only little, and I’d run in the steeple chase. In fact, I was so little, I couldn’t jump the steeple. I’d climb it and the men would just jump it and then I’d pass them in between the steeples, then they’d pass me at the steeple. People in the stands would be cheering and clapping me and I loved it. I thought, I want more of that and I think the theatre gives you that. It’s something you never get tired of. It always gives you a thrill and it’s quite humbling too, to stand in front of a bunch of strangers and take a bow while they are smiling and clapping.
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From your very first audition out of WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) for Chess, you seem to simply take action and make it happen. What’s your advice for someone on taking action towards doing something they are wanting to do in life?
That first audition out of WAAPA was actually terrifying. Because the show had already been cast, everyone was already there ready to go in the audition
room. The stage managers, producers, directors, the music department. Also, they had a lot of stress going on at the time that I didn’t know about and so I was auditioning a scene for the directory and I asked him a question and he said; So you go out, come in the door, walk over, stand on the mark and say your lines to the reader. I walked towards the door and I turned around and asked, do you want me to literally go outside the door or do you want me to just mime the door? He got out of his chair, he stormed over and opened the door and walked outside and shut the door, opened it again and said, you walk through the door, you go over to the thing and then he angrily went back and sat in his seat. So I went out of the room and I shut the door, I looked down that corridor and went into fight or flight. I thought to myself I could just go, this is horrible, I’m hating this experience, just go. It took all my strength to turn the handle and open that door and walk back willingly into that environment. It was like, well we gotta do this, so just do it. Once I gained a little bit more experience, I got better at taking action working towards getting the next job. Now I guess my two pieces of advice connected to that would be, resist fearing the moment. If a terrifying moment comes along count to three, take a deep breath and go for it. If a door opens, walk through it. You can always turn around and walk back out. The other is I would start becoming mindfulness of yourself and telling yourself that you can do it and that you are good enough. Because it’s usually just yourself that stops you.
You are currently performing in Moulin Rouge! The Musical and congratulations on 300 plus shows. I saw a photo of you crouched down waiting in the wings to go on stage. What is going through your mind in that moment before you go out on stage?
In that photo I was playing Harold Zidler, which I am the understudy for, I’m in the ensemble. It’s funny, I’m squatting down in fact, as I generally like to keep moving around and stretch and work my mouth and try to avoid any negative messages coming into my head. And for Harold Zidler who is the impresario of the Moulin Rouge, the ringmaster of the event and interacts with the audience. You really want to be on, you want to have a lot of energy, you want to be sparked up. You pretty much want to walk from your dressing room and just go. Probably like anything, the waiting is the hardest part. But generally with that role, if I start from that crouch position, I will get up and do some squats and bend and kick a leg and jump on the spot, and then when the curtain opens I’m out there. You need to be up and on from the moment you stick your head through the curtain. The first thing he says is, ‘Hello chickens’ and it’s to the entire audience. So you can’t have a crackle in your voice and sleep in your eye. You’ve gotta be ready to go.
Finally, for someone who would not normally go to the theatre, how would you describe the experience to encourage them to go and see their first performance?
Yeah, it’s interesting. I play footy with the Terrigal Avoca Panthers. Well, when I say play, I usually get to training and they never pick me much. A lot of those guys don’t understand what I do for a living. A lot of them come up to me and say, Oh, my sisters into theatre or my girlfriend likes that, or my mum saw that. But one of the girls from the footy club was coming down to watch the show with her friends and one of them pulled out, and so my mate Dusto got told he had to come, presumably reluctantly. And Moulin Rouge! The Musical is a hectic, insane adventure, the sound and the lighting just blows your mind, and this was true for Dusto. We had a beer afterwards and he was shaking his head going Dobbo I had no idea. So I guess what I would say to someone who wouldn’t normally go to the theater, goes back to our chat earlier, if a door opens, walk through it. If you get a chance to see live theatre, go for it. It’s an experience like no other.
This interview has had to be edited for readability and length.
