focusinterview.
S T E N L A K E You may recognise him as Oscar Stone from Stingers, or Mike Flynn from Sea Patrol, but Ian Stenlake also has a love and a phenomenal talent for musical theatre, having performed in productions such as Cabaret, Oklahoma! and They’re Playing our Song. Ian brings his fabulous voice to the Glasshouse this month, in a show that’s a tribute to some of the best theatre music ever written.
read a story once, that said kind of discipline is almost like working up acting found you – rather than to run a marathon, and somehow getting the other way around. How did to the end! that happen? How do you bring out the best in each I’d been accepted into university character you play? to do Commerce/Law, but I still really I try to identify what parts of the didn’t know what I wanted to do in life. I character are within me and therefore are deferred for a year and went backpacking, what I can bring to the role quite easily; and while I was in Rome, I ended up and then, I identify what is really different staying in the same hotel that Francis to me and try to own those parts ... for Ford Coppola’s parents were staying Mike Flynn, the captain of a ship – well, I in – and also a number of actors from hadn’t been captain of anything for a long The Godfather: Part III. Out of a chance time (laughs)! encounter with Franc D’Ambrosio, who For me, it was quite extraordinary to played Al Pacino’s son, I managed to inhabit an authority role, one with a get an invitation to the set, position of rank and needing and I became an extra in to have a voice people will a very big Hollywood listen to. And having an For the very film! ensemble cast as good l I’l e, liv first time ng so I took away from I was working with, it a g in ng si be that experience a was an extraordinary called The River,ten which was writ very clear notion of experience to have ly for me by a real what I wanted to on a daily basis – all om fr y interesting gu d do with the rest of the while knowing it’s lle ca ne Brisba my life! not real! Martin King. You’ve had many When did music enter roles, ranging from the scene for you? theatre to television. I’ve had an interest in music Do you have a preference for all my life; I’m a Preacher’s kid for a either live or television performing? start, so in churches there’s always music. No, I absolutely love both of them. Even I played piano as a youngster, I learnt the though they require the same foundational trumpet, and I can play the guitar. My very techniques, they’re both very different first acting job, when I came back from disciplines. One is a discipline of 8 shows overseas, was in a musical – and I had a a week doing the same thing, and the go, not knowing if I could sing. challenge with that is making the audience I auditioned as an untrained singer, feel as if your 400th performance is your and I was lucky enough to be chosen. first – and I relish that challenge! Singing has been part of my acting life Compare that to television, which is since I started, but it certainly kicked into different lines and a different story every gear when I met Rachael Beck (now my single day. The discipline there – especially wife). On my 30th birthday, she gave me across Sea Patrol, where it was a format of 5 singing lessons! Other 30 year olds are working right across the thirteen episodes, probably getting golf sets! rather than sequentially ... there were I know you play golf as well, so I guess two weeks where I was doing perhaps 72 the set of golf clubs would have come scenes in one week and 68 the next; that in handy too?
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(Laughs). Exactly! I’m still waiting for a set of golf clubs! So, tell us about the show you’re bringing to the Glasshouse. I’ll be singing songs from shows I’ve done, from shows like Oklahoma!, Pajama Game, Guys and Doll ... songs like Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Never Been in Love Before. I’ll be telling stories along the way too, about how I got into acting, stories from the jobs that I’ve done – and I’ll also be singing some brand new songs – songs that have never been heard. In fact, for the very first time live, I’ll be singing a song called The River, which was written for me by a really interesting guy from Brisbane called Martin King. He’s in his sixties and has kind of reinvented himself as a songwriter. He wrote five songs, all brand new, and got Rachael and me to record them. The album’s called The Martin King Project. So the audience in Port Macquarie will be introduced to a completely new song! Best of luck with the show, Ian – and I hope you’ll have time to squeeze in a round of golf too! Shamefully, that hadn’t even figured in my thinking (laughs). I think I fly in on a Sunday and I’m back out on the Monday – so not a lot of time. Maybe 9 holes! This will only be my second time ever in Port Macquarie ... so I’m looking forward to having a look around. Thanks Ian. Interview by Jo Atkins.
the plug! Ian will be appearing at the Glasshouse on Feb 6, at 11am. Tickets cost $24.50 www.glasshouse.org.au or contact the Box Office on 6581 8888 for more details.
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