Trials of an acting life

Press, 15 July 1980, Page 1

Trials of an acting life

Few actresses could make 40 beds in an hour. Even fewer would find the time to learn. But for the visiting British actress, Julie Dawn Cole (who played the nurse, Jo Longhurst, in the television series “Angels”), it’s all part of the job. In preparation for the series, in which she took the part of a second-year nurse, Miss Cole spent two weeks working alongside qualified nurses in a hospital, and a brief period of district nursing in the suburbs of London. She is in Christchurch with James Bolam (who starred in “The Likely Lads” and “When the Boat Comes Jn”) to appear in the Alan Ayckbourn comedy, “Time and Time Again,” which will open its twd-week season at the Theatre Royal, this evening. The' show has already played for three weeks in Auckland and two weeks in Wellington. Miss Cole is impressed by the enthusiasm of New Zealand audiences.

“In England, we tend to be blase about the theatre

because we’ve got so much,” she said. “New Zealand has been a bit starved, and so audiences go out of their way to enjoy themselves.”

Mr Bolam, after five weeks working and living among New Zealanders, is convinced that Kiwis eat far tod much. New Zealand meals, he said, “knock me sideways.” A keen racegoer, Mr Bolam is disappointed that the play’s season in Christchurch will end just before the Grand National Steeplechase at Riccarton on August 2. In the North Island he attended race meetings at Ellerslie and Trentham, and visited a thoroughbred stud. Those who enjoyed “When the Boat Comes In,”/ can look forward to more. .Mr Bolam will begin work on another 10episode series in September.

Miss Cole has ho definite plans after the show finishes in Christchurch, other than “sunning” herself on the beaches of Kenya during a fortnight’s holiday in August.