New faces at Court Theatre

Press, 25 July 1984, Page 23

New faces at Court Theatre

Small theatre

An English actress, Francesca Waters, prefers the intimacy of a small theatre such as the Court to the grandeur of London’s West End. Miss Waters has been contracted to the Court Theatre until December. She is playing Margherita in the Court Studio’s present production of “Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!” After that she will be in “Threepenny Opera,” “The Cherry Orchard,” and “Wednesday to Come” in the main theatre. “I prefer the intimacy of the smaller theatres. When you’re working in somewhere like the West End, and have to project your voice right back into thegods, then it changes the quality of the performance,” she says. Miss Waters began her career in England. After studying drama in the Midlands and in London for two years, she began working in fringe theatre in london. She spent six months with a group called Action Theatre, performing around Europe. It was while she was with the group that she met up with a comedienne in Berlin who persuaded Miss Waters to take part in a play there. ; ‘‘l know enough German

to understand the language, but it’s impossible to ad lib in another language,” she said. “I had to learn a lot of it phonetically. It was terrifying and certainly something I wouldn’t attempt again in a hurry.” She was involved in another co-operative theatre S which wrote and proits own plays. After her first part in the West End Theatre, she joined the Umbrella Theatre Company and took part in the first English translation of German playwright Carl Valentin’s sketches of German beer halls. Since coming to New Zealand, two years ago, Miss Waters has been in one other production before the Court Theatre contract. She recited poetry in "Created Woman,” a dance performance by New Zealand dancers Bronwyn Judge and Anna Holmes. She worked in Australia for a time, with Frank Thornton, known for his role as Captain Peacock in the television comedy, “Are You Being Served?” Miss Waters says she would like to branch out into television or film, but, at the moment, she will go “where there’s work."

Family ties

When Kate Goldsbrough steps on to the stage, she is following a family tradition. Her mother, Jenny Barrer, is a professional actress, as were her grandmothers, Margaret Barrer and Diana Goldsbrough. However, Ms Goldsbrough insists it was not that which led her to be an actress. “I am very proud of them, of course, and I grew up in the theatre, but the real reason I became an actress was because I am reasonably good at expressing myself and I really enjoy acting,” she says.' Ms Goldsbrough is another new face at the Court Theatre this year. She takes the romantic lead of Raina in the theatre’s present production of “Arms and the Man.” She is contracted to the theatre until October, for “Threepenny Opera” and “The Cherry Orchard.” It is the first time she has worked in professional theatre, or a full time job. She played Paula Tanqueray in “The Second Mrs Tanqueray” at the Repertory Theatre last year and has acted in “Small Journeys,” a film by local film-

maker, Maree Quinn. “I think that acting is the only job I Icould do which would warrant leaving my child Dylan,: in a creche for the day,” she said. Dylan is aged two and a half years and was named after the poet, Dylan Thomas. Thomas became a hero for Ms Goldsbrough when she was very young and saw her mother act in “Dylan,” a play she also produced. ‘ “It is very important for a young boy to be with his mother — t wouldn’t consider a creche for him to take up just, any old job.” Ms Goldsbrough left school when she was “very, very young and without any qualifications.” She spent the next year painting in oils — “Harlequins, I just love harlequins, and that’s all I did for a whole year.”: She has written many of her own songs, which she has sung in several cabarets at the Free Theatre, accompanying herself on the piano. i One ambition is to record some of her repertoire of about 30 songs.