N.Z. actor specialises in English dialects

Press, 23 November 1988, Page 18

N.Z. actor specialises in English dialects

From GILLIAN WAINWRIGHT in Britain The New Zealand actress, Barbara Ewing, is having a chilly winter in Britain, although the Scilly Isles, where she is filming “Why the Whales Came” is one of the warmest parts of the country. Ewing has become something of a specialist in English dialects and is playing a sort of down-to-earth countrywoman.

The film has an ecological message and is set in 1910. Ewing plays a downtrodden islander and the film co-stars Helen Mirren, Paul Scofield and Jeremy Kemp. “I can’t believe I’m being cast in all these country roles,” she laughed. “I ask myself how people can take this middle-class New Zealander seriously in the English rural roles but now I’m at it again in •Whales’."

Ewing who, when she is at home, lives in a caravan at Te Wahapu, has university degrees in English and Maori. To perfect her English dialects she goes to different areas of

the country and tape records the local people. The result has been a series of north-country roles on British television, in series like “Sam,” “Country Matters,” and Dickens’ “Hard Times.” Her best known role so far was Agnes Fairchild, the Lancashire mill owner’s daughter in “Brass.”

“Agnes was based on all the northern women I’d ever played,” she said. “I had to fight to get the part because the producer kept

saying it was me and my roles they were making fun of. But I had a lot of laughs doing it.”

She does not understand this northern typecasting on television because on stage she is "all very Lady Macbeth and Miss Jean Brodie.” Divorced, Ewing lives most of the time in London where she divides her time between writing and acting. Her book “Strangers” was published in Britain and America and she has also written radio plays. She also commutes to New Zealand. “I’ve been there 10 times in the last eight years. As soon as I get the fare I just up and go,” she said. When she was in New Zealand the TV series “Rachel” won her the top actress award.

Ewing keeps fit by travelling around London on a bicycle. She also takes tap-dancing lessons. “I’m in the beginner’s class and I’m the worst one there. Living in the centre of London I think it’s crazy to get a car. But cycling is getting much more dangerous these days. There are a lot more cyclists and drivers

tend to get angry with them.”

Ewing is also appearing in her one-woman show, scripted by herself, called “Alexandra Kollontai.” It is a true story of a Russian revolutionary who was a member of Lenin’s cabinet. “She was also a single mother who married a toy boy,” Ewing added. “She was a fiery character who tried to improve the lives of Russian women and she was a wonderful orator. It’s these qualities that make her so attractive and I try to show them on stage.”

Ewing, who describes her figure as “like an Oxo cube,” still gets comments from the public about her bosom, which was the object of much ribaldry in “Brass.” She said, “I once played a well endowed barmaid in a Dracula film and someone in wardrobe told me how to, so to speak, make a mountain out of a molehill. I’ve never told anyone how it’s done and I never will. But that old film is still shown on television once a year.. It haunts me. It’s quite embarrassing?’