Two create own work

Press, 28 June 1989, Page 24

Two create own work

By

MARITA VANDENBERG

There are no Aussie flies on the expatriate actors Larney Tupu and May Lloyd — they didn’t get a chance. Three and a half years ago Tupu and Lloyd left for Australian shores with smiles on their faces and the sweet taste of success in their mouths. The biggest and freshest of these successes was “Country G.P.” which united the two talented actors both on-screen and off.

Newly wed, they left for Sydney in search of opportunity but with no firm offers of work. It was the kind of risk that could have really wiped the smiles from their faces — work offers did not flow in.

“It was a Catch-22 situation,” says Lloyd. “People won’t hire you until they’ve seen your work — but if you can’t get work they don’t get to see you.”

The two refused to sit and wait. In their first year, they started their own theatre company. The Walkers and Talkers Theatre Company is a type of freelance group which' they say is often seen in New Zealand, but rarely in Australia. It comprises Tupu, Lloyd and two other New Zealand actors working under the company umbrella.

“We create work for ourselves — and others — and invite producers, directors and casters to see us at work,” explains Tupu.

They found a small theatre and, on a budget of $4OOO, staged their first production using a cast of four. The second work was more ambitious: it had a cast of seven and a

$30,000 budget. The opportunity is there for the taking, they say —

it is financing a project that is difficult. “We owed thousands. Even hiring a cheap venue and doing the publicity was a crippling expense.” . The kind of energy needed to stage a work means the company performs only one or two shows a year. It is a flexible arrangement; members can go and do their own thing, and all have extra jobs to support their careers.

Lloyd continues to design fabric, a talent she developed before stepping on to the stage, while Tupu works as a waiter. “I also got work as a male stripper in New South Wales last Christmas,” he adds. After a short silence a telling smile passes from Lloyd to her husband and he confesses: “Well, it was really for a play. I was in ‘Ladies’ Night’.” Both have appeared in “A Country Practice” — Lloyd as a librarian and Tupu as an Italian television repairman. Tupu has had parts in “Richmond Hill” and “The Last Resort.” There have been movies too. Lloyd recently appeared in the Australian/American co-produc-tion: “The Punishers,” due to screen at Christmas.

At present the two have major roles in the Court Theatre’s double bill; “The Recruiting Officer” and “Our Country’s Good.” The first, a Resto-ration-style comedy, features as a play-within-a-play in the second work, which is set later in the Australian penal colony. Both actors say they can identify with people who are uprooted from their own culture, as the convicts and early settlers were.

“When we got to Aus-

tralia we realised how different the New Zealand and Australian psyches were,” Lloyd says. “I’d been to Latin America — but it was more of a shock to go and live in Sydney.” The two say they are delighted to be in Christchurch, though performing two plays together is

hard and challenging work. They want to continue working trans-Tas-man and would paticularly welcome further opportunities to work with the Court. When the pair return to Sydney in August, Lloyd has a film offer to take up, while Tupu wil begin a side-line fabric printing

business using new printing techniques Lloyd has learnt since arriving in Australia.

“We’re hoping to catch the Christmas rush,” they say with a quick laugh. It is this swift recognition of opportunity that keeps the two moving — where others might have been left standing.