As part of AFTT’s partnership with Belvoir St Theatre, our acting students regularly get the opportunity to attend performances in this iconic theatre, followed by a Q&A session with the show’s cast and crew. 
Tier 4 Acting student Deng recently went to watch Belvoir’s production of Mark Colvin’s Kidney and chatted to the actors after about their portrayal of the real-life characters they were playing. We found out his thoughts on the play, and what the actors had to say about working in the industry.
“I thoroughly enjoyed Mark Colvin’s Kidney and the incredible performance of each of the actors really brought the story to life. The clever use of space and lighting design truly set the time and place of the production for such a minimalistic set. Whether the scene was in a hospital room or a church in Paris, the lighting and use of sound effects really drew you in and kept you engaged. The projection of images and subtitles was a surprise at first but added effectively to the journey of the play. It was a bold move and it worked well in this production.
Peter Carroll’s performance really stood out, keeping the audience engaged and really committing to the several characters that he played throughout the production. In particular, Carroll’s ability to juggle diverse roles such as Bruce Westwood and a priest was impressive. Although both of those personas are completely different, you can tell there was a lot of work put into detail of these characters. You could also tell that he was willing to have fun with them and take risks, which as an actor you should do anyway, but it was really good to see this in a professional performance.
When the performance was over, the actors came out for a Q&A with our acting students, and one of the biggest questions they were asked was about meeting the real-life characters they were portraying. As an actor, this creates significant challenges on embodying another person who is sitting right there in front of you. John Howard discussed that by having dinner with Mark beforehand, he was able to learn more about the man himself and draw from those moments to create the character that we saw on stage.
Overall, the way the staging and performances came together to create the world I was thrown into, is a real compliment to the actors and directors and crews hard work. This is definitely a performance I would recommend.”
Mark Calvins Kidney is stil showing until April 2nd. You can buy tickets here.
Find out more about studying Acting here at AFTT