Writer and actor Thomas Campbell is one of our 2021 Q Theatre Lab Artists in Residence. His black comedy, Betty is a Butcher, was originally in development early last year and set to head to the Edinburgh Festival, but of course we all know what happened next. Now Thomas, with Director Kate Gaul, are well into the three-week residency period, and here Thomas shares some thoughts and insights (and the reality of developing a new work).
What do you most want people to know about your work in development?
That it’s a deeply personal piece that lives in the crevices of my mind.
How has it evolved?
Working with the great minds of Kate Gaul and Robin McLeavy, I’ve been able to focus the work and delve into the theatricality of the language.
Please describe a day in residence…
Wake up, attempt to do some exercise for clarity of mind, coffee, rewriting on the train from Redfern to Penrith, another coffee, a catch up on the previous night with my collaborators, reading the bits of new writing, hearing a first response to that writing, deleting it all, crying, going to visit Deb in her rehearsal room, another coffee, tapping the space bar, writing one line that might work, then go home.
What did you want to do with your career when you were growing up?
Win an Oscar. And now, I just want to work. And still win an Oscar.
What has been your favourite moment or moments in the theatre?
London Road at the National Theatre, Company on Broadway and Cloudstreet at Belvoir.
Name six people you’d invite to dinner if you could invite anyone at all, living or not.
Adele, Taye Diggs, Sondheim, Gina Liano, Lee Lin Chin and my Dad.
Betty is a Butcher, Thomas Campbell, photographer Clare Hawley