Aaron Glenane and Liv Hewson.
Being in lockdown has prompted different responses from actors Aaron Glenane and Liv Hewson.
Glenane, who came back to Sydney from Los Angeles with his fiance and young child, admits he was “going nuts” so he had the idea of staging a live reading of Lyle Kessler’s play Orphans, which he performed at the Old Fitz Theatre five years ago.
He put the idea to Red Line Productions co-founder Andrew Henry, who reached out to Kessler. In turn Kessler approached Alec Baldwin, who starred in the Broadway production in 2013, the story of two orphaned brothers living in a decrepit North Philadelphia house.
The result was the first live streamed reading of the play, featuring Baldwin, Glenane and Henry, with stage directions and descriptions read by lifetime member of the Actors Studio Judy Jerome, on April 11/12.
Hewson is happy to be in South Korea working in the second series of Netflix’s Dramaworld, in which she stars as an American woman who gets sucked into her favorite South Korean drama through her smartphone.
The actors shared their experiences today in an Australians in Film web session moderated by Charmaine Bingwa, who is in lockdown in Perth.
Glenane said he could readily identify with his character in Orphans, who is confined to the house and not allowed to leave for risk of dying from an allergic reaction.
He had so much fun – describing Baldwin as a “100 per cent collaborator with zero ego” – he is keen to find other plays for live streamed readings.
Aaron was filming the second series of Snowpiercer, the TNT show created by Parasite’s Bong Jon-ho for the TNT Network, when production was shutdown with two weeks to go.
In the futuristic action thriller which revolves around the survivors trapped inside a perpetually-moving, gigantic train seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland he plays the last Australian on Earth opposite Jennifer Connelly.
Not being able to work prompted Glenane to wish he had been taught how to manage his finances when he was at drama school. “With no support for artists from the Federal Government it’s never been more important to be good with money,” he said.
In a similar vein, he stressed the need to remain mentally healthy and have a positive attitude towards auditioning during periods of unemployment.
Hewson, who last appeared with Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman in Bombshell, described auditioning as the real job and acting as the fun of it, adding: “If you didn’t get it, it wasn’t yours.”
Asked about their first paid gigs, Liv cited getting a small role in The Code in 2015 and Aaron landing a McDonald’s commercial for which he was paid $4,000.
As for career highlights, Glenane pointed to Deadline Gallipoli, mainly for the chance to work with writer Shaun Grant, his first feature film and his first US role.
Hewson did not nominate any shows, instead referencing the pleasure of travelling around the world to work.