CALLAN PURCELL | Newcastle's Real Life Peter Pan
- Zana Kobayashi
- Sep 7, 2015
- 5 min read
BRILLIANT LOCAL TALENT READY TO SOAR
Feast your eyes on Newcastle’s very own theatrical wunderkind!
Since noticing his name scattered throughout posters & playbills across the city The Follower has maintained a steady eye on the local talent that is Callan Purcell.
Stooged Theatre, Hunter Drama & Metropolitan Players, Callan has worked with all the major players. With multiple nominations for City Of Newcastle Drama Awards (CONDAS), he took out the awards for Best Professional Male Actor & Best Ensemble in 2014.
You just need to see anything he is a part of! According to local theatre buffs, everything he touches turns to gold!
Now gearing up to tackle the world stage at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, Callan talks about how we can all help him to get there & his final production in Newcastle- ‘Peter Pan’.
In true creative form Callan got back to our Q’s with some rhyming A’s. What a treat!
Firstly, congrats on your acceptance to the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama! What does this mean for you & your career?
First and foremost- thanks a lot! I’m stoked and chuffed and cheering. This time’s gone super-duper quick. Three weeks I’m disappearing across the ocean heading to the UK for three years where I’ll learn the craft of theatre making and to conquer all my fears. One student of fifteen in the world to join the team where at Central we’ll all dive headfirst into our acting stream. I want to, on a global scale, make an impression on the stage. I’ll work hard and long until it’s done and I’m withered down by age.
This opportunity is rare; so special and surreal. After that, who knows? Well I suppose a lump sum acting deal!
How did you come to apply for the course?
I want to be like Geoffrey Rush- so I looked up where he studied. I found out all about his life, and after that I hurried into the library getting books and read around the clock about a school in France found by Ecole Jacques Lecoq. This school was ace, but then I read you needed to speak French. And I thought f**k that…then Central caught my eye with Judi Dench. One course in particular; BA in CDT…A Bachelor of Acting: Collaborative and Devised Theatre (sounds fancy). I applied online with essays saying why I should get through. And I did! I moved up one step closer to my dream: round two!
Then came a day of monologues and workshops and some talking plus lots of waiting round (and lots and lots of “neutral-walking”)
And I got called back, in fact I was called back for all four acting courses. So in I went, one final chance, I summoned all my sources. I’d never tried out for an acting school- this was my chance. I was dancing high on taut, thin wire piddling my pants. All the rest were pacing round the room before the crunch of judgement day; round three that started after lunch. My brow and lips and palms did sweat, tummy butterflies did brew. But luckily I smashed it and the final round, I got through. But story short- it took about ten months to get to here. But it was worth it, every bit to kickstart my career.
Did you always know that you wanted to be an actor & director?
Short and sweet- heck yes I did, it’s cross-stitched in the soul. Plus I’m not good at other things…well maybe selling sushi rolls. I always say that acting kind of keeps me out of trouble. I can still be the kid I was, but now I’ve just got stubble. I’m addicted to performing arts: creating bold, new things, and watching faces come to life with the magic that it brings. I’ve got my passion, my audacity and my artistic drive. I’ll act, write, sing, dance, and direct, while I’m here and alive.
What inspires your drive as a creative?
I often use bold colours, lots of textures, shapes and figures to see what I can mix up, and see what thoughts it triggers. Coming back to simple rules: just play and ask “why not” can find most unexpected things, so I remind myself a lot. The fact that at the start, you might imagine how it ends, but suddenly and swiftly all your work just twists and bends and then you’ll hit that hump where it gets to a rougher patch, and you might think to start it all again and go from scratch. The process is more valuable to me than the end that’s where I’ll find and make new things: in between the play-pretend.
Can you tell us about your next, & final production in Newcastle, PETER PAN?
Peter Pan: A New Adventure, in Pacific Park. The sun goes down, the lamps are lit and there’s magic after dark. New music, lyrics and design to reignite the tale. We’re still staying true to Barrie’s book but on a bigger scale! This piece will be a joy to share- such universal themes to teach our young and young at heart to go chase our dreams. The show revolves around some chalk, a chair, a ladder and a little bit more. The audience paint the rest of it and imagine what we could not see before. A cast of twenty skilful souls; some old, some young, some younger will spark each parent’s child inside of them and find that hunger of what it’s like to be a kid- to see through a child’s eye, to taste sweet things, to think nice thoughts and maybe even fly!
Tell us about the crowdfunding project you have just launched!
This was such a scary thing to do, but now I’ve done it! Only ten days in and we’re going strong so I’m glad I have begun it. It’s called “Get A Real Peter Pan To London” on indiegogo. I’ve paid this year’s tuition, but now I need the dough to get by whilst I’m in London with the rent and big school books for unfortunately, apparently you can’t get by with just good looks. All contributions made online will help me stay afloat whilst I study morning, noon and night (this is the most rhyming I ever wrote). It’s all themed like Peter Pan to tie in with the show. The perks are super cool as well so have a look and have a go (at donating)! How can we keep track of your adventures abroad?
There’s a secret email list you go on if you give $50 or more online, to aid me when I live…overseas. Monthly, you will get updates on everything and more and possibly some special news of what could be in store! Unfortunately, I don’t have the skillset to update a blog, but emails are easy as. We’ve got to live a life worth writing about, eh?
To support Callan on his journey to you can join his crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo: GET A REAL PETER PAN TO LONDON CAMPAIGN https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/get-a-real-peter-pan-to-london/x/11556058#/story And DON’T MISS-
PETER PAN: A NEW ADVENTURE Pacific Park
16th-20th September 7:30pm start Gates open at 6pm with stalls and preshow entertainment
Images provided by Wanagi Zable-Andrews
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