There was a farewell mêlée of theatre performances at the Actors Centre this week at the Tristan Bates theatre, to celebrate the nine year’s work of Matthew Lloyd as Artistic Director of the Actors’ Centre in Covent Garden. His love of actors and the art of acting has nurtured and inspired many actors throughout his tenure. During the evening we saw a scene from “Come Out Eli“ a recorded delivery production where actors are linked up via an earpiece to the voices of people being interviewed and repeat their words verbatim. Lucky’s speech from “Waiting for Godot” was fantastically delivered by 10 of the bursary winners or runners up of the Alan Bates bursary. A piece from “Crush”, that originated from work at the Actors Centre by Paul Charlton and Ria Parry and went on to win a Fringe First at Edinburgh was brilliantly delivered. “Lovesong” directed by Che Walker and played and sung by Omar Lye-Fook was another highlight of the evening – a reminder of the power of the actor and singer to transform our emotions and send echos down our spine. The evening was crowned by a scene Matthew has adapted from Daniel Deronda, in which the gentleman tells a young and beautiful woman that she has the wrong idea about the acting world and it won’t be as easy to join and succeed as she thinks. It was read by Henry Goodman and Gill Kearney, who don’t have to concern themselves with the message of the piece. Matthew Lloyd disclosed that he started his ‘Truth’ interviews with members of the Actors Centre because he believed that people who won’t succeed, should be told that truth, much as in the scene from Daniel Deronda. He seemed relieved that he only had to tell two people to desist in the profession. Clive Swift, the wonderful actor and founder member of the Actors Centre said that he’s always telling people not to become actors. However, for those with talent and the ability to learn, listen and work like crazy – the Actors Centre is the place to go.
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