Who are you and which parts did you play?
My name is Johnny and I played Ben Ami, Nicodemus, Barabbas, Judas and one of the pilgrim travellers on The Road.
What is your favourite part of the play?
There’s a great scene between Barabbas and Caiaphas the High Priest. It’s full of the twists and turns of manipulation, as each man seeks some leverage over the other, while getting around the fact that they heartily detest one another. Bartering with a terrorist like Barabbas is new territory for Caiaphas but he knows he needs inside information. Caiaphas’s bargaining chip is an offer to keep Barabbas from being arrested and killed by the Roman authorities. What he wants in return is that they work together on the basis of a common hatred of Jesus. A fragile and unlikely alliance but, as the Road winds inexorably towards the crucifixion, it creates a significant momentum within the play.
What did you learn during the process?
I learned about the difficulty of excavating such a rich text from the added perspective of faith. It meant so much to me beyond the acting and the stagecraft and I wanted to do it justice. The more I pored over it, the more it began ‘to land’, to bring insights that illuminated my personal journey, as well as the journey of each of my characters.
What made you laugh most in rehearsals?
Laughing at John Holden-White’s outrageous stylistic improvisations with his costume. Very unfair to appear, when you’re least expecting it, with his shirt turned up into a crop top and his strange trousers gathered into … well, only he knows what he was trying to achieve there!
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