Artist of the Week - Q&A with Mark Dessaix
What are you working on currently?
A the moment I am working on The Temperamentals, which is being directed by Kevin Jackson. It’s playing at the New Theatre until March 3 as part of the Sydney Mardi Gras Festival. I read the play back in September last year and fell head over heels for the story, and the bravery of these 5 men who took massive risks to stand up and fight for their rights in 1950’s America. I have also just begun preliminary shooting for a new Australian feature film, working alongside Simon Lyndon. It’s called Lorem Ipsum, and is a remarkable art and style based film. I think it’s quite avant garde for Aussie film.
Who, or what, inspires you to create?
I think inspiration comes in many forms and guises, you just have to be open to it. I find a great theatre production or film helps when I am not working, or even something as simple as reading a play on a lazy afternoon. When I am working, it’s always watching the creatives around me working. The rehearsal room is my happy place. I recently was lucky enough to watch a rehearsal of The Wild Duck, which was beyond inspiring and educational, to watch that calibre of skill was incredible. There is also much to be gained when in a creative slump. They are the times when the art of inspiration through self motivation comes in handy. I think I am lucky in that I am a stubborn capricorn…I don’t give up easily.
What was the most interesting thing you saw recently?
It would have to be hands down Thyestes. It held my interest in a vice. Staging was brilliant, the acting was nothing short of fearless. I was disturbed throughout the whole thing, but utterly absorbed. It actually gave me some seriously twisted memory recall dreams for three nights after…it messed up my psyche, man!
What is the best piece of advice that you’ve been given?
The best will always be from my high school drama teacher, Ms Mills. I used to muck around in drama class, but she could see something in me that I couldn’t. She was a professional dancer and choreographer in Sydney and Vienna, so she knew her stuff. She was tough love with me from day one…her advice was always “Mark, if you expect to be a successful actor, you need to start owning your f***king sh*t”. And it’s true, you have to show up to rehearsal, a shoot, audition, fitting, reading, class, whatever and you need to have your sh*t together.
Who, past or present, would you like to share a meal with and why?
arghhhh, this is always a toughy! How can I pick one?! I am picking 3.
1 - My late Grandad. A wonderful man and very funny. I got my sense of humour from this man.
2 - My late Grandpa. We shared a love of literature, and could talk about Shakespeare and the Greeks for hours…he would have loved Thyestes.
3 - The Queen…she fascinates the heavens out of me, like that reclusive old lady that lived down the street I grew up on. I reckon she’d love a cheeky gin or 4. I’d like to be having dinner with her when she excuses herself for the “powder room”, then I’d know she was real.
Mark is starring in The Temperamentals at New Theatre until 3 March. Check it out here.
