It's a sparkling winter's day and Emil Wolk stands admiring waves as they roll in on an empty beach in his hometown of Port Macquarie.
Key points:
- Emil Wolk is an award-winning actor and director who began in London nearly 60 years ago
- He recently created a stage play in a Port Macquarie surf club which he took across the world
- Wolk now hopes to share his experiences with the next generation of performers
It's a long way from the lights of some of the world's greatest stages — including London's West End and the opera houses of France and Italy — where the 75-year-old actor and director has been entertaining audiences for nearly six decades.
"We moved here [Port Macquarie] in 2005; we live so near the ocean, and that's a first for me," he said.
"I never knew how extraordinarily revitalising it could be. It can lift you out of wherever you are into some kind of higher plane."
The ocean's beauty recently helped inspire Wolk's latest stage play, which he created with English colleague Mark Long.
Aussie surf club to London playhouse
They wrote and rehearsed the show inside a small Port Macquarie surf club.
"Mark was just stunned … he felt so good to be in such a beautiful and delightful location.
"We actually incorporated the idea of the ocean and the environment in the piece."
They took the show across the world to London's Southwark Playhouse for England's longest-running experimental theatre company, People Show.
It is titled People Show 137: God Knows How Many — the numbering system began with People Show 1 held in Soho in 1966.
"Reuniting with the People Show after not performing with them for 20 odd years was a highlight … in a way the cast are the veterans of the People Show," Wolk said.
"So, in a way, it was a retrospective of things we had done."
The show's season ended when the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
"My wife and I departed on March 15, so we got out just in time and almost walked back in without any kind of check," he said.
'The arts can really save you'
Wolk said the performing arts had always been a natural career choice.
His father, Jess Walters, was a celebrated opera singer in the post-war era.
The family moved from New York to London after Walters took up the position of principal baritone at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1947.
"The only real course was through the arts… it felt like fate took a strong hand.
"The arts really can save you in some respects, in terms of idiosyncratic people finding a way to get through life and get paid for it, which is really remarkable."
Inspired by classics but drawn to the new
Wolk's creative passion and the joy it has brought him bubbles to the surface when he reflects on his varied and successful career.
He may have been inspired by his classically trained father, but from early on he embraced cutting-edge, very physical theatre.
"In the '60s and '70s in London I got involved in the whole impetus that existed of wanting theatre to be something different … something not always associated with the word," he said.
"That's when I [first] saw the People Show."
Wolk's father worked with him on a People Show production and it remains a treasured memory.
"My Dad, even though he was a classical singer, always remained open to really taking opportunities," he said.
'An extraordinary quirk of fate'
Over the years Wolk has crossed smoothly from the alternative to the mainstream.
In 1988 he was highly rewarded for his performance in a musical.
"By an extraordinary quirk of fate, I did an audition for the musical Kiss Me, Kate — I was one of the gangsters in the show," he said.
Later, Wolk's connection to his Dad was reaffirmed when he started choreographing.
"I worked in extraordinary venues like La Scala in Italy, the Metropolitan Opera, the Rome Opera, just really remarkable opera houses that my father talked about a lot.
Wolk also took on film and television roles, including The Tall Guy (1989) and a role in the popular ABC TV series Rake (2014).
'Follow your hopes and be tenacious'
Before the pandemic Wolk was offered choreography work in France, but is now happy to focus on projects closer to home.
"I would love to be able to give over my experience to some younger people, so maybe I should start focusing on doing some masterclasses or working in schools.
"It is a difficult, competitive profession and you just have to follow your hopes and be tenacious."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA4LTIyL2xpZmVzLXN0aWxsLWEtc3RhZ2UtZm9yLXZldGVyYW4tYWN0b3ItYW5kLWRpcmVjdG9yLWVtaWwtd29say8xMjU2MDMyNtIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjU2MDMyNg?oc=5
2020-08-22 03:24:00Z
CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA4LTIyL2xpZmVzLXN0aWxsLWEtc3RhZ2UtZm9yLXZldGVyYW4tYWN0b3ItYW5kLWRpcmVjdG9yLWVtaWwtd29say8xMjU2MDMyNtIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjU2MDMyNg
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