How was it for you? My Country, right or wrong
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Your support makes all the difference.Jerry Phillips had just come off stage after a performance of Shakespeare Country by Peter Whelan at the Miller Centre in Caterham. The comedy is part of the BT Biennial, a nationwide event where a new play is commissioned for production by amateur companies. The Miller Centre Players have had six weeks to rehearse the show; Phillips is playing the lead role of Billy Shake, an American Country and Western star who is convinced he is distantly related to Shakespeare.
Phillips is still in his stage costume - fringed Western jacket and cowboy boots - when he meets me in the Green Room. 'I haven't played the guitar, or sung on stage for at least 10 years,' he confesses. 'So I've had to rehearse my songs every day since the beginning of August, three hours a night after work. It has been pretty nerve-wracking. But creating a character which no one has ever played before is a challenge; and I love having the Texan accent.'
Tonight's show was particularly tense - a rival amateur company who have also performed Shakespeare's Country was in the house. 'I thought they wouldn't like the way I interpret my character. And there were some bum lines to deal with. In my first scene I have this cue of 'Is this your first time in Stratford?' Instead, the actress said 'Is this your first time in England?' So I had to ad-lib the whole speech. I started thinking, 'Oh, shit. I wish this hadn't happened just before my song.'
'And then I have to sing this song with Dan and his electric guitar; well, he had forgotten to switch his amp on. We're all assembled, ready to sing and he went to play it, and it was dead. So he gives me a wink with his upstage eye, walks off and leaves me with the mike.'
However, for all the dodgy lines and on-stage disasters, it is clear that Phillips is entranced with the production. 'I go home with a buzz every night. With the set, and the lighting, and the atmosphere, you feel part of the play's magic. The curtain call is never quick enough; there is always a scramble behind stage in the dark for us all to line up in time to catch the applause at its peak. We want the curtains to open so quickly after the end of the show] And I know it sounds hammy, but the curtain call is the reason you do it.'
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