28 - Wednesday, July 13, 1994 - North Shore News

Jessie nomination earned
with role in A Doil’s House

From page 26

of heart.

“It was a mad dash with a lot
of leaps of faith,” Noel recalls
with a good-natured laugh,

“tt was a bit crazy at times
with people forgetting their lines,
but we really pulled together and
created something magical.”

The local frish community was
quick to rally around the actors,
she says, with one woman offer-
ing her prized recipe for soda
bread. (In the play, Noel and
company bake bread onstage.)
Another fan gave the cast lessons
in traditional Irish dance.

Playing Maggie at the Arts
Club under former West
Vancouver director Sherry Bie
has allowed Noe! to refine her
characterization.

Noel, Les Carlson, (who plays
Uncle Jack) and Nicola Lipman,
who stars as older sister Kate,
have all starred in previous pro-
ductions of the play. “This time
we can go a lot deeper. When
you get to know the piece better,
you can find all kinds of layers.”

The North Vancouver resident,
who broke into acting through
John Bain’s drama classes at
Handsworth Secondary, normally
has a full plate, but this has been
a particularly busy year.

First there was her unforget-
table performance as Sally in the
Playhouse production of Lips
Together, Teeth Apart for which
she won her third Jessie
Richardson Award, Then came
major roles in Blowin’ On
Bowen, Miracle Workers, and
Dancing at Lughnasa.

{n fact, she’s enjoyed so many
roles this year that she plans to
take off six months and enjoy
time with her husband, actor-
director Bill Dow, and their twin
boys, who turn five next January.

“We're both working freelance
as actors and when things come
up you hale to say no, but we’re
going (o be firm,” says Noel. “My
boys are getting older and | don’t
want to miss them growing up.”

One of her personal favorites
this season was the Playhouse
production of A Doll’s House,
which also earned her a Jessie
nomination.

She says it wasn’t so much the
role, but the opportunity to work
with Toronto director Neil

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66 / definitely enjoy
playing the main role
but I don't often
get cast that way. It’s
partly because of my
age, I think, 99

— Wendy Neel

Munroe that made A Doll's
House such an enriching experi-
ence, “He's one of the finest
directors I’ve worked with — a
serious artist. | loved being in
rehearsal.”

Are there any roles she still
vearns to play?

“4 don’t think of it so much as
roles but people t’d like to work

with — like Neil Munroe. I‘d fove
to work with him again.

“| definitely enjoy playing the
main role but ! don’t often get
cast that way. It’s partly because
of my age, | think. (The average
age of a TV mom is 32, she
notes.)

“When you're playing the
hero, it’s a wonderfull journey
every night. The secondary char-
acter is often harder to play, but
there’s not the same responsibili-
ty, not the same pay-off.”

She says she’II be able to Jook
forward to big parts again when
she enters her forties.

For now Noel can count her-
self lucky that she hasn’t had to
look outside the theatre for a job
since the age of 22.

She says “The journey for me
is not giving the power to the
audience. It’s about the work, not
how it’s received.

“Most actors don’t read
reviews anyway. They don’t help
— not even the good ones. It only
makes you more conscious of
your work,”

tu. .s@

GRA
PHONE (GO4) 688-002

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