Daniel Liebeck

THE ROLE MODEL - A new role

I recently had the chance to interview Jethro Pitcher from the upcoming stage show THE ROLE MODEL . Now being as this was my first official interview it’s safe to say I was nervous as hell. It’s not every day you get to interview a 15-year-old actor. I had my list of questions to ask our aspiring actor, which he happily answered - and which I was very grateful for.

Jethro is playing a “highly depressed young man called Adam” who is helped out by former Olympic gold medallist Scott, whose career is in tatters after a fling with his best mate’s wife. The character of Scott is based on Layne Beachley, seven-time world surfing champion, who helps young women suffering from depression by taking them surfing, as studies say that exercise is more effective then medication. However, despite the weighty subject matter, Jethro promises the play to be a comedy and for it to “be pretty funny.”

Jethro seems to like his role, but when asked if he was going to pursue a career in acting, he replies “I think I’d like to pursue acting as only a hobby, rather than an actual career. It’s something I find enjoyable to do at the time - even more enjoyable after it’s all been done, with the glory of having been in a play.”

Jethro maintains that he and his character Adam are nothing alike. As Jethro puts it, “the role really doesn’t reflect my real personality, but it makes it a bit more interesting playing a person you wouldn’t be in real life. I like him, and it’s been quite enjoyable so far.” There does seem to be a bit of confusion over Adam’s age. Jethro said that Adam is 16, whereas the press release said that Adam was 18. I would have to believe Jethro, as he is the one playing the character.

And although he is but the tender age of 15, Jethro explains doesn’t really get stage fright, he just gets nervous. However, he has his own technique to get over it: “I like to imagine if I was in the audience, what I would find appealing or amusing, and always try and focus on acting and incorporating those things. Hopefully the audience will feel the same way I do and they will enjoy it as well - it’s worked for me so far.”

As in all comedies, there are the serious characters too; in The Role Model’s case it is Wanda. When asked which character Jethro thought could be different, he said “maybe Wanda could be a little bit funnier I think, she’s too serious when it comes to things.”

For someone my age - just on 18 - The Role Model has its strengths, as it deals with a real life issue, and also a particularly important issue, that affects so many people, especially teenagers. That said, The Role Model tries to take a light-hearted approach, as it is comedy. And whether they can indeed pull of a comedy with such a serious theme as depression presents an intriguing prospect. My advice, check it out for yourself.

The Role Model will be at The Street Theatre from Wednesday July 23 to Saturday August 2. Tickets range from $15 to $25. To book, give The Street Theatre a call on 6247 1223.

GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU & SHELLIE MORRIS

WHAT: INDIGENOUS FOLK ARTISTS
WHERE: NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA
WHEN: JULY 13 & 14

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is an interesting character; he speaks little English, lives on Elcho Island, off the coast of Arnhem Land, and he has been blind since birth. He’s been touted as having the potential to be to indigenous music what painters such as Rover Thomas were to indigenous art. Geoffrey’s new album, Gurrumul, has been described as the most beautiful recording ever made by an Aboriginal musician, his voice holding an emotional power that is reminiscent of the great Aaron Neville. Although he grew up listening to the likes of Elvis and Neil Diamond, Geoffrey sings in his native Yolngu, with only two of his songs having English lyrics. “I feel uncomfortable with English,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald. “The meanings of the words in Yolngu and English are different because we have different things in our life.” Geoffrey’s rarely performs, and thus any chance to see him should not be missed. He will be performing with Shellie Morris - ‘the Janis Joplin of Jingili” - at the National Gallery on Sunday July 13 and Monday July 14. Tickets $40 for members, $45 concession. Bookings are essential.

GOODNIGHT NURSE - Good night and good luck

Rising from an Auckland garage, GOODNIGHT NURSE flew into the New Zealand music industry like a bat out of hell - blind and screaming. From humble beginnings, Goodnight Nurse have charmed their way into the hearts and minds of the Kiwis and a fair portion of us Aussies. While they’re still relatively unknown on the worldwide stage, Goodnight Nurse aren’t exactly accomplishment free. They’ve toured New Zealand many-a-time, including the history making Boost Mobile NZ Schools Tour in 2004, where they managed to pull of 120 shows in 5 months, making it the biggest tour one band has ever done in New Zealand. They were also on the On and On tour with Steriogram and 48May, where they did 32 shows in 35 days, and have played some of New Zealand’s biggest shows, such as Edgefest, Crusty Demons and Beach Day Out. They won the Best Breakthrough Video at the Juice TV awards with their catchy debut single Loner.

Lead singer Joel Little says there’s no real story behind the name Goodnight Nurse. “At the time we didn’t think that we were gonna be particularly popular, so we just thought ‘we’ll just chose a name for now, and think of something a bit better later.’ Goodnight Nurse kinda just stuck, and I’ve grown to like it now so that’s okay. That’s how we found it, we just wrote a lot of names on a piece of paper and it was the least crap one.”

Their debut album Always and Never went gold a week after it was released and debuted at position five on the RIANZ chart. Their second album, Keep Me on Your Side, also debuted at number five on the RIANZ chart, but shot to number 1 on the Itunes chart. Recently, My Only, a single from Always and Never, was included in the NHL07 video game. “Jaden, our drummer, likes the FIFA soccer games,” Joel says, “so he’s holding out to be on one of those games. I can’t play the NHL game; I’m useless at it because I can’t see the puck, but it’s fun hearing your song on there.” Always and Never also included a rock version of that annoying song by Kelis, Milkshake.

Then asked what the story behind that song was, Joel laughs and explains “it was really just for a joke at the time. We thought it would be a funny thing we could do, but somehow it came out really well. We started playing it at the shows, it was four years ago now, and people are still kind of discovering it. People hear that song and like it, and they come and check out what band played it. It’s such a good song to play live.”

Critics and fans have likened Goodnight Nurse to American bands such as Green Day and Blink 182, which Joel takes as a compliment: “I think both of those bands are legendary. You know, we haven’t done anything near what they have, and New Zealand, compared to other countries, only has a small music industry. Because we kind of play in a similar vein, like punk or whatever you wanna call it, people like to compare every band to somebody else. [Green Day and Blink 182] are two of our favourite bands, so when people compare us to them we take it as a compliment.”

Goodnight Nurse are currently supporting Melbourne rockers The Getaway Plan on their Where the City Meets the Sea Tour. “I hope we steal all their fans,” Joel laughs when asked if he thinks that playing with The Getaway Plan could help build their own fan base. “Hopefully our band’s music will work well together and their fans will like our stuff too. They’re getting really popular in Australia now, so hopefully they will get good big crowds so we can leach some of those fans off them.”

Goodnight Nurse play with The Getaway Plan and Closure in Moscow at The Venue in Erindale on Thursday July 10. Tickets are available from The Venue, The Music Shop in Belconnen, Civic and Woden, Landspeed Records or from the Moshtix or 1300 438 849. Keep Me on Your Side is out now through Warner.