One person, two lives – what happens when they collide? In a storyline that might be closely watched at her old workplace, former EastEnders star Barbara Smith plays a teacher whose second self is an online sex worker in Lessons From Teacher x, a new studio drama that premieres at Lighthouse next month (April).
Written by first-time playwright Erin De Frias and directed by Rohan Gotobed, the play is the latest production from Dorsetborn, the theatre company that has previously brought the critically acclaimed Fort, which went on to play a London run, and the children’s play Georgia and the Iceberg to Lighthouse.
Suffice to say, it represents a change of pace both for the company and for Barbara, as she explains: “I play Cam who’s a secondary school teacher and her alter ego Crystal is an online dominatrix. She falls in love with a handsome stranger and it becomes about her wondering whether she can tell him and if he’d be OK with it. And how she balances that.”
In all, Barbara brings to life 15 very different characters – a stretch for any actor, but a very real challenge for one whose work has largely been on screen. As well as EastEnders, in which she played Dana Monroe for 18 months, she has also appeared in Call the Midwife, Casualty and Doctors.
“I like to challenge myself and a one-woman show is something I’ve always wanted to do, but I think there’s also a connection I have with Cam in that both our mothers have died and this idea that in grief you bury yourself in something and can get addicted to it is something I wanted to explore and can relate to.
“I think that having to voice 15 characters is getting to the true essence of an actor and I’m learning it in the moment in rehearsals – how else would I as a young woman ever inhabit an older man for instance? However, memorising lines is a real challenge. I’ve mostly done TV before this and you get a scene, it’s two or three pages, but this is 35 pages and it feels I’m really having to sing for my supper here!”
There is something uniquely intimate about studio drama that Barbara is also relishing – stripped of the distance that television presents, the audience is up close, the reactions instant.
“Since Covid, I’ve really just craved that live response; there’s no feeling like being on stage, and the audience gets so into it, they’re kind of forced to participate. Studio spaces are my favourite. You can build it up in your head and get nervous before, but when you get out there and you see them so close, they’re just normal people. They want you to be comfortable up there, because if you’re uncomfortable, it starts to make them feel uncomfortable and nobody wants to be uncomfortable in a theatre.
“What I am finding in rehearsals though is whatever audience I have is really informing my performance. I’m learning to let the energy breathe so I can take it in and it can alter how I’m doing it, especially in the narration as Cam. I have to look at the audience, I talk to them, and what I’m finding is that the audience affects my interpretation.”
Lessons From Teacher x started life as a 15-minute monologue written by Erin De Frias and performed by Barbara directed by Rohan at the INK festival. Since then, it has been more than a year in development as it grew into a full-length play that will now tour through May and June.
“I’m finding it really exciting,” says Barbara. “I love the playfulness of it. In some ways I feel like a child, sitting my parents down and being like: ‘Watch my show,’ and I’m doing all the voices. I’m really enjoying that element of it. It’s the most fun part of it. Doing a one-woman show, it really gets back to the core of why I decided to be an actor in the first place, just the magic of storytelling and being able to play.
“The first audience for Lessons From Teacher x was nearly all in their 70s, which was not what I was expecting, but they were so up for it. So, having done that, to be honest, I kind of feel like I can perform to anyone right now!”
:: Lessons From Teacher x plays Lighthouse Poole on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 April. Tickets available now at https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/event/lesson-from-teacher-x/ and on 01202 280000.
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