Interview with Becky Shrimpton
Here’s an interview with Becky Shrimpton who will be starring as Steph in our next production, One Good Marriage.
Tell us a bit about your character in One Good Marriage
Steph is an English teacher with a bitter streak. One gets the impression that up until her marriage to Stewart she’s had a rather mild life, with not many highlights or even low lights. She’s a girly girl with a tough edge to her which makes her a fun contradiction.
What is it about acting that you like so much?
It’s totally an adrenaline thing. Some people jump out of planes, some people drive really really fast, some people time themselves doing really hard crosswords – I act. That and people clap for me whether they want to or not. That’s pretty awesome.
Do you have a dream role?
I would love to play Hedwig in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” I know it’s a part for a guy but Ally Sheedy did it and so I can too.
If you didn’t act, what would you do instead?
Probably starve. I’m not good at anything else…especially math. I really really suck at math. I enjoy writing, I’ve written a young adult novel so far and I’m now working on an animated web series scheduled to be up in early 2010. I hope to start directing at some point. I think I’d make a good producer because I like to yell, but anything I did with my life would have to involve theatre in some way.
Who are your theatre/acting role models?
Derek Jacobi, Cathrine O’Hara, Emma Thompson, Maggie Smith, Madeline Khan, Samuel L. Jackson, Martha Henry, Joel Grey, and Bette Davis, just to name a few…
What is your first memory of the theatre?
I’ve been attending theatre since I was three or four years old, so it’s hard to actually remember my first time at the theatre because my brains were still in development, but I think my first really good memory was seeing Les Miz when I was 6. I was obsessed with the show and as a surprise my mother took me to see a production of it when it was in Edmonton. I had no idea what was going on through most of it, but I think on an instinctual level every human being prefers Eponine to Cosette, and that’s really the point of the show. Isn’t it? The best part about it was after the show an elderly lady mistook me for the girl who played the young Cosette and I was absolutely tickled. It made me want to be on the stage and actually do the work, not just take the credit for it. I started acting classes the next week.
What scares you most about the theatre?
The same thing that scares me about theatre is why I love theatre – every moment is alive. There’s no way to predict what will happen next. Will the actor forget their lines? Will the theatre catch on fire? Will an audience member fall asleep and start snoring loudly? Who knows? That’s what’s so wonderful about theatre, nothing is ever the same twice but it’s always, for better or for worse, a memorable experience.