Jason Donovan: 'The one thing I have on my side? I do a good Australian accent'

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/feb/03/jason-donovan-australian-accent-kings-speech-play

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How are rehearsals for The King’s Speech going?

They’re going well. It’s always a bit of an anxious time, trying to layer it all up … Lots of dialogue to remember! I’m cautiously optimistic…

How do you learn your lines?

It’s just hard work – wandering around streets looking like I’m talking to myself. I started working on [The King’s Speech] in September last year. I had a job before Christmas, War of the Worlds, and I didn’t want to be stressing out over Christmas so I started to chip away at it, five or 10 pages at a time. As Christmas came, the reality of it started to blow in through the windows … Some actors won’t start learning lines until rehearsals. I can’t think of anything worse. That level of anxiety! I’m acting when I don’t have to worry about the words.

Do you get stage fright?

When I’m well and happy and 100% clear, no. But the human body is not an instrument – it can’t be tuned up. It requires maintenance and things affect it like no other. But I have had a lot of experience. It goes back to preparing and having faith in your memory. Once that kicks in, it should all have a natural flow. As I get older, I know where things can go wrong so I don’t panic. But fear is part of what we do and is one of the themes of this show: this poor guy who has this incredible duty yet can’t speak.

Most people know the film of The King’s Speech, which is based on the play about George VI who is assisted by speech therapist Lionel Logue in the run-up to giving an important address...

It’s easy to see why it became a film because it’s really written like a film. The difference with the play is that it has more political undertones. The film very much dealt with their relationship. The play deals with Edward’s abdication, Winston Churchill and it builds up the enormity of George’s fear.

Did you watch the film again before rehearsals?

No, it wasn’t something I needed to do. I really loved the film and Geoffrey Rush [who played Logue on screen] is a very accomplished, well-known Australian actor ... and I look nothing like him! But the one thing I have on my side is I do a good Australian accent. That’s the only thing I will be guaranteed to get a thumbs up for. The rest is up for interpretation. I don’t even want to contemplate emulating him or thinking about how well he did it.

The story is about the two of them [Logue and George VI] but it’s the king’s journey. The focus is on him because of the stuttering which is quite theatrical – as an audience you gravitate towards that. I just have to make sure that, as much as I hold on to my own performance, it’s about really supporting the king and being natural. In those days, and even to a certain extent now, with someone that well known, a royal person, everyone would have just tried to bow down. The one thing the therapist does is say we must be equals: “When you walk into this room you are just a human being. Leave all that royal shit outside. We need to break you down.” I don’t think an Englishman would have been able to do that. I think an Australian got away with that because we’re slightly meritocratic and classless.

After so many musicals, this is a change of pace for you in terms of stage roles

No pink feathers in this one, thank God.

That headdress in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert looked really heavy…

The clothes in that show were as much a part of the story as the story itself. Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner won an Academy award for those costumes in the film – and they picked up the Tonys and the Oliviers for the musical. So they had as big a role to play as all of us. It was such a bright, colourful show and physically exhausting because you’re changing 40 or 50 times in one performance. Fond memories … but lots of back problems. Eight shows a week, it’s horrendous. I’m not a big fan of matinees.

You haven’t been in a jukebox musical – would you want to be?

I’ve written a song for one – the theme tune to Dreamboats and Petticoats. Priscilla is jukebox, really. But the difference between the jukebox and something like Priscilla is that Priscilla came from a great story – a very thin one but a good one. Jukebox musicals tend to be born out of songs. I don’t know whether that’s necessarily the best place to start when you’re creating a show. It’s a bit like saying, “You’re a great singer therefore you will be great in musicals.” That, in my experience, is not always the case. Sometimes you can have a great bunch of songs but if the story’s not strong enough, it’s not an emotional journey. You can sing the shit out of a Sondheim piece, but if you don’t believe the interpretation it’s useless. Johnny Depp wasn’t the greatest singer in the world but he gave Sweeney Todd a gravitas that made it work.

How about doing some Shakespeare?

Let’s get past this one first … Musicals have been very good to me. I’m lucky: I’ve been in this business for 20 or 30 years and haven’t stopped working and I consider that a fortune within itself. One step at a time I think. Let’s see. Sometimes it’s nice to break into dance and music. Ironically, with this show, I was always sold on the fact that it’s a straight piece. Then I get to rehearsals the other day and they send me to a dance class because I have to be part of some background 20s dancing.

Congratulations: Especially for You is now a million seller.

Yes, such a shame I didn’t write it... But that [selling a million copies] doesn’t happen very often and it proves the song is not just a pop classic – it’s a great melody, a melody that still sells. Happy days.

Were they happy days? When you think of that time in your life?

I think everything was clear and clean and crisp. Opportunities were all in front. Were they happy days? There were a lot of struggles, anxieties, expectations, some good moments and some bad. It was clear. I don’t believe in luck, you create your own luck. But timing is everything in life and I was in the right place at the right time.

And now Neighbours is having a 30th anniversary. You said you’d get involved if all the gang from that time did too.

I’m very fond of my time there – it’s the backbone of where my career started. Going back to it? Any intelligent person would go, “Why would you if you don’t need to?” … But if Guy and Kylie and Natalie and Craig and a whole bunch of them rang up and said, “Let’s all do it.” You’d probably go, “Well, OK – if we’re all going to do it, let’s do it…”