JAMES STRECKER: If you were asked for 50 words for an encyclopedia to summarize what you do, or have done, in the arts, what would you say?
JANE PERRY: Jane has worked as an actress in film, television, voice over and on stage in both the UK and Canada. She spent five years at The Shaw Festival, and has enjoyed many roles onscreen, including the character responsible for the X-Files being called the X-Files.
JS: What important beliefs do you express in or through your work?
JP: I believe that it is a great gift to show the imperfections and the vulnerability inherent in being human. We have an instinct in our day-to-day lives to actively hide these aspects, not realising that in doing so, we cut off a part of ourselves. Our complexity, fully realised, gives us access to many things; our anger, our sadness, our shadow side. The acceptance of these perceived negative qualities can provide us with tremendous drive, power, empathy, growth and compassion. When we see the hurt, the sadness, the wholesale imperfection of a character on stage or in a film, it can give us a means of relating and finding resonance with that. We realise that we’re not alone: What we experience is the experience of many, if not all. I always hope with my work that by being honest with these sides of myself, and really allowing them to show, I’m at the same time saying “Look, it’s ok, our imperfections give us an opportunity to expand, and evolve. Look what can happen if you embrace them”. Although sometimes a character’s journey is more of a warning: look what can happen if you don’t.
JS: Name two people, living or dead, whom you admire a great deal and tell us why for each one.
JP: I’d quite like to have a chat with Queen Boudica. I’m fascinated by female warriors and she’s one that really sticks out in history (there are not too many to choose from). She loses her husband, her daughters are raped, she’s publicly flogged, humiliated and betrayed. Does she say to herself “Gosh, that was a bit much, I think I’ll retire from public life”? No. She grabs her daughters, amasses an army and heads out to fight tooth and nail for what she feels is rightfully hers. What a woman.
I also have great respect and admiration for so very many actresses, but because there isn’t enough room to mention them all, I’ll pick Frances McDormand. She has so much authenticity in her work. She is brave and is not afraid of not being liked. She is fearless in an industry where there is so much pressure to not to get old. She’s aged gracefully and I think it sets a most welcome and good example. I always feel inspired by her.
JS How have you changed since you began to do creative work?
JP: Good question. I’m not sure I have much perspective on this, as I have been an actor my entire adult life. I will say that as I’ve progressed through my career, I’ve had to answer some questions about my own confidence, and why I wanted to be an actor in the first place. I struggled so much with a negative self-perception as a younger person. There is no doubt that I sought the refuge of playing a character as a way of escaping myself. Gosh I found that such a relief! But of course, it caught up with me, and did nothing to heal the real problems lurking in the background (and the foreground too I’m sure). I made a move towards trading in my insecurities for better qualities and aligning with a more positive sense of self.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
JP: I have struggled in the past with boundaries. I guess there’s something in my make-up that attracts distraught, vulnerable or damaged characters. There is of course much to be enjoyed about playing axe-murderers, jilted women, and the like. But it took me a very, very long time to find a way to keep my own psyche and that of my character separate. I felt almost driven to batter my own mind with my character’s thoughts and experiences. If I didn’t do that, I felt I wasn’t working hard enough. I really don’t know where I picked that one up from! What I do know is that it did a number on my mental health, and I had to regroup and find a different way. I now have a little signal, like an internal red flag that pops up when I venture into unhealthy territory. I listen to it, I trust it, and I remind myself that the audience has no idea what fresh hell I’m going though in my own mind as I play my role. So why bother? My experience is actually totally irrelevant. All I’m called upon to do is to play the role well, and let the rest go. It takes a lot less energy and is much more fun and life-affirming.
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life.
JP: A major turning point in my life was getting bad reviews. I’d always coasted along, receiving relatively good press and good feedback for my work. And then suddenly I was in 2 plays at the same time, and got massively slammed for both. I found the experience so deeply painful and felt dreadful every time I stepped on stage to perform. I began to realise however, that, if I was to be honest, I wasn’t really as grounded in my work as I could have been. I was too keen on what others thought, and had wrapped my self-esteem up in the good praise of my peers, the critics, my director, etc. I hadn’t really been aware of this until that bad press started to stream in. As a result, I started a process of seeking that confidence from within. This meant really being clear about my gut instinct, and allowing myself to listen to that. Trusting that I am enough – that I’m a perfectly valid and reasonable vessel to hold the experience of my character. Somehow, by doing so, I cared less about what others thought, which ironically made the collaborative process more streamlined, because I was less attached to the outcome of my work. My criteria shifted from “Oh God, I hope people like me!!!!” to “I will do the best I can. I will be as brave and courageous as I can be. I will be generous and always aim for authenticity. And I will have a joyous time doing it”. Such a great lesson.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about what you do?
JP: I think it might be difficult for an outsider to understand why I might pursue a career that has no job security, no benefits, no guarantee of a regular paid income, and no retirement package. I think it might also be hard to understand why I might agree to do work that doesn’t pay very well, even though I’ve been in the business for 20+ years.
JS: How and why did you begin to do creative work in the first place?
JP: I come from a family that was perhaps not as expressive as it could have been. Somehow, I ended up being a bit of sponge, soaking up all those thoughts and feelings that were left unexpressed. I needed somewhere to put them, and the stage and the screen felt like a pretty good repository. When I discovered acting as a young person and came into contact with other creatives, I felt like I had found my long-lost tribe – one I still feel so honoured and happy to be a part of.
JS: What haven’t you attempted as yet that you would like to do and please tell us why?
JP: I wonder sometimes if I have a writer in me. Being an actor is a wonderful job, but also an intermittent job. I’m presently in the UK, and we have BREXIT looming over us, which has created this terrible sense of uncertainty in our industry (as well as many others of course). Consequently, work has been very slow for many. I think investors are a little shy of having much to do with UK based projects, until we really know what’s what. Or, maybe it’s just that I’m on the cusp of 50, and there are fewer roles for an older North American woman in the land of tea and crumpets. I really don’t know. The point is, work comes and goes. Wouldn’t it be great to self-generate my work, indulge in my own creativity, by doing exactly what I’m doing now: typing out a few words on my computer, with the cat snoring beside me, a cup of tea and my own imagination.
JS: What are your most meaningful achievements?
JP: I am really proud of the time I spent at The Shaw Festival in Canada. It was such an honour to work there with so many talented crew, directors, designers, and of course my fellow actors. I also have really enjoyed the array of people I’ve met working here in the UK. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Daniel Day Lewis, Paul T Anderson, Isabelle Huppert, Jude Law, Tom Hanks, Tom Tykwer, Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan, etc. That has been so much fun and I’ve felt very inspired by all of them.
JS: What advice would you give a young person who would like to do what you do?
JP: I am always one for nurturing the dream of creativity in anyone who feels the call. So I would say to a young person who wishes to get into this field: go for it, with all your heart! And while doing so, get some great training so you can learn the skill of being an actor, learn how to use your voice, your body, learn how to analyse your text, and how to be authentic. Find a community of like-minded, positive, people. Invest in them, and they will invest in you. And don’t give up!
JS: Of what value are critics?
JP: I think critics are of value in that they can help to raise the profile and can draw audiences to a production, provided they give a positive review. If it’s damning critic, then this can be really quite devastating, especially in the theatre. I don’t always agree with critics and their assessment of a play or a film. But I do still think they are necessary – they are a part of the machine. My only request is that they know what they’re talking about. That they have some level of background in the theatre, and haven’t just come off the sports desk – especially if they’re reviewing for the broadsheets or major media outlets. Having said that, everyone is now a critic, with the advent of on-line blogging and social media. We’re getting all kinds of takes on what is presented to us, and maybe that’s a more democratic, levelled approach. I also find myself reading reviews after I’ve seen something, as frequently there can be a bit of a back story or information about the production that I might not normally have access to, which can be quite interesting and enlightening.
JS: What do you ask of your audience?
JP: Sit up, listen, turn OFF your phone (don’t just put it on silent), and please don’t eat potato chips during live theatre.
JS: What specifically would you change about what goes on in the world and the arts?
JP: Oh, let’s see…. I notice that Isis hasn’t put out any good art for a while. Nor has the Taliban (although I’ve never been to this part of the world, so I’m happy to be set right if my perception is incorrect). Indeed, they seem quite intent on grabbing a sledge hammer and a chainsaw and destroying it. Lest you think I’m suggesting that all points West of the Middle East are perfect, I also feel deep concerns about Trump threatening to completely eradicate the National Endowment for the Arts. In other words, I get uneasy when I see a complete lack of regard for the Arts, no matter where this happens, and who perpetrates it. Where there is a hatred of the Arts, there is a hatred of self-expression and freedom. It is accompanied by a harshness, and a heaviness that leaves little room for joy, empathy, compassion, childhood. If there is no art in a community, it is a bioindicator of something gone very badly wrong. Hardship, war, economics, ideologies, a lack of opportunity, and dogma. Art is not therapy, (although it can be) but it is certainly a source for healing, for reflection, a celebration and a recognition of our ourselves. I can’t imagine a world without it, and I am grateful for it every day, from the busker who plays a beautiful tune on the London Underground to those great paintings that hang in our National Galleries to the dancer who captures something so exquisite and true that it defies language.
JS: If you could relive one experience from your creative life, what would it be and why would you do so?
JP: I loved playing Rosalind in As You Like It. I had the pleasure of playing her twice: once at theatre school, and then again at Bard On The Beach in Vancouver. I just love that character. She is so proactive, she loves, she’s jealous, she’s full of insecurity, passion, drive, joy, sadness, grief, and loss. She’s the “full meal deal” and I could live in her sphere forever. Speaking Shakespeare’s text was akin to being in love, for me, and I would be happy to do so for the rest of my days!
JS: Tell us what it feels like to be a figure who is presented somehow in the media. What effect does this presence have on you?
JP: I find it quite fun really. I have to say I don’t pop up that much, as I am by no means famous, and mostly work as a day player (supporting characters) in film and TV here in the UK. But from time to time, someone will stop me and say “oh gosh, I know you from somewhere. Where have we met?” Also, I do play a lot of bad-ass characters in computer games, and sometimes my voice will pop up in a game that’s played by my step kids or the younger people in my life. This gives me an invaluable dose of “street cred” which I’m pretty sure I would otherwise definitely not have!
JS: Name two places you would like to visit, one you haven’t been to and one to experience again and briefly tell us why.
JP: I’d love to go to Iceland. The land of fire and ice. It sounds so anachronistic and unknown. Plus, Björk came from there…so there’s gotta be something mystical and special about it. And I am always keen on returning to the mountains. I grew up in Calgary, Alberta and am always stunned and humbled by the beauty and the majesty of the Rockies. I would also love to go back to Taormina in Sicily and see a production at the Teatro Greco – what an amazing setting with Mount Etna, gently puffing out plumes of smoke, as a backdrop.
JS: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on, are preparing, or have recently completed. Why do they matter to you and why should they matter to us?
JP: I shall shortly be working on a short film called Satori. It’s the first independent film project by the very talented cinematographer Adam Batchelor, whom I met while filming “The Beyond” in the UK. It is about Mother Nature saying “enough is enough”, and taking control of the earth in a way which human beings find almost uninhabitable. For the few that do survive, it is a reckoning between survival using pure force, technology and weaponry versus working with our instincts, not fearing the unknown and approaching an uncertain future with humility and wonder. As far as I can tell, it’s all very timely in terms of what’s happening to our climate. It seems to me there’s an imperative to make changes RIGHT NOW. However, that message is being met with the equal and opposing force of denial, the consequences of which I fear we are already experiencing.
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s society, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
JP: Well. I think it’s an interesting time to be in film and TV, as the medium by which they are both presented is in the midst of a massive shift. The internet, Netflix, Amazon, online content such as web-series and podcasts, etc. have certainly challenged the cinematic experience, and long gone are the days when we might have rushed home to see our favourite TV program. Television has produced some of the most extraordinary work I’ve seen for a while. As a viewer, I find this exciting and engaging. It’s brilliant the way technology has opened things up. We can make our own work in a way that would have once been entirely prohibitive from a cost point of view.
As for what I find depressing, as mentioned before, being that I’m in the UK, I’m really concerned about BREXIT, and the impact it is having in the arts (and life) in general. These days funding for feature films and TV and some theatre tends to come from many different sources. And in the UK, this includes funding, not to mention creative input and support, from other European countries. I can’t help but feel that BREXIT pushed the British public into a simple “yes” or “no” answer to a question that was extremely complex. It was so reductive, and now, we’re in a sorry mess as we try to sort out what it all means. I’m sure the arts will survive, they always do, but I think there may be some rough waters ahead.
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising thing about you?
JP: I love the experience of coming alive when I’m working with a team. Whether that be with my sound engineer during a voice-over session or in the rehearsal hall with a Director and a group of actors. It instigates a creative high that seems otherwise inaccessible. This I find surprising (and yes, a little disappointing) and I am intrigued by why the creative impulse is more or less latent when I’m working alone (for example, when I sit down to write). I have a deep respect and admiration for those artists who are at their desk or in the studio, toiling away solo as they write or paint or what have you. But, perhaps that’s just how I’m made? Creativity is a curious beast sometimes…