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Myles Pollard has swapped prime-time TV and big-budget movies for an intimate production of Dario Fo’s explosive play Mistero Buffo, writes Garrett Bithell.
Myles Pollard won the hearts of Australian viewers as the stoic and loyal farmer Nick Ryan on McLeod’s Daughters.
But after four and a half years, he closed the gate on Drover’s Run and left all that horse riding, cattle mustering and steamy hay bail make out sessions behind. Evidently, it was time to move on.
“It was an amazing time,” Myles tells SX. “Living in the country in South Australia and riding horses every day and acting and getting paid to do it – it was fantastic. But it was time for me to move on and do more complex work I suppose – just to try and extend myself a bit more.
“I mean I could have stayed there for the rest of my life and been happy but I probably would have woken up in 20 years and gone ‘wow’!”
Fast forward a couple of years and Myles now finds himself downstairs at Belvoir Street Theatre, where he has joined forces with fellow NIDA alumnus and close friend Douglas Blaikie to present Italian satirist Dario Fo’s powerful medieval parables, Mistero Buffo (‘comic mysteries’).
Fo is a notorious force of anti-authoritarianism. He promotes free thought and encourages the proletariat to question the ruling institutions and challenge the status quo. He is about critical analysis, not bowing to convention, and irreverent humour. In the ’50s, the Italian working class loved him.
The government hated him.
He first performed Mistero Buffo as a one man play in 1969 and it is arguably his most controversial. In 1977, the Vatican labelled the television version of the production ‘the most blasphemous show in the history of television’.
Much to their dismay, Fo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1997.
Myles was initially reluctant to bring Fo’s subversive vignettes to the stage.
“I took one look at it and went ‘oh my god, it’s pretty heavy. I’m not sure’. But then I kept reading and realised how interesting it was.
“The Vatican called it blasphemous but it’s really not. It actually celebrates what Christ’s agenda was – it holds a mirror up and says ‘we’re the people, we have the power to change things, let’s do it’. It attacks political institutions and greed and hypocrisy, but it advocates selflessness and compassion. It’s a play full of love and respect for humanity.”
If that’s the case, perhaps we need Fo’s voice more now than ever.
“I think so,” Myles muses. “Have a look at September 11, have a look at the power establishments have over us and over capitalism, have a look at the influences of consumerism and religion, have a look at what’s going on in the Middle East with people doing all these awful things for God and their religion – it’s all so hypocritical and such a paradox.”
Myles hopes audiences are enlightened and empowered by Fo’s provocative script.
“I hope they walk out and realise that they actually have more power than they think they do and can change the society in which they live,” he says. “That’s what it’s done for me. I hope they look at the world around them with a little more cynicism too.
“We had a couple of people, who were Catholics, walk out last night, which I thought was interesting!”
Myles has just finished shooting Wolverine in New Zealand opposite Hugh Jackman, so the pastoral surrounds of Belvoir’s downstairs theatre has made for a refreshing change.
“I don’t want to sound wanky but theatre is story telling in its purest form,” he says. “You have to captivate an audience from beginning to end, so the adrenaline levels are a lot higher.
“I’d forgotten how much energy it takes to do a play like this. In terms of acting, it makes you use your entire instrument. It’s like a wide shot the whole time – you’re being seen; you can’t hide behind a close up. I feel like an organism on a microscope slide.”
After Mistero Buffo wraps, Myles is foot loose and fancy free.
“I’ve got no other work lined up,” he tells. “I’ll be writing and trying to raise some money for a film, but I’ve got to get back out there and find a job basically!”
Mistero Buffo, downstairs at Belvoir Street Theatre until April 13. For tickets call (02) 9699 3444 or visit belvoir.com.au.
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