|
Joel Howard has
never been to the National Theatre before - except to skateboard
in front of it. Now, though, he's in the cast of a new version
of Aristophanes' 'The Birds', the latest and most extreme
production in the National's Transformation season.
'This is the first
time circus and theatre have been brought together like this,'
says Howard of the show, directed by Complicite's Kathryn
Hunter. 'It's very physical and very funny too. I hope the
fact that it's an old Greek comedy won't put people off.'
A gifted gymnast
as a child in Hove, Howard started skateboarding and snakeboarding
- a self-propelled variation that allows more outlandish moves
- when he was 12. Four years later, he was one of the country's
top snakeboarders, paid to wiggle but mocked by purists: 'I
used to get it ripped out of me a bit. It gets seen as a gimmick,
a toy.' His big break came when he was cast in the Millennium
Dome show, which required a year's training at the Circus
Space in Hoxton. 'We were taught things like trapeze, rope,
trampolining, abseiling. I was so lucky.' When the Dome closed,
he was one of several of the cast who got jobs as aerialists
in 'Notre-Dame de Paris', the Dannii Minogue musical. He's
also a professional b-boy with his crew Project Buttafly.
The 22-year-old
is committed to 'The Birds' until next year - it tours in
a circus tent after the London run - but doesn't expect to
take acting much further. Instead, he wants to be a stuntman,
perhaps eventually a stunt coordinator. The British Equity
Stunt Register demands proficiency in six different fields.
He's mastered gymnastics, trampolining, martial arts, horse
riding and fencing. After the tour, he'll work on his high-diving.
How do his parents
feel about their boy making danger his bread and butter? 'They're
very supportive of my trying to become a stuntman, 'cos it's
very lucrative. But they want me to get on with that, really.
The shows are great, but the pay is not as good, and my body
is not going to last for ever.'
'The Birds' opens
at the National Theatre, Lyttelton (020 74523000), on July
26, previewing from July 23.
|
