Geordie Johnson enjoys Williams' flawed characters

by Mike Beitz
Beacon Herald Festival Edition 1998

Geordie Johnson attaches little significance to the fact that he was born on the same day that Tennessee Williams died, but he does admit to a great deal of admiration for the celebrated American playwright.

"His characters are just so fascinating to play," said Mr. Johnson, whose role as Reverend Shannon in The Night of the Iguana this season will be his third Tennessee Williams production at the Festival. "They require a very generous spirit, because they're just so flawed."

But the playwright's "unflagging honesty," which he infused in his characters, makes even the most unattractive of them "forgiveable," suggested Mr. Johnson. For the actor, the fact that they continue to struggle with their inner demons is what makes them both challenging and exciting to play on stage.

"Williams wrote about troubled people who really keep trying, despite everything," he said. "There are very few people who give up in his work. He wrote about fighters."

That's true of Brick in the Festival's 1989 production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Chance Wayne in the 1996 production of Sweet Bird of Youth, and even more so of Reverend Shannon in The Night of the Iguana, a troubled former priest turned tour guide, whose taste for alcohol and young women brought about his expulsion from the church.

"He's someone who's really at a crossroads in his life," said Mr. Johnson, who in early April was just starting to explore the complex character at the end of his rope as he struggles with a group of female teachers (one of whom he's seduced), a fiesty hotel proprietor, a group of German tourists and a New England spinster with whom he feels a certain kinship.

Describing the emotional arc of the character on stage, including his eventual emotional breakdown at the Mexican hotel, is going to be "a major challenge," predicted Mr. Johnson.

"It's essential to know where you start, because he's in such a state, right from the beginning, and you've got to be really precise about where that is so you still have somewhere to go for three hours."

Exactly how to portray the breakdown on stage is something that Mr. Johnson expects he will discover during the rehearsal period.

"Once you find the right path through it, what happens is that every night it becomes automatic, because you set out the right bits in you to be touched at certain points. The first few times through, you're exhausted, you ache and it's awful. But then it becomes invigorating, and you get more energy from it."

Working with people like Lally Cadeau, who plays Maxine, and the remainder of the cast makes his work on The Night of the Iguana all the more enjoyable, he said.

But stellar line-ups are the norm for almost every play staged at the Stratford Festival, added Mr. Johnson.

"You look around at the other productiosn and you say, 'wow, that's a good cast, and that's a good cast.' It's a very full company. And that's one of the big draws of being here -- you get to work alongside some of the best in the business."

Even more appealing, the Festival allows actors to do Shakespeare under the same roof as modern masterpieces like The Cherry Orchard, in which he plays Yasha this season.

"There's the opportunity to do these great modern plays, and roles that stretch you and excite you, but the big kick is to do Shakespeare in a place that is unique in its ability to produce it, and to work with people who have spent decades, and entire careers in some cases, doing Shakespeare."

This season he also plays Autolycus in The Winter's Tale, a role he says scares him more than a little, not because of difficult language, but mainly because he has to sing.

"The character has a lot of fun and if I have fun with it, it should be just fine," he said, adding that he is being well coached to discover his singing voice. "And it's good to be scared once in a while. If you set yourself up for a big fall, you may fall, but that's where you learn. That's where you move forward as an actor."

And though he has done a great deal of work in television, including appearances in John Woo's Once a Thief, ENG, Street Legal, and Spenser, the opportunites to stretch and grow as an actor are not as plentiful in that medium, he said.

"You often find yourself playing the same characters -- in my case the same villains -- and saying the same lines. You sometimes have to remind yourself why you're doing it."

His work at the Festival, and film roles like Dr. Oliver in The English Patient help to remind him, he said.

"That was just a wonderful project to be involved with," said Mr. Johnson of the Academy award-winning motion picture based on the novel by Canadian Michael Ondaatje (one of the featured authors in this season's Celebrated Writers Series at the Avon Theatre). Spending three weeks in Tuscany for his brief appearance at the beginning of the film, and working with its talented cast and crew was "just a dream."

Mr. Johnson's other television and film credits include Franz Liszt in Liszt's Rhapsody, Samuel in The Two Headed Man and Dracula in Dracula: The Series.

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