Celebrating The Sir Bryn Terfel Song Prize in the Land of Song
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Matthew Rhys shares his experience of acting on both stage and screen
RWCMD Fellow Matthew Rhys returned to his homeland this autumn to pay tribute to another great Welsh actor, Richard Burton – and to give his experience and advice to our final year acting students about to enter the industry.
From Playing Burton to working with the Richard Burton Company
Despite winning an Emmy for playing a Russian playing an American playing any number of undercover characters in ‘The Americans’, Matthew Rhys is actually a proud Welshman. He's just been nominated for a Golden Globe for playing another American, Niles Jarvis in Netflix's 'The Beast in Me'.
An International Chair in Drama at the College, Matthew was back in the UK touring theatres bringing the legendary actor, Richard Burton to life as part of the centenary celebrations.
He spent time working with our students, who in their final year form the Richard Burton Company – passing on his invaluable experiences, from graduating and working in the theatre, to moving to the States, working in television and film, and winning that Emmy…
Over to you, Matthew.
Do the groundwork – Channel Sir Anthony Hopkins and learn your lines
Always have a Shakespeare and a contemporary speech ready to go - you never know when a director will ask you for it.
Go through your lines while doing other things to practise focusing, so that you can still deliver the text truthfully despite other distractions – mobile phones in the theatre, stage managers spraying you with blood (see, Niles Jarvis) – whatever that might be.
I started my career on stage, which really helped me to prepare for audition panels, because it built my confidence performing in front of a live audience.
When I moved to film and TV, I knew that I had that theatre muscle developed, and as long as I’d learned my lines thoroughly, I could use that experience to find out what would work.
As Anthony Hopkins (another great Welsh actor, and Vice President of the College) says - knowing the script inside out will make you bullet proof, and free you to be creative with your acting partner, or the director.
What should a young actor bring to their first job? Remember your training
It’s not just the discipline of memory, but everything you do as an actor that’s important. And it’s a small world, so reputation counts.
Always remember, ‘if you’re on time, you’re late’. Directors like working with acting graduates because they’re always on time, they’re always focused, and they can take direction while staying creative.
You should also always have good manners when it comes to the rest of the cast and crew – which should be a given, but is always really appreciated.
Be as truthful as possible: finding the character, and yourself
As you develop in your training and career, it’s important that you learn from your mistakes.
Some characters can be harder to get into than others, but this is where you should use the vast toolbox that this drama training has given you, do the legwork and be as truthful as possible.
That’s the gold standard. Make the story relate to you, be more personal to you, then it’ll fly and be authentic.Matthew Rhys
Develop creative resilience, learn from your mistakes, and be a storyteller
It’s a Welsh tradition to be a storyteller, and there’s a real focus on finding your creative voice here at RWCMD, with your self-led work and the NEW writing festival.
This helps to build your confidence to talk to the director about creative choices, for example, if you don’t feel that something is working.
Even when you’re not working (especially when you’re not working), take the opportunity to develop your practice. Use your downtime to keep on top of your acting; do readings together, create your own work and you can play the parts you wouldn’t normally play, and keep on top of your voice work.
Or try new skills – juggling, horse riding. It’s great for your mental health, which is so important, but also you’ll be prepared for anything - you never know when a director might need a juggling horse rider!
Learning resilience helps you to stay true to your choices and helps you find your own creative voice – and you can feed your own ideology into your work.
Diolch yn fawr, Matthew. If you weren’t able to see him portraying Richard Burton, you can still catch his Golden Globe nominated Nile Jarvis on Netflix.
