ROUNDABOUT BLOG

Roundabout's resident Education Dramaturg, Ted Sod, sits down with Death Takes a Holiday leading man, Julian Ovenden, to discuss working on a new musical, life/death and more, as part of Education @ Roundabout's UPSTAGE Guide.

Ted Sod: How did you come to work in the theatre?

Julian Ovenden:It’s quite a difficult thing to trace back; your motivation. I wasn't one of these people who came out of the womb and realized the stage was for them. I think it occurred as a natural progression in my life as a result of the events that fashioned me. My father, for example, is a priest and a man of the people. He is a great communicator. That might be one of the influences. Then I went away to school when I was seven as a chorister in a choir which was musically and artistically a professional environment. That set me up in that way. It opened a window into that world. In England, if you go away to boarding school at a young age, you could find yourself emotionally stunted. You have to deal with the trauma of leaving your parents. People talk about the English “stiff upper lip” and being reserved. When I was 16, 17, 18, 19 and growing up, I perhaps wasn’t as in touch with my emotional life as I wanted to be or needed to be. I think it was a natural progression to find something that allowed me to reconnect with that part of my life; whether it was through music which I was passionate about or whether it was through acting. I found myself going to drama school and I felt at home with it. I felt I had something to give, something to offer and something to share. Those are the main sign posts on that particular map. I discovered that it is a job that I deeply love.

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