I don’t like labels. If someone tries to put me in a box then I try to break out of it as quickly as I can. Write, direct, act, produce, I want to do it all. Indeed the people I admire most are multi-skilled. But, recently when I called Club Tivoli (Melbourne’s German Club) to organise rehearsals for the musical ‘Audrey Hepburn and I Consider Our Assets’ the German girl on the other end of the phone said…
“Hallo…? Ja, you’re that theatre guy. I remember you.”
I’m that theatre guy, I thought!
After I hung up the phone, I found myself thinking long and hard about that label. Sittin’ at the Railway Hotel in Windsor I found my mind questioning, while drinking a beer, that statement…I’m that theatre guy? Theatre has dominated my life. Sometimes, the shows I’ve been performing or directing have dramatically mirrored my life experience so closely that I often found it hard to finish the rehearsal. In the middle of the play ‘Fitzroy Romance’ for example, which played successfully at La Mama several years back…I was having a relationship breakdown, and I was directing a show about…guess what? A relationship breakdown!
Recently I’ve drifted back to my other great love, film…directing two season’s of the award winning dating show NEXT: Date Addict vs Date Phobic, and the odd music video. I love directing film, I even enjoy the editing process, and hope to direct a classic horror film someday. I always loved horror films as a kid. I still don’t like labels but as this year draws to a close, I think my label has changed. The label that describes me best now is…showman.
Over the last 10 years, my creative journey has played out for everyone to see on Facebook and other social media sites. I have approximately 10,000 followers, and reckon none of them like labels either. Honestly, (I’m still thinkin’) I don’t want to be put in a box, would you? But, hell, I’m that ‘showman’ I guess!
Hugs Noel x
Noel Anderson 