CHILDHOOD
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?
TEEN YEARS
ON THE LAM
FIRST SUCCESS
FILMS
PLAYS
ON THE CREATION OF THE PLAY “THE WORKINGMAN”
Tom: Well, you know why I wrote The Workingman?
Q: Because there was a contest?
Tom: That’s right. I only had three days to write it. And then not too long to produce it. There was a theatre festival [the 1975 du Maurier Festival of Canadian Plays]. So that was the long and the short of it, you know, then Pulp Press decided to publish it.
Q: What about the casting of the actors?
Tom: At the New Play Center?
Q: What do you remember about that?
Tom: I remember the actors, but like with any play I seldom have anything to do with the actors. Not never, but it’s very rare.
Kate [Lynch], more than anyone, I think she has an eye for casting. So if Kate wants to cast something we’re doing, I would really have to have trouble with a particular actor for me to even say anything about it. It’s not just me. I mean, even people who haven’t worked with her have thought, why did she use so and so, who turned out to be so fabulous? I don’t know how she knows how to do that. I don’t. So as a result I don’t do it.
The only guy that I knew while we were in rehearsals for the show was a guy named Wayne Robson [who played Gene]. Wayne Robson is actually very well-known here in Canada.
One day while we were in rehearsal he got a phone call, long distance. He went to get it and it was Robert Altman calling him to see if we wanted to be in Popeye. And so he did it. After he was in my play he did Popeye, in wherever country they were in for that [Malta]. You’ve probably seen him in the odd film. He was a short guy though. So he never was the leading man.
The guy, Jerry Wasserman [who played The Man]. He’s got a severe look to him but in actual fact, he works at UBC as, I don’t know, an English professor or whatever, but something like that [Professor of English and Theatre at UBC]. I’ve seen him on Disney films and shit like that. He got a lot of work. I think the other people just got out of acting.
TOM WALMSLEY 