KEVIN

Written and directed by Harvest Rain Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Tim O’Connor and featuring design by the award-winning Josh McIntosh, The Awfully Big Adventures Of Peter Pan is an epic, Monty Python-esque take on J.M. Barrie’s classic tale, featuring some of Queensland’s most prominent actors, including Eugene Gilfedder and Helen Howard

Playing the title role is 24-year-old Kevin Spink, in his first ever performance with Harvest Rain; also Harvest Rain’s first performance at QPAC. Often assumed to be English, Spink is in fact “very Australian” – apart from the accent. However, he finds that his English accent really works for the part of Peter Pan, a part he describes as a “dream role”. “As an actor you have your Hamlets, you have your Macbeths and all these iconic roles, and Peter Pan is definitely up there. And to play a person, a boy who never wants to grow up, is essentially what we all do and it’s just fun to tap into that inner child.”

Spink jokes that if audience members witness his pre-rehearsal behaviour, they might think he was “a bit of a nutter” for talking to himself and asking himself questions. “People will be looking at me and I’ll be going to myself, ‘Yes, I’m a little boy, and my name is Peter Pan,” he says animatedly. Bringing a British childhood and boyish energy to the part, Spink recounts his first experience with the story of Peter Pan, explaining that much of that initial encounter has always stayed with him. “After (watching) Peter Pan I’d be trying to run up the walls and, you know, sword fighting my little brothers with a dustpan and brush,” he laughs.

After only two weeks of rehearsals, Spink says the cast were already ready to perform due to their intensive schedule. Six days a week, Monday to Saturday, 9-5 every day. But Spink insists that it doesn’t feel like work. “It feels like a playschool holiday,” he says. “I get to hang out with all my friends every day.” But, he admits there’s more work than people know about in choreographing the epic-scale sword fighting scenes. “You’ve got to remember every single place that sword has to be, otherwise you’re gonna get a sword in the head,” he chuckles. “It’s gonna be great.”  

Spink is also full of praise for his co-stars, particularly Eugene Gilfedder (Hook/Mr Darling) and Helen Howard (Madame Hook/Mrs Darling). “Eugene Gilfedder is the best actor in Brisbane, if not Australia, so to work with him is just a big learning curve. And Helen’s amazing. She’s very diverse, and probably one of the best female actors in Brisbane.”

He insists that as an actor, you can never stop learning and that he’ll always be a little bit nervous before every opening night. “I just want it to be perfect.” Conversing easily with enthusiasm and good humour, self-proclaimed perfectionist Spink admits to being a bit scared about wearing his unitard and green tights on stage for the first time and jokes almost in top-model speak that since it’s essentially what makes Peter Pan, he’ll have to really own it.

THE AWFULLY BIG ADVENTURES OF PETER PAN plays at the Cremorne Theatre, QPAC, from Wednesday Jan 7 until Saturday Jan 31. Tickets are available now through Qtix 136 246 or www.qtix.com.au

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