On this episode, Patrick is joined by his friend, colleague and artistic collaborator Ben Keaton to talk about his career as well as the addiction of performing and how the skills you learn as a performer can be used from anywhere from business to being a tour guide.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Performance is an addictive drug, like heroin you’ve got to be careful of it, it gets in there and the rest of life pales into insignificance. It’s like a soldier coming back from a warzone and life is quite difficult after that, you’ve come out of something that’s very intense and going back into civvies. I thought I’m a good actor, I’m just going to act normal, I got a job as a lecturer and started dressing and acting the part and it turns out I’m a really good lecturer!
• When I arrived in London to act on stage again after 10 years one of the actors said to me: “I can’t believe you’re doing this and that I’m sharing a dressing room with Ben Keaton!” I was terrible in the play, on the first word on my return to stage after 10 years my denture fell out of my mouth! Then I went on to be in Waiting For Godot.
• There’s not a clear route into any of these artistic things, firstly I started saying yes to things. David Bowie was a huge inspiration, I read his autobiography and he said, If you want to learn something, ask the best person in the world to be your mentor. That made me realise that if you asked for help from somebody you really admired and they said no, nothing would happen to your life, but if they said yes imagine what could happen. As soon as I got into theatre it started working, I was able to be funny and music played a part in that as comedy is all about rhythm.
• Because I didn’t know how to limit things, and I would immerse myself in the roles, I started to succeed with obsessive roles of characters where the boundaries have been lost which had a detrimental effect on me. I eventually went into an audition for a part and the director said he couldn’t give me the part because it’s not the lead and if you play the part no one will watch the lead, so why don’t you do the lead? After doing that part, I had to stop acting for the last 10 years because it took a lot out of me.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Sometimes the thing you’re passionate about is not always obvious, sometimes it feels right and other times you might think it’s the right thing but it’s not working which can be soul destroying. If it’s really grim and hard, it’s probably not the right thing for you.’

‘Say yes to life. No was what I was taught growing up in Ireland, yes was where the devil was.’

‘I was dedicated to becoming a musician from the age of about 12-25, but I’d never have made it, I just wasn’t very good.’

‘I wanted to say the most beautiful words ever written and I wanted those words to come out of me rather than watching other actors deliver them.’

 

ABOUT THE GUEST

Ben Keaton is a multi-award-winning actor - Olivier Nominee, 3 Manchester Evening News Best Actor Awards, Perrier Award.  He started on the comedy circuit in the 1980s before taking leads in drama. He has performed in theatrical productions around the UK, internationally and in the West End.

He has a wide range of TV credits from regular cast member on Casualty to Father Ted and is the writer of 6 TV series on the BBC and Channel 4.  Creator of Brainiac Live - an adaptation of the hit SKY science series designed for arenas nationwide.  

He also creates content online including his blog and his own podcast, Ben Keaton Talks To…, where he interviews innovators within the Arts who have the courage to find new ways to be creative and are happy to share their journey.

Website: https://www.benkeaton.co.uk/ 

 

ABOUT THE HOST

Patrick Kealey has been an actor, theatre director, writer and teacher and workshop leader for 0ver 40 years. He runs a professional theatre company based in Hastings UK where he currently lives. Please get in touch with me on the following links below!

 

CONTACT METHOD

www.theatrenation.org
https://www.instagram.com/pktheatrenation/