³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ > Interviews > 13 Questions: Jamie Beddard
13 Questions: Jamie Beddard
24th June 2009
Actor, director, writer and teacher with CP, Jamie Beddard, lives in London with his partner and two small children. One of Britain’s foremost disabled actors, Jamie has featured in numerous dramas including acclaimed ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ short 'The Egg', from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2’s What’s Your Problem season, and the BAFTA winning one off drama Scallagrigg. He has also spent time as associate director of Graeae theatre company and as editor of DAIL magazine.
Jamie is currently playing the intriguing disabled character, Mr. Jonny in Carrie's war - a stage adaptation of the much-loved book by Nina Bawden. The play, charting the adventures of 3 children who were evacuated to the Welsh countryside to escape the war in 1939, is showing right now in London’s West End. We gained full backstage access to ask Jamie Ouch’s 13 Questions.
Jamie is currently playing the intriguing disabled character, Mr. Jonny in Carrie's war - a stage adaptation of the much-loved book by Nina Bawden. The play, charting the adventures of 3 children who were evacuated to the Welsh countryside to escape the war in 1939, is showing right now in London’s West End. We gained full backstage access to ask Jamie Ouch’s 13 Questions.
Uppermost in my mind today is ...
That I have now got a bed in my dressing room. I'm here for 3 months and am going to be lying in it a lot, getting up once and a while to entertain the audience.
I want to ban ...
Ignorant cab drivers. I can never get a cab and when I do, the driver thinks I am drunk rather than disabled. Normally I am drunk, but that’s not the point.
Not a lot of people know that I ...
Am the grandson of a Cambridge Rowing Blue. This means that he rowed in the famous Oxford, Cambridge boat race. My other granddad fenced in the London Olympics.
I struggle with ...
My shoelaces, ordering pizzas, bar tending and winning at gambling.
I excel at ...
Writing letters to parking authorities. I get numerous tickets and I manage to wangle my way out of some of them. They are usually my fault.
I couldn't live without ...
Saturdays. That is the day I go around England watching Ipswich Town play football. For home games we have our season tickets, but away games are better because I get the train with a few mates and we talk rubbish all day and get ourselves into all kinds of situations.
My first job was ..
As a youth worker in Kilburn. I wasn't very good at it. They ran rings around me. I was young and my own lack of discipline makes it hard for me to discipline other people.
My favourite drink is ...
Lager bought by other people.
My favourite food is ...
Banoffee pie. I had some yesterday and it was gorgeous. I can't cook through shear laziness but my partner is very good. My favourite thing she makes is curry.
Being a disabled actor is …
Bizarre because you have to rely on maverick directors to give you roles. Most directors can’t see beyond their narrow visions of what an actor is. When I was young that made me angry but because luckily I’m not relying on acting, these jobs are a bonus.
My advice to aspiring disabled actors would be ...
Keep knocking down doors. If you are good enough and you believe enough eventually people will realise your worth.
Working with a non-disabled cast is …
No different. I've worked both in mixed casts and disabled casts and any bunch of actors is the same really. Slightly egotistical, slightly vulnerable and slightly lovely.
Playing Mr. Johnny is …
Great. Mr Johnny is an ambiguous character, but hopefully more than a conduit for difference or otherness. I was offered the role and had the opportunity to really make the character my own.
• Jamie Beddard can bee seen as Mr. Johnny Gotobed in Carrie’s War, playing from 24th June until 12th September 2009 at the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End. Also starring Prunella Scales and Kacey Ainsworth.
• You can catch a signed performance on 11th July, captioned performances on Saturday 15th August and Thursday 3rd September. There is an audio described performance on Saturday 5th September.
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