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Featured Member - March/April 2003
Our current President,
Peter Kirkwood is the featured MTC member this month.
Like all the people we
have featured so far, Peter is English, coming from (what he
describes as) "a very depressed area of England called
Hartlepool which is near Newcastle upon Tyne".
Peter came to Australia in 1980, by accident really, after working
as an Officer on a Passenger ship for 2 years and 30 voyages
sailing out of Fremantle to SE Asia. He was a Merchant Navy
Officer for a number of years, has been around the world 3 times,
visited approx 40 countries and enjoyed every minute of it.
Peter was 'very slightly'
involved in amateur theatre in the UK and, in a small degree,
was involved in entertainment on a passenger ship but his interest
in theatre really began when his parents took him to see one
of the last Music Hall performances at the local Empire. He
was very small but remembers being absolutely mesmerised by
the spectacular acts. He also remembers seeing his uncle sing
and his cousin dance in many amateur musicals and pantos which
explains the source of his own theatrical talent.
His
first speaking part in Perth was one word - "G'day".
This was in a Festival of Perth play in the 80s. He joined MTC
in 1992 after being cast as Norman in "And A Nightingale
Sang". Peter is a multi talented performer and has,
in the past, worked as a juggler, magician and clown at kids
parties and still, after 18 years, does Santa appearances. He
started writing in the early 70s - mainly poetry and short stories,
usually concerned with maritime matters and has so far written,
or co-written, six One Act plays which have all been produced
by MTC and/or other theatre companies. He is currently working
on a risque comedy and a psychological drama with two other
scenarios written.
Although he is a talented
actor, his favourite theatrical jobs are script writing, directing
and stage management, though not necessarily in that order !!
As
President of MTC Peter has two major goals in sight (plus many
minor ones) -
1) To continue bringing top quality, low cost theatre to the
community and
2) To improve the facilities and services to our patrons and
to all actively involved in any production.
Thank you for your efforts
Peter!
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