Arthur Boan: The Stillness in the Storm

After leaving Canada for the UK, Arthur Boan has worked steadily through some of the most acclaimed production in recent years on stage. For our latest interview, Arthur Boan joined us to unpack how he tapped into Chief Bromdon in Clint Dyer’s electric revival of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. We dive into the challenge of playing a silent giant where his most powerful lines are the ones he never actually says. We talk about Clint Dyer's reimagining of Dale Wasserman's play based on Ken Kesey's own classic novel and how they wanted to tackle themes like colonialism and abuse of power.

In an exciting new interview, Arthur Boan opens up about navigating the 360-degree exposure of performing in the round and what it’s like sharing the floor with powerhouses like Aaron Pierre, Giles Terera and Olivia Williams. Arthur also shares his insight into the responsibility of reimagining classic stories like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Oklahoma. Indeed, he worked closely with director Daniel Fish on both the multi-award winning revival of Oklahoma and on a radical reimagining of Elektra starring Brie Larson. We hear him talk about the challenges of being an understudy as well now that he's playing in the main cast of a major new production, starring opposite top-tier actors in his own right. It’s a deep, honest look at a performer who is proving that in a world full of noise, the quietest person in the room can sometimes have the most to say.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest runs at Old Vic Theatre until 23rd May.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome to Up Close with Carl Oxtein. Celebrating art, entertainment, and the human spilling.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Arthur Bone, thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Yeah, so um I I was like trying to like figure out like when I first came across you, and I think it was actually the Crazy For You tour back in like 2018. So I was kind of like hoping we could start there, as that was such a stunning production. Um yeah, like all the elements aligned, actor musicianship, Gershwin, the choreography and stage design. Um what was it like being involved with that and you know taking the show around the countries here?

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Yeah, I mean, uh that was a great experience. I loved my time on that show. It was kind of my first long-form job out of drama school. And uh I'm a big Gershwin fan. So I I just I I fell in love with the music, and we had a great team, and the cast were just really, really close. So it was just a lovely experience, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yeah, I mean, we don't see shows like that often, and you know, when they're done, they are such grand spectacles. Um, was it challenging, you know, replicating that magic, you know, night out of tonight, and in different towns and cities too?

SPEAKER_02 1:26

I mean, yeah, but I mean the challenge is always a good thing. Tours are hard, like they're they're they're a lot of work um and you get very tired. So maybe like the outside of work stuff would make it a slog, but as soon as you get on stage, it's you know, it's it's a lot of fun. It really is.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Yeah, I can imagine. Um, and I feel like even now, you know, one flew over the cookies and ashing it's such a different beast. Um, I saw the show on Tuesday, and you know, it was yeah, it was really surprising to me, you know, how fresh it felt. And you know, I was so deeply moved by it. Um, having been involving it in the workshop process, um, what were those like initial conversations like with Clint Dyer on reimagining the show to tackle themes like colonialism and dismantling social structures?

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Yeah, I mean, uh, as you said, Clint was very, I mean, from the get-go, uh, from day one of the workshop, which I think was two years ago or something, the first workshop, um, he was very uh specific with me about taking the book as the source material for what we wanted to adapt here. Uh, and and the play is very similar to the book. There's a lot more relationship to Chief Bromden's perspective, which is the character I play, his perspective from the book, which is uh a POV narrate narrative element. The play is very similar to that. Um, and so Clint Clint wanted to kind of incorporate that as much as possible.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you have such a wonderful presence on stage. Um, I think you're one of the first people to speak, but of course, you know, in the ward, you know, Chief doesn't talk until much later on in the story. Um, how do you go about making your presence felt without you know having to talk too?

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Yeah, I mean that's that's one of the trickier things about the the part is that you have to obviously show the audience what you are thinking and feeling, but you can't reveal to the other characters on stage that you can understand what they're saying. And you also have to, you know, keep the bit that I, you know, not to give away the ending, but that that that he can speak and hear. You want to keep that for later in the show. So it's it's a juggling act, and it's really difficult to play deaf and dumb, but not actually be deaf and dumb. Just be trying to convince everyone. But then also you have to you you have to act, like you have to storytell, so you have to let the audience see something. You can't just stand there with just nothing going on. It's a delicate balance for sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Absolutely. And you know, also playing in the round in the old vic as well. Um, I sometimes feel like you know, it's a more demographic experience, you know, the audience can see what the actors are seeing too. Um, does the stage set up you know, change the way that you use your body language as well on stage?

SPEAKER_02 4:04

Yeah, I mean, luckily, the the rehearsal space we had, they they mapped out the stage. So we had from a very um early point a good idea of you know where is gonna be a sight line issue, where isn't. Um, I think we're we've been pretty successful with no matter where you're sitting in that round, you're always gonna be able to see some part of the action. Um you're you're always gonna see most of the action and only ever not see whoever is, you know, if it's a duo log, you'll likely only see like profile of one of the characters, but then you'll see the full face of the other. So you you never really, I don't think, feel like you're losing out. If anything, I feel like you're gaining compared to a normal proscenium arch um production. And that's just due to um a lot of trial and error and planning. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah, for sure. I agree with that. Um, I mean, do you like having the audience so close up to you as well? Do you like seeing individual people's faces too?

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Yeah, I mean, when you're when you're in it, you don't really see individual faces as much as because I mean the lights are also like you've you've got lights in your eyes and stuff. So you so it's it's not like you can like pick out um individuals. I mean, in the first row you probably could, but you're also usually you're focusing on something very important, so you're not really like they kind of just fade away into like kind of the blur almost. Um, but you're aware that they're there. And Chief, with his monologues in Act One, he does talk to the audience a lot. Like it is um so so he's aware that they're there. So there's that kind of like mixed element as well. I love it. I love having the audience, it's a very intimate setting, it's very immersive for us and the audience, and I think that's great.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yeah, does it feel like the audience is like an extra member, like an extra patient in the ward as well?

SPEAKER_02 5:52

Yeah, kind of. I I I I like to look at them as just kind of um collaborative in the um onus of what we're trying to say with the piece, whether that be about colonialism or just about, I don't know, mental health or whatever it is we're trying to say um at that time. It feels like they're almost a character in the piece. Not so much that they're literally in the ward, you could interpret it that way. Um uh, but yeah, just so that they feel um involved in the point we're trying to make.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yeah. I mean, one thing over the cookies net is such a classic story at this point. Um, how familiar were you with the story yourself? I mean, what was it that sort of attracted you to the role of chief?

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Yeah. Um, so it's a very uh uh important part of kind of the um educative culture in American Canada. Um, it's on a lot of reading lists in high schools and things like that. Um so I I you know skimmed it and and heard a lot about it throughout my my life, but I'd never sat down and analyzed the book um until I had the first workshop. And then I did um and fell in love with it, and then I've read it a bunch more times since then.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah. What was your sort of like initial reaction to reading the book and also to reading the script too?

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Uh it was, oh my goodness, this is so different than the film. It is really different than the film. It obviously is the same structure, but um, or it's based on the same structure, but it just the the the point of it being based on Chief's perspective and his interpretation of what's going on. I mean, in the book, there's so many flashbacks that he has to his life that aren't even in the play and that aren't in the movie. Um, so those kind of things just really excited me because I went, okay, we're getting an indigenous story. This is a native guy who is um who is telling us about his life and his experience. And that's um, especially in the 60s, I think it was written in the 60s, it's pretty it's pretty remarkable. Um so yeah, it's just super exciting.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah, I feel like we didn't really see like indigenous stories told as much like in theater and I think like in the arts in general. Um why do you think that sort of is as well?

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Um it's a good question. Uh there's probably a lot to say for just kind of the way that the kind of industry have has moved over the last kind of hundred years. Um and I think it's getting better, and it will continue to get better until we have kind of equal representation, because there are so many amazing stories that need to be told. So this is just one of many. Uh so I mean in 20 years, we'll be looking back and going, wow, there's so many more now. Um back in 2026, there was barely anything. So hopefully we can continue that on.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I mean, when you were coming to the role of chief, did you have a particular starting point in your head when you began preparing to play him? And you know, how was that character you know evolved for you as an actor too?

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Yeah, I mean, from I had a very kind of instant sometimes you you read a part and you just go, oh, that hits something, something, and it really like strikes a chord. And that very much was me with this. I remember from my first audition tape that I sent in to Clint, I had a lot of connection to kind of the point that was trying to be made. And I think Clint thought that as well. And how it's changed is that I've just kind of burrowed deeper into that feeling uh to try to give him the most accurate and specific and heartbreaking representation I can.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like after watching this show, like Aaron Pierre seems to have like the energy to power the national grid. Um, he blazes it in on stage and you really get swept up by his performance. Um, what is it like you know going toe to toe with that sort of energy each night?

SPEAKER_02 9:45

Yeah, I mean, Aaron is a force for sure. Uh he's uh he's an incredible performer. Uh he absolutely could power the national grid, yeah. Um he he absolutely could. He's a son, he's a son of uh nucleus and power. Uh it's amazing. It's just it's you know, he's a very generous actor. He he offers so many options. It's like, you know, when you're playing like tennis, it's he just he just he always hits the ball back in a different way. So you're kind of always on your tippy toes, and it's a pleasure to to perform with him. And I mean, there are there are many, I mean, you could literally take anybody on that stage and they're offering something in that same vein. Giles is just incredible, and Kedar and and and you know, you get Matthew Steer who's plays Dr. Spivey, and like there are everybody is so I don't want to say overqualified, nobody's overqualified for anything in this production. We're just telling a story, but there are there's so much experience and so much nuance and so much detail that everybody has put into these characters um that it's easy, is the wrong word to say, but it's it's enjoyable every single night to go and play kind of ball with these people.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Yeah, and I guess also like Olivia Williams, also, you know, stepping into that role, you know, a fairly short notice as well. How did that sort of like shift the chemistry on the wall, too?

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yeah, I mean, Olivia is uh one of my favorite people. I love her. I think she is just incredible, she's incredibly nice um and obviously a mega talent, so hardworking and so talented. Every single person that comes into a to a space is gonna change the energy in some way, shape, or form. Um so, you know, when when we will practice with Olivia's understudy, it's completely different than with Olivia. Uh and that's the beautiful thing about theater, you know. If my understudy rehearses something, he will be completely different than me, and that's that's a beautiful thing. Olivia changed the energy in only positive ways. She's just she's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Yeah, I mean, and frighteningly sad as well, uh in that part as Ness Ratchet. Um, what was like sort of like your yeah, what was it like, you know, seeing her, you know, in that part for the first time as well, like watching her, you know, go through those lines.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

It was like a breath of fresh. It was just it was just really um there's a lot of trust that goes into uh playing these parts. And it just felt like uh from the moment she started talking, um first reading her lines as Nurse Ratchet, there was this sense of like oh amazing. I can just she's going, she she gets the bit, she knows exactly what she needs to do and what how she wants to do it kind of thing. And that that's very um comforting as, you know, even you know, even as we're playing kind of opposites in terms of uh characterization, uh what the characters want, it's it's really comforting to have somebody who's uh so in tune with what their character wants, what their internal conflict is. She's just a natural storyteller, she know she she knows that. And um it's yeah, it's just very, very um cathartic to play opposite her.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yeah, I can imagine. Um there's also like a lot of like movement and like choreography in the show as well. Like, is that in fun to like get involved in that aspect as well?

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Yeah. Um, I mean, I have quite a strong stage combat kind of background. I really like stage combat. So I really like all of the kind of I get beat up a lot in the show, as you probably saw. And I love that kind of stuff. I think that's really fun to do. Um and uh and there is a lot of movement. Uh Luciar choreographer is just incredible. Um, and uh there's a lot because Clint is very um yeah, he he likes a lot of I guess immersion would be a good word. He wants the audience to be immersed in this in this world, and there's multiple worlds within this world. Sometimes we kind of go into like this like surreal dreamlike state when there's as like you know, more like interpretive dance and stuff, and you know, we start out in Congo Square and that kind of idea of where that is. Yeah, he I guess he's just trying to bring um he and Lucy trying to bring just multiple layers to what this world is. And yeah, it's really exciting.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yeah, I mean, how do you find that you know, going from the wards, going through those like dream like flips as well? Like how do you sort of like flip between the two?

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Kind of just comes naturally when you're like because because you're building it from the ground up, it just kind of like and and there's and there's a lot of trust in the director at that time because you know when we start rehearsing, we don't have this the the lights and sound, and and so you know, sometimes it's like I don't feel connected to this, this feels you know, and then he'll go like don't worry, I've got it. And then that's when you like you just go, yes, okay, cool, great, and then you just commit to it, and then um, but uh yeah, I I I I don't know. I guess from from the get-go, it was there there was a lot of um uh patience and trust, and everybody's just really like a go-getter. Everybody's everybody was always like uh very in tune with um let's try, let's try this and try to make it work. And flipping in between the two, when you're kind of when you have that attitude, it just kind of like works. And just by the, you know, because we you have like six to eight weeks, you know, four to eight weeks, depending on your production, to kind of rehearse something in. So that kind of stuff just kind of just it becomes cohesively kind of just entwined within the rehearsal process.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

I think it was like interesting as well, like when you brought up understudies. I remember getting to see you play Eagestus in a lecture like a little while back as well. And um, I didn't realize you were covering until like after the fact. Um, how do you sort of like get into those characters when you're having a relatively short notice?

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Well, I mean, so as an understudy, when the when the play goes up, that's when your kind of like real nitty-gritty of the job begins, because that's when you get to start kind of rehearsing. Uh so I rehearsed Augistus up until probably like you know, a week before I went on for him, which was was near the end of the run. So, like, I again like it, you you could not go on as the understudy. You could go on many times as the understudy. And uh your job is just to kind of be prepped to do that. It's difficult because you, again, as I said before, you have to you want to make your um your colleagues as comfortable as possible. So you want to hit the right marks at the right times. You don't want to throw them for a ringer in terms of like where emotionally your character is coming from. You need to match up with what your uh the person you're covering has done before you. That's the most important thing, to not throw anybody else off, in my opinion. But it needs to come from you, it needs to be your own person stepping into those shoes. So um it is really difficult. And understudies have, in my opinion, you know, I mean, not that it's harder, but like it's just it's it's it's a very difficult job. Yeah, and it's not for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, was it particularly challenging like in that production as well? You're playing because I think you were understanding two characters as well.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Yeah, I was understanding your recipes and I guess this. I mean, it yeah, it is it is it is tricky, but um yeah, you just you have a lot of really, really good people around you. You have incredible directors and resident directors and choreographers and uh heads of light and sound that are telling you exactly where you need to be and why you need to say what, and you've put all your kind of efforts into it and your analysis, and it all comes out to be a very collaborative process. And so, yeah, splitting like having more tracks is in some ways more difficult because you have more things to learn, but also it means you have a greater understanding of like where certain characters are coming from. So, in that specific instance, learning Orestes and Augistus, who are kind of opposing forces, um, you know, it would be kind of like learning McMurphy and Bromden and Nurse Ratchet. Kind of you kind of like have a have a really nice, deep understanding of where both characters are coming from. And that kind of just strengthens things. So in some ways it's an advantage.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Yeah, it's interesting how you put that into perspective. Um, I know that you um work with Patrick and with Daniel Fish on Oklahoma prior to Electra as well. So was it like an attractive prospect, you know, coming back to work together on another like radical reimagining of that classic story?

SPEAKER_02 18:33

Yeah, definitely. I um I mean I I think uh Patrick Vale is just an inhuman actor. He's absolutely brilliant and uh a lovely, lovely person. Uh and Daniel Fish is in his own right a brilliant, um, you know, one of the most uh brilliant people I've ever met. Uh so it was a no-brainer to me that I wanted to be involved again. Um and uh it was a pleasure just to. I mean, I could just sit and watch Daniel direct every play for the rest of my life and just be happy, just because I love the way the intricacy and the detail which he puts into stuff and he really gives stuff time um and and permission before he'll say, No, it doesn't work. You know, he really, really tries everything um in a way that's kind of unlike anybody I've ever met, which is why he's so successful and why his visions are so um specific.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yeah, for sure. Um I spoke to Anishka Lucas earlier, and she said that like everyone was blown away when you stepped in as Jud. And I wish I got to see that as well. Um uh I mean that part as well, you know, there's so much like vulnerability and sensitivity, you know, in that specific production as well. Um, how do you sort of like get those like internal moments across when you when you're playing in a Western theater, you know, and trying to get the people you know at the back of the upper circle?

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Yeah, there's a lot of technique involved in terms of like harnessing vulnerability kind of on demand is it's not it's not something that is it doesn't just have you have to work for it. And I don't mean work as in push. I mean you just have to do it a lot. Um, I think I'm a pretty emotional person. I love a good cry. Um, and the more I practice that skill, the easier it becomes. It's just kind of like anything else. And so I've kind of um uh turned myself, not turned myself, kind of uh um envisioned myself and hopefully manifesting the fact that I can kind of represent kind of misunderstood characters and tortured or beaten or broken characters. That's kind of the things I connect with the most. Um so that like being like Judd or being like Aegistus or Orestes, both of those characters, and Chief Romden as well, the vulnerability kind of comes hand in hand with these connections I have to these people who I think have something really important to say and who don't always get the chance to say it. So when when I look at it like that, I go, well, it's it's it's it's almost like how can you not be vulnerable when you're trying to say something so um important, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

Yeah for sure. Um yeah, uh I I also read that you played Curly like almost 10 years prior for Oklahoma. Um did the new yeah, did um did the new production of Oklahoma still feel felt like Oklahoma to you, or did it feel like a brand new musical?

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Now that I've done it in Daniel Fisher's way, I don't think I could ever watch or be in Oklahoma and any other production. I almost feel like it is just it was such a cool reimagining that I it was one of those things where you just go, yeah, that's that's it. That's that's what we needed in 2024 kind of thing, or 2023. Um that's what the world needed. Uh and I mean he'd been doing it since what, 2012, I think his first production was, or 2015, but um yeah. I mean, the one I did in Opera New Mobile was incredibly uh uh it was a beautiful production. It was very classic in terms of we had a full orchestra and it was awesome. Uh but Daniel's production with the camera work and the ending twist and the the reorchestration was just glorious. Um really hard for me to imagine Oklahoma being done in any other way now.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Yeah. Do you think um it's important that we like, you know, keep like reinterpreting and like reimagining these classic shows?

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Absolutely. Absolutely. I I think that can't be done enough, really. I mean, I love taking shows that are problems and going either here's how we can solve that problem, or let's highlight the problem at the time and say, this is what was made then, let's lean into it. Um, both of those things I think um are are really valid. Um and I I just like the idea of bringing back uh I I love new writing. I I I I just want more theater. So if we want to bring back more old stuff or write new stuff, both are fine with me, but just as long as we have more and more theater, that that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Oklahoma, I think, is like 80 years old now. I think you had like at the University of Kelly recently. Um, why do you think the story is still sort of like resonating with people today?

SPEAKER_02 23:16

For Oklahoma specifically, I mean, I do think it depends on your reimagining of it, but there's a lot of um uh relatability things that I think are timeless. And and that goes with like Electra as well. Uh, you look at what like what Electra was about in terms of like violence, and then when we when we set it and you look at the world, what was happening at the time, and you go, yeah, still relevant. And you look at one flow of the cuckoo's nest now and what's happening in the world, and you go, yeah, absolutely still relevant. Um, these stories uh will forever be important uh until kind of we as um kind of global civilized society decide to um make them not relevant. And then they'll still be relevant because they'll be like, hey, remember when. But yeah, maybe maybe one day we will be living in peace and harmony. And uh we can look back at these things like ah, when humans didn't like each other.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Yeah, maybe that day will come at some point. Maybe yeah, um, I I also came along to see two wangfu at um I did, I went up there to see uh two wangfu. Um very yeah, very interesting. So um so out there as well. Um, I mean, was it fun, you know, getting to play a character like Tommy when the show is you know about drag queens and yeah all of that?

SPEAKER_02 24:39

Well, the first thing I'll say is um I have the utmost respect for anybody that does drag because it's one of the most uh I'm purely talking physically here, uh uncomfortable things I've ever done. Incredibly empowering wearing heels uh and the core set and stuff. You feel quite amazing, but you also can't breathe, and your feet are just in agony. Uh so so physically it was very difficult uh for me. Um, but I think we did okay by the end of it. Uh, but it was incredibly fun. It was it was a great production. I love the Hope Mill. Um, what those guys are doing up there is so important for theater. Uh so I I um I have a lot of respect for them.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

I mean, it's surprising as well, like how far back the stage goes as well. Like, it's there's like this small space, but it feels more expansive like when the lights are on and everything as well.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

Yeah, definitely. Because I think they cut the stage almost in half because they wanted the curtain. There was like the curtain thing where we like came through at the beginning for like the drag show. And I think um so yeah, it is quite a deep space. Um, it's not a very tall space. So I remember there were issues because I was wearing a helmet and then I had the heels, and I was almost as tall as the theater at that point. Um and uh but it's it's just it's such a cool venue. I just I think those kind of venues are like are just the the the kind of core and heart of like what theater is.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Um so yeah, I totally agree with you. Um had you heard of like the Hate Mill Theater before you Oh yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

Yeah, I'd heard of it before a lot, yeah. I don't think I'd seen anything there, but I you know I'd had friends who had worked there in the past and stuff, and and uh yeah, just only heard good things.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

So yeah, for sure. What was it like that attracted you to to Wong Fu?

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Uh it was when I got the audition, because I covered uh uh the sheriff in that production. And when I got the audition, I auditioned with the sheriff role, and I just fell in love with the part. I just thought that was like the music of it and how the music kind of synced with the dialogue or the lyrics was so um intricate and interesting musically that I just wanted to do it. I just I remember just thinking like, oh no, I want to I this is like really cool music. It almost like felt like Solentheimes, how like it was very like disjointed time signatures and key signatures and kind of flowed in a very interesting way. And I yeah, I just I was just really excited about that. And it was I was just finishing up Oklahoma at the time, so I just was like, Yeah, let's go, let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Yeah, this is a different site to Oklahoma as well.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

Yeah, I mean it was could not be more different, like could not be more different going from uh you know somebody like Judd or or or Will um in that specific production of Oklahoma and then being Tommy Paul in Tu Wong Fu, yeah, pretty pretty wildly different.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Yeah, definitely. Um are there any still any like dream roles or shows that you would still like to do as on moving chords?

SPEAKER_02 27:48

I mean, one day I will play Javert. I do want to play Javert one day. Um that would be uh just something I've wanted to do since I was a kid. Um uh in terms of I mean, there's I I would I I there's a part in like every Shakespeare I want to play. I want to do a Iago, I want to, you know, I want to do Macduff, I want to do Macbeth, I want to do Oberon again. I want to just do like do like uh yeah, pretty much any Shakespeare. I love Sam Shepherd, I'd love to do Buried Child, or oh yeah, there's I mean there's a lot. Um, but right now, uh it's like I'm just in this tunnel of once we're the cuckoo's nest, and I feel like I just want to do this forever. We've only got four weeks left.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Yeah, it's quite a short run, actually.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

Yeah, it's a short run, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Yeah. Um it's been so lovely as long as you um I guess just as a last question, um, what sorts of advice would you give to an aspiring young actor?

SPEAKER_02 28:47

Oh goodness. Um I would say whatever makes you different, whether that be something that people laud or kind of uh make you feel less than because of, uh lean into it. Whatever that difference is, that's your superpower. Uh so harness that and have faith that you are so valuable. Um, and all the things that set you apart are the things that set you apart for a good reason. Uh and we're all unique and we're all special and we all have something to say and believe that about yourself.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Very well said. Uh Arthur Bain, thank you so much for talking to us today.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

Thank you so much, Carlos, and we'll see you around.