For the next couple of weeks, laughter will be rising with
the evening mists in Forest Park’s Shakespeare Glen as Twelfth Night opens this season of the Shakespeare Festival.
What better time to ask a Royal Shakespeare Company actor to
reflect on his career success? Bill
Homewood, whose audiobook of Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones was released in the U.S. this month (www.naxosaudiobooks.com), was with
the RSC for fifteen of his thirty years on the stage. He lives in the South of France, where he
owns an equestrian ranch and trains dressage
horses.
Q: What made you
successful in your career?
Don’t fight the tart
in your heart, I tell aspiring actors.
You are essentially a show-off, or you wouldn’t want to do this for a
living. I’ve been a performer from my earliest days: an actor, director, singer, playwright, all
over the world. (In other words, follow your passion.)
Worship at the shrine
of Good Practice. Good preparation
means a good job. My father, a minister, would put me in the pulpit during my youth
to read aloud from Shakespeare, drilling on voice and elocution till I got it
right. I got my work ethic from my mother, who’s 89 and still manages a good-sized,
pristine vegetable garden. My wife and I
have 27 acres in the heart of Languedoc wine country; streams, woods, orchards,
olive trees. Hard work, but magic. (Be a
maniac about quality.)
Work hard in pursuit
of your aspirations. My agent had 40
or 50 clients. Her day in the office
might total six hours, meaning she would have about 9 minutes a day for me. I, however, had 24 daily hours to devote to
getting work. And I did. (To see
Bill’s career results, visit www.billhomewood.com).
Hustle. I created
work. I wrote shows, hassled casting
directors, directors, producers. Every
night I made lists of things to do for my career the next day, and my diary was
marked in advance with projects to be achieved on particular dates. (Success depends on your drive to advance
yourself.)
Be in charge of your
next opportunity. I trained at the
Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London as a concert and opera singer
and classical guitarist. I’ve presented
games shows on BBC Children’s Theatre and sung ballads as a cabaret
singer. I moonlighted between shows with
the RSC in New York at an Italian restaurant (and earned more money than I did
onstage with the RSC!) (No job, company, or system will take better care
of you than YOU.)
I have a restless spirit, an inability to sit still. Often in my dressing rooms, I have
written dozens of commissioned stage plays and screenplays. I have taught acting and, in America, have
been a guest artist at 65 universities.
I never think of myself as “successful.” “Success” in worldly terms has never been a
motivation for me. I never feel
fulfilled, as there is always so much to do.
Fulfillment is always tomorrow’s promise. Today’s hope is, eternally,
tomorrow’s happiness.
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As you create your career, talk to people you see as
successful, like Bill Homewood. Learn
their stories. What drove them? How did they overcome obstacles or recover
from failure? Someone’s heart pages will
always teach you more than any book can.
