Secrets Out

Interview with Kyrsten Herbert, LAM March 2001

There was a time when Antipodeans were rare on West End stages. But, as Kyrsten Herbert found out, not any more. The Secret Garden's Philip Quast and Merdith Braun are just two stars from Down Under making their mark in London


Philip Quast has a secret. Well, it's more of an admission. When he was a child, he thought reading The Secret Garden was too "girly". Funny thing is, now the Australian actor is drawing in the crowds with a leading role in the West End adaptation of the best-selling children's novel.

Philip and Merdith"Since accepting the role I read the book, and would now read it to my children," Quast says, whose three children, by the way, are all boys.

The book is also a favourite of New Zealander Meredith Braun's four-year-old son. Braun is the musicals other lead and, so it seems, it is no longer a secret that Antipodeans are in big demand on the West End.

"When I arrived here in 1989 there was barely an Australian actor on the West End stage," Quast recalls, who hails from Tamworth in NSW. "It took about 3 years before critics stopped referring to me as an Australian actor and simply an actor- I guess I had been around long enough and was finally accepted."

While Quast - a two-time winner of the Olivier award and a former presenter of Play School (among a host of other television, film and theatre credits) arrived in England by accident through a part in a Channel 4 film, Meredith had a plan when she left Auckland as a fresh-faced 16 year-old that same year.

"I'd done some theatre, amateur and professional, but the population in New Zealand is never going to be big enough to support the theatre like in the UK. After all, this is where everything begins," she says. She has appeared on television, film, radio, theatre and has recorded several soundtracks.

The Secret Garden is not the first time the pair have offered their talents in the same production. They teamed up in Manchester in 1992 for Les Misérables, but The Secret Garden is offering a new set of challenges.

"Working with children means you have to be spontaneous and a bit like a parent," Quast says. "While obviously you will have favourites, you can't show this," Meredith adds.

After playing to a sell-out three-month season in Stratford, the Royal Shakespeare Company's first musical in 10 years has been playing to rave reviews at the Aldwych Theatre, and the haunting, spiritual and melodic hymns that Braun performs as a ghost certainly have something to do with it. The production, adapted by Pulitzer-prize winning author Marsha Norman from Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel, has broad appeal. It is accompanied by a magical score, with the music - written by Lucy Simon- nominated for a Tony Award after it debuted on Broadway.

Childhood innocence, loneliness, friendship and happiness are all explored. When young Mary moves in with her Uncle Archibald following the death of her parents, she discovers a secret garden and a long-lost cousin. The pure simplicity of the story is probably why it has been a favourite bed-time tale for nearly a century.

Braun and Quast have both signed for another seven months, meaning a strict routine for a while yet. "It's always harder taking on a singing role, it requires a lot of discipline and you really need to look after yourself," Quast says.

"Yes, there's no staying up late or going out drinking," adds Braun.

And then there's the problem of keeping focused and interested in singing the same songs twice a day nearly every day for a year. Braun says even after performing the same set for six months, there is never a time when she doesn't want to perform, because she is able to make herself interested. "You have to put yourself into that mindset," she says.

Quast agrees. "There is a propensity to muck around when you get bored but, as a principle, you can't do that or else it is just like pulling a thread, the whole thing will unravel," he says. "Once you hit the stage door, adrenalin takes over anyway, and you get straight back into it."

While the next six months are booked solid, both actors envisage taking a break once their commitments with The Secret Garden are completed. "You need to plan breaks between productions, physically you just can't keep up," says Braun, who sees herself working on a shorter production next time.

Quast is also considering his options, and may take his family back home for a stint. "I've been back and forward so much, and dragged my children all over the world, but after I've usually been back home for a year, I tend to miss London and end up back here," he says.


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