British actor Jack Tarlton went on his own Californian wholesale halloween costumes road trip to prepare for his latest role.
He spent Halloween Costumes Outlet four days in LA, then Duarte where American actor, writer and playwright Sam Shepard spent his teenage years.
In Duarte, while out riding his bike, he got to “experience Sam Shepard’s world for real” when the current owners of the dramatist’s family home gave him an impromptu tour.
Writing a blog about his experience, he said: “Tony and May-Lou are the friendliest, most welcoming of people, taking a crazy guy from London into their house because of an enigmatic playwright and actor who once lived there.
“Tony says that people around hggdgfhfggsda here don’t know who Sam Shepard is, even when he mentions The Right Stuff and he seems rather put out by this, they do appear protective of him.”
Sam Shepard, now 71, left Duarte after he dropped out of college in 1961 to join a travelling theatre group. His portrayal of Chuck Yeager, in the 1983 film The Right Stuff, earned him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor, but he has also written nearly 50 plays.
Next week the Belgrade Theatre will put on Chorale: A Sam Shepard Roadshow, a co-production between Presence Theatre and Actors Touring Company.
“Jack Tarlton started it off. He is a huge Sam Shepard fan,” explains Simon Usher, artistic director of Presence Theatre.
“Originally it was just one play. Jack was an actor in the company and wanted to do a play staging Shepard’s prose with music.
“It worked well as a one-night production. We tried it at Latitude the following year. On the back of that we decided to do a more extensive Shepard show.
“I was very keen to do a play he co-wrote with Joe Chaikin, The War in Heaven, and we decided to do an earlier play, The Holy Ghostly, together with rare footage from the film Savage/Love.
“The idea of a roadshow came about to create a picture of Shepard through two films, three plays and a workshop. We are not bringing just one show, but a package showing off different aspects of his career.”
The Roadshow includes two double-bills. The first will include The Holy Ghostly – where a dying man struggles to connect with his estranged son in a lonely desert and The War in Heaven – a moving plea from both a fallen angel and a man struggling to be heard.
The second includes Animal (You), a new play created by Jack Tarlton and Simon Usher using material from Sam’s prose and poetry from the last 40 years and Savage/Love a film by Oscar-winning director Shirley Clarke, capturing Joseph Chaikin’s extraordinary solo performance in a Sam Shepard monologue.
There will also be two post-show gigs in the cafe bar by US songwriter Ben Kritikos and his band Herons! and a workshop on the collaborative theatre of Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin, led by Simon following a screening of a second film, Tongues.
“I have always been drawn to the more expressionistic side of Shepard. We are representing this side of him, rather than the high-profile side of Shepard, the actor,” says Simon.
“We have live music in all three shows, hence the roadshow. It will feel more like a concert than conventional theatre experience.”
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