Colin Moody Interview
2000 Feet Away, Downstairs Belvoir St, November 1-25; ph:9699 3444 or www.belvoir.com.au
Colin Moody (pictured here in rehearsal this week) has been in the news this past fortnight for one of the more dramatic performances of his illustrious career. After two well-paid but increasingly frustrating years with the STC Actors Company, he left in a flurry of gasping newspaper headlines and even more gasping from his peers in the industry.
Happily for Moody he was able to walk straight into a job on a Sydney stage:he is appearing in 2000 Feet Away, opening tonight (Friday November 2) at Downstairs Belvoir Street.
"Quite simply, Belinda McClory, who is a friend and was already cast in it and knows what I'm like, said - read it, it's a great role for you," says Moody. "So I did and I thought then that it's a pretty important piece of work and I think so now. And it was going to be directed by Lee Lewis. She was assistant director on The Art of War, so that was good too."
The play - a new Australian work - is by Anthony Weigh who has been working in London for a time and continues an international focus with the subject of this play: the public restrictions placed on pedophiles upon release from jail in some US states.
"I was at drama school with Anthony and I think this is one of the most mature works I've read in a long time. I love that it's an Australian play and it's set in Iowa. I mean, we don't have to always write about Australia for it to be of interest and relevance to us - that's what I mean about maturity,"
The story behind 2000 Feet Away is of the consequences of the 2005 legislation which made it illegal in Iowa for a registered sex offender to live within that distance of a school. Shortly afterwards, other towns and some neighbouring states added to the prohibition. Now it is illegal for these people to be within 2000 feet (600 meters) of day-care centres, parks, shopping malls, public swimming pools, bus stops and libraries.
"Like so many prohibitions, it's not working," says Moody. "People are being persecuted and there's a growing politically motivated mob hysteria which is really ugly. And it makes you think - what do we want from the law? It's a big problem for all of us. You know: lock 'em up, throw away the key, hang 'em high - and then what?"
In the United States one of the unexpected results of the legislation is that it has made daily life outside prison impossible for the released sex offenders: many have been evicted from their homes or have been forced to move because of the home's proximity to a prohibited space. And, according to Weigh's research, 20 per cent of know offenders have now disappeared from public record.
"It's not very smart," says Moody. "We appoint judges but then politicians are allowed to second-guess them. I think we should give them the respect that's due. They're appointed to judge - within the law - they should be able to make judgments. It's interesting that in the States the Supreme Court dissenting judgments are given as much notice and are expected as much as the majority verdicts. We don't have that same respect. Who have we got - Michael Kirby - and he's treated like a larrikin rather than a voice to be heard. He's one guy who's suffered the slings and arrows."
Democracy and its steady erosion seems to be something Moody is particularly conscious of in the Australian context.
"Shock jocks have really helped promote that idea of a license to believe we're all as intelligent as each other," he laughs. "And we're not and lots of people have no idea what goes on behind closed doors and what we're losing.
"I mean, it's healthy to talk about what's going on, to argue, to disagree; but all dissension is actively and aggressively suppressed. You have to accept the opinions of those in charge, or else. Look at these so-called workplace agreements: lots of people don't agree, don't want them, don't like them, but they're too scared to say so publicly."
What Moody is happy about, right now, is the work he is doing with the co-op Frogbattleship (don't ask) and the rest of the stellar cast - Tom Campbell, Natascha Flowers, Tanya Goldberg, Nicholas Hope, Pamela Jikiemi, Belinda McClory, Sam North, Nicholas Papademetriou, Tim Solomon and Darren Weller. Aside from the basic logistics of fitting them all in the Downstairs stage, Lee Lewis will be teasing out the threads of a play that, Moody says, is very confronting without physically putting anything overt or shocking in front of the audience.
"Which is what makes it confronting, I suppose," says Moody. "Your own imagination is much more dangerous than what you might see - or think you see."
So he's a happy chap then, even though he's kissed goodbye to a steady pay packet and put himself on a list headed T for troublemaker, or even W for whistleblower?
This is not an unhealthy place to be," he says. "I'll be very happy to do good work, if and when something's available - and that's pretty rare because it's a closed shop in many ways. I really like what I'm doing now because it matters and it feels good. And the people I'm working with care about the job and not for an ulterior motive. There are levels of integrity here I wish we could find everywhere."
Can he be bought? He laughs. "I wish! If I landed a role in a Hollywood movie for half a million dollars, I'd do it. I'd take the money, invest it and live off the interest and do what I'm doing now. But quite honestly, the world doesn't need another $150 million movie right now."
