Fall arts preview 2016: Actor Curtis Tweedie welcomes the challenge

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      As I approach actor Curtis Tweedie’s basement suite near Hastings and Nanaimo, I can hear Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours blasting out of his door, which opens onto the back yard. I don’t catch him in the act, but as we sit down to chat, he confesses that he’s been dancing because he’s nervous about our interview. But here’s the thing: Tweedie likes being scared.

      The 28-year-old grew up in Langley and trained at the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria. And he just won the supporting-actor Jessie in the small-theatre category for his performance as Josh, a young gay man, in Hardline Productions’ mounting of Sean Harris Oliver’s Bright Blue Future.

      Tweedie identifies as straight, and Josh makes out with an older man, but the actor says, “The gay stuff wasn’t scary. I would say that there were some firsts in there: I’d never straddled a man on-stage. But I’m curious about all of that stuff. I am. I think, as an actor, it’s important to achieve neutrality so that you can attack anything. I think the exciting thing about the role of Josh is that he is so open—which was the most terrifying thing for me.”

      Tweedie notes that Josh is vulnerable partly because he’s stoned on cocaine and partly because he’s in despair about his life. “He’s feeling like, ‘What’s the point? What’s the point?’ ” Tweedie explains. “And that’s something that I’ve experienced. I think everyone has.”

      In the Slamming Door Collective’s production of Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path, which will run at the Jericho Arts Centre October 6 to 22, Tweedie will play Teddy Graham, a World War II fighter pilot who is part of a fraught love triangle.

      On that project, it’s not just acting that has him excited; he’s also going to create the sound design for Flare Path. “Wearing two hats is intimidating,” he admits, “but I’m into the challenge.”

      Whatever role he takes on, Tweedie has a technique for ensuring that he keeps the adrenaline pumping. “I play a little game with myself,” he begins. “I do the prep and I do the research. But I save a little bit of something for performance, because I like the idea of surprise. I think a lot of actors are perfectionists, so they want to know what to expect, but ultimately the best performances come when you’re surprising yourself and your scene partner is surprising you. So I do the work and then forget it. So, when I’m backstage and I’m about to walk on, I’m like, ‘Oh shit! What’s my first line?’ And then, all of a sudden, there’s that immediacy, that presence, of being in a scene.”

      In person, Tweedie comes across as hugely likable, humble, and compassionate. But he is clearly also artistically hungry—and ready. On Facebook, his intro says, “I am the next act waiting in the wings.”

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