“…that’s what I love about comedy…it’s such a skill, you cannot be haphazard…
You’ve got to understand the technique and timing…and you’ve got to have that play with the audience.…”
Louise is funny. Not the stand-up comic funny, more the joie-de-vivre love of life type of funny; she has a sense of humour, an ability to create characters, observe personalities, mimic their accents and eccentricities. She has the ability to pull the mantle of a persona around her and become another. Shedding it of course once she is off stage.
Her interview offers to both the layman and student alike, an explicit look into the experience of being an actor, the processes of learning words, the slow and eventual emersion into a character. Breath is the thing and she gives a clear understanding of its importance.
She was with PACT from the start and laughs at the silliness of all the pomp thrown at the grand opening of the State Theatre. There are insights into directors; an understanding of farce and its complexities; she gives funny snippets of some characters she created for radio – the boozy Thelma who for many years eased the stress of traffic jams with her regular morning, outrageous commentary of the news. She is of an acting family, husband Michael Richard, daughter Sarah, son Jeremy, all of them on stage, often together. Theirs is a family you want to know more about.