What do you get when you mix an actor, a poet and a potter? In Rye, the answer is Lawrence Wilson. Equally at home with a script, a stanza or a lump of clay, Lawrence is clearly not a man who believes in sticking to just one creative outlet. But what happens when we take away the stage, the poetry and the potter’s wheel and start asking the questions that really matter? Three Degrees of Curiosity is about to find out.
Over to you Lawrence
Three degrees? Yes, actually, I do have three degrees: a BFA (honours) in Theatre, an MA in Education, and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts.
Poet, actor, potter, which three words describe what creativity means to you?
Curiosity, inspiration, and daring.I had a writing teacher once who advised me that it was only the things that I was most unwilling to share that were actually worth sharing.
What are three emotions that are easiest to express in poetry but hardest to say out loud?
Love is the simplest of words, but carries so many meanings when spoken aloud. In a poem, I can explore all the sensory and emotional aspects of it without ever having to use the actual word.
Understanding can be a minefield. Am I really understanding other people’s past, present, feelings, fears, or am I only projecting my own experiences onto their experiences? I don’t always get this one right in a poem, either, but I try…
Anger, when spoken aloud, can wound deeply. In a poem, I can remove it a step or two from reality, describing or discussing what surrounds or contains the issue, which makes me think differently about what has made me (or someone else) angry.
Which three characters, from stage, screen or literature, would you most love to play?
Puck, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Emcee, in Cabaret.
Estragon, in Waiting for Godot.
What are three things acting has taught you about human nature?
There is always a subtext—people say and do one thing on the surface, but there is always an unspoken (and perhaps unacknowledged) truth underneath.
Nobody can be brave all the time.
Everyone is capable of change.
Which three poets have most influenced the way you see the world?
Marilyn Hacker, for her casual (and sometimes carnal) reinvention of the traditional sonnet form.
TS Eliot. Such a wonderful manipulator of language.
Paul Hoover, whose classes I took in Chicago, who pushed me hard to take risks and maintain honesty.
If you could perform just three poems to someone who had never heard poetry before, which would you choose?
Overheard on a Saltmarsh, by Harold Monro.
Sonnet 116 (Let me not to the marriage of true minds), by Shakespeare.
Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll.
What are the three ingredients of a really good poem?
Honesty, evocative imagery, and insight.
What three things happen inside you when you stand up to perform your own poetry?
My theatre training kicks in, I make eye-contact, I project, and I take care of my audience.
But inwardly, which is what I think this question is actually asking? I listen to the inner voice which tells me how to say what I’ve written, I share, and I take pleasure in the sharing.
Which three actors would you most like to share a stage with, living or dead?
Emma Thompson, Andrew Scott and Kevin Kline.
What are three things that can go gloriously wrong on stage?
Someone missing their entrance can be horrifying, yet wonderful, if the actor(s) on stage have some experience in improvisation. I once helped to fill a three-minute gap in Kiss Me Kate when the actor playing Petruchio got trapped in his costume halfway through a quick change. The audience never realised.
Props missing. I worked as properties master for two years at university, and in one show, a stage pistol had been moved to the wrong side of the stage without my knowledge. The actress who needed it went on without it, miming a gun in her hands, and she was so good at acting that everyone believed she actually held a weapon.
Set malfunction. I was in a show once where a library wall simply fell forward. No one was hurt. Several people in the audience screamed, and the actor alone on stage simply looked at the fallen wall and said, “Earthquake…”
If you could step inside three Shakespeare plays and become a character for the evening, who would you be?
Puck, of course – mischief would ensue…
The Fool in King Lear- seeing clearly what so many do not.
Feste in Twelfth Night- another clear-eyed clown.
When you’re working with clay, what three things determine what it eventually becomes, you, the clay or happy accident?
I start with the weight—half a kilo for a sturdy mug, small jug, or candle holder; 1 kilo for a small bowl or bud vase; more clay for tall vases or bigger bowls.
The type of clay matters, too. I usually use white stoneware, which has more grit in it than porcelain does, and is easier to make behave. And I like the way it takes the glazes.
I am fairly accomplished with basic pottery shapes, but surprises do occur when throwing. I wouldn’t call them accidents, exactly—more like inspirations. Push here, try a sharp angle, ease into a gentle curve…
What are the three greatest pleasures of turning a lump of clay into something beautiful?
The first pleasure occurs when the clay is centered—an effort sometimes, but a real “zen” moment when the resistance disappears and the lump of clay is turning perfectly smoothly under my fingers.
I absolutely love unloading a glaze firing, and seeing how 1250c has transformed chemical mud into colour.
And it’s a wonderful thing when someone buys a piece of my work, or unwraps it as a present, and I see their eyes light up.
If you could make three pots for three famous people from history, who would they be for and what would you make them?
I would make a straight-sided dog bowl for Queen Elizabeth II’s corgis.
For Merlin the magician, a wide, shallow bowl, glazed black inside, for him to use when scrying the future.
A sturdy ale tankard for Aneurin Bevan, with “NHS” embossed on the side.
Poetry begins with a blank page, acting with a script and pottery with a lump of clay. Which of those three beginnings is the most exciting and which is the most frightening?
All of them are exciting in different ways, but theatre probably the most, because it involves more people than just myself in order to create the art. And you never know—am I going to like working with these people? Become best friends? Eternal enemies?
I can honestly say that none of these frighten me, though. Not because I am particularly brave, but because I have had good teachers in all the artistic disciplines in which I work—acting, singing, dance, writing, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics—and I have a fair amount of confidence that I’ll be able to produce something decent.
Now, ask me to wire a lamp or program a computer, and you might get a different answer…
What three qualities do a poet, an actor and a potter have in common?
An inquiring mind combined with some degree of training or natural talent, plus a desire to share.
If you were told tomorrow that you could only continue with one from acting, poetry or pottery, which would survive, and how long would it take you to break the rule?
Hmm… Acting is not generally an everyday activity for me, unlike writing or (at times) ceramics. I do write every day, sometimes only briefly, so that would be the most difficult to give up, I think.
This last summer, it was too hot most days to work in my garage pottery studio, so I didn’t throw for several weeks—but went back to it as soon as I could. And performing would summon me back the first moment that someone announced a casting call…
What three experiences in your life have provided the richest material for your creativity?
Learning to read when I was four years old. Suddenly those black marks on the paper revealed their secrets, and the world opened wide.
Singing in choirs from Year 1 onwards, increased confidence, a growing awareness of showmanship, and it led me toward acting.
The teachers in primary school, secondary and university who told me that I could do whatever I sincerely and truly wanted to do.
What three things does getting older give an artist that youth cannot?
An increased vocabulary—of words, yes, but also of experiences and observations.
A degree of confidence that I didn’t possess when younger, knowing that I can do a decent job with whatever I turn my hand to.
And it is wonderful to be retired and to have the time to do the things that I like to do.
When the final curtain has fallen, the last poem has been written and the final pot has left the kiln, what three things would you like Lawrence Wilson to be remembered for?
I hope that some of the children whom I taught for all those years remember me when they read or write or speak or perform.
That my poetry and stories might still be read and enjoyed by people many years from now.
That I strived to share joy.
Image Credits: Kt bruce , Lawrence Wilson , Lawrence Wilson , Chris Walker .