Come from Away has been running down under since 2019, and even survived lockdown. No one knows that experience like Doug Hansell, who plays the show’s resident gay guy Kevin.
How has the experience of Come from Away been for you?
Doug Hansell: Recreating this show as the original Australian company has been very meaningful to all of us, and we quickly became a family. It’s an incredible show to be a part of, and I’ve made some extraordinary lifelong friends. Part of what brought us together though, was the upheavals of the pandemic experience. The show has had more openings, closings, postponements and rescheduling than I care to remember, and each of those experiences comes with a unique emotional weight. In our first season we were meant to play Melbourne, Sydney and then tour China and suddenly we were hearing about this new breakout flu. China got shelved and the rest is history. But in some ways being contracted to the show during the pandemic was a godsend because it was something of a safeguard. It was a time when most people in our industry were cut loose and set adrift, yet we had the stability of being employed and a job to return to when the world recovered. I originally intended to do twelve months and return to London, so it’s surprising that I’m still here three years on!
“Kevin was very excited that a gay man was playing him.”
You play the gay character of Kevin. How did you prepare for the role?
It’s the first time I’d ever played a real-life person who’s still alive, and I guess that comes with certain pressures. But even though all the characters are based on real people, they have an everyman quality to them. They’re ordinary people facing an extraordinary situation, so I knew this wasn’t going to be a biographical transformation into the actual person. I thought “I’m not ‘Daniel Day Lewis-ing’ here!” In many ways, the real Kevin Tuerff and myself are very different people, but I knew I needed to bring myself into the circumstances that the character faced. In fact, that’s what we were directed to do and although it’s probably the least transformational work I’ve done, it’s also the performance closest to who I really am.
Doug Hansell in Come From Away
Have you met your real-life counterpart?
Oh yeah! When my casting was announced, Kevin messaged me on Instagram. He was very excited that a gay man was playing him. It must be fun having all these people around the world telling your story. He came out to Australia for the first premiere, in fact most of the people depicted in the show did. We also have Zoom calls now and then to promote the show. He’s a businessman who didn’t have much experience of the theatre, and his life is now portrayed in a world-wide hit musical. He’s loving life and lapping it up, as you would!
“In many ways, the real Kevin Tuerff and myself are very different people.”
Come from Away is emotional for the audience. Do you and the cast get emotional?
I saw the show in London after I was cast, but I must admit I watched it technically as an actor, rather than an audience member. So, in a way I’ve never had the whole emotional experience of being swept up in it. But that’s probably a good thing. I’ve have seen our own production once when my understudy went on, but every night from the stage you see and hear how it affects the audience. We also had moments in rehearsals that were quite emotional. In the first week we had to describe where we were on 9/11. I was in my first year at drama school and I remembered watching the second plane hit the building, the towers coming down and then not sleeping for the rest of the night. My great grandfather had been in Gallipoli, my grandfather fought in Borneo, but my dad hadn’t been to war, and I thought “Well, it just skipped a generation. This is the beginning of WWIII. This is it!” Looking back, that was a naïve and self-absorbed response, but it was my honest 9/11 story and telling it was emotional for me. There’s also the moment in the show where we watch the TV’s and see the second plane hit, and if you’re going through stuff in your life outside the show, that moment can be dangerous! It creeps up on you!
Doug Hansell
What do you feel is the ultimate message of Come from Away?
For me it’s about the importance of connection and community. Staying plugged into the human race, and sort of leaning into the better angels of humanity. There’s so much happening around the world with Ukraine, America, human rights, the economy and it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Come from Away is a reminder that positivity without action is just a state, but that we can do good deeds and be good people with understanding and compassion. But the one word that sums up the whole show for me is ‘community’.
What does working in theatre mean to you?
It’s where I started and what I imagined acting was all about, when I was growing up. I probably even put the sheets up and staged plays in the backyard when I was young … you’d have to ask my parents! (Laughing) But I do think theatre is very much about maintaining that sense of childish curiosity. I trained in theatre, got my first job in theatre and I’ve always come back to it. I love working in film and television, but it’s a different pressure and skill set. I love the immediacy and discipline required in theatre. Most actors who do both will tell you that the immediacy and discipline that’s required in theatre and the ‘highwire’ aspect of it is where the buzz comes from!
Doug Hansell and the cast of Come From Away
You graduated from WAAPA. What would you say to people wanting to break into acting?
Honestly, if you can imagine yourself doing absolutely anything else, then do that! Acting isn’t really an ‘optional’ career. That’s not to say that some people don’t fall into it unexpectedly, but even if you start out with a bit of talent, it takes years of dedication to become a fine actor. On top of that, you have to navigate an industry that is notoriously difficult. People get sucked in by the overnight success stories, but most of the actors I rate, spent many years earning their stripes. Some of them, you’ll never have heard of. The funny thing is, I remember people giving me this same advice when I was younger, and I clearly ignored it!
“Percy Grainger was a true eccentric, and there’s a whole section that catalogues his dungeon whips and toys.”
Who has been your biggest influence or mentor, professionally?
I went to WAAPA and had a lot of great teachers there, but also Kevin Jackson who taught at NIDA, is someone I became very close with when he cast me as the lead The Temperamentals, which he directed. I played Harry Hay, who founded the gay rights movement in LA in the late 1940’s. Since then, Kevin has become my ‘go to’ person for advice and sometimes we’ll just get together to talk about theatre and gossip. In terms of overall artistry, as a teenager I had an amazing piano teacher, a Russian lady named Raisa Dobrinsky, who has now sadly passed away. She taught me a lot about being an artist. She was old school and, in some ways, quite a complicated person. I learned a lot from her.
Outside of work, what music are you into? Do you have a diva?
Doug Hansell and the cast of Come From Away
No one with a pulse can go past Whitney Houston! I love I Want to Dance with Somebody and The Greatest Love of All. But my music tastes are all over the place. Having trained as a classical pianist I listen to that kind of stuff, but I also like folk and Indie rock too. And Queen is obviously the greatest band that ever lived!
What else are you doing outside of theatre?
I manage to fit in other projects if my scheduling allows. In July I shot a UK series called Malpractice which will be out on iTV next year. It’s a medical thriller by the same team that made Bodyguard and Line of Duty. I’m also writing a play about Percy Grainger who was one of Australia’s first major composers. He’s a fascinating figure who had a very strange relationship with his mother that was abnormally close. He was also massively into S&M, and there’s a lot of violence in his music. He was a true eccentric who built a museum in Melbourne in his own honour, and there’s a whole section that catalogues his dungeon whips and toys. My play is about how he was determined to become the first great Australian composer and how he ended his life feeling a failure. It’s about being an Australian and an artist mixed in with a bit of S&M, race theory and that weird relationship with his mum!
This is our Swimwear issue. Are you a boardies or budgies guy?
I don’t know how I’ll be judged for this, but I’m a bit of a budgies guy, for the vanity of the tan line more than anything (Laughing). It depends on where I am, but if I’m just popping down to Bondi, I’d probably take both … but I’ll end up wearing my budgies!
Come from Away is currently playing at Theatre Royal Sydney
For more: comefromaway.com.au
Follow Douglas on Instagram @whatsupwithdoug
