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I'm Steve Turner, I'm playing the role of Johnny Curtin in this production of The Fremantle
Candidate by Deckchair Theatre Company.
It's 1931 and John Curtin's returning to Western Australia. He's lost his seat of Fremantle,
it's prior to the Second World War and I guess he is trying to reinvent himself.
My approach to bringing John Curtin to the stage and any character in fact is to do the
research - find out about the person, find out about the period, but then kind of to
put that to one side and just focus on the script.
And try portray the man, the inner mechanisms of the man and the way he thinks to show an
audience something that perhaps you can't find in books and on television.
Well, John Curtin is certainly a very formidable politician and very skilled and very well
versed and there's huge potential in that. His biggest struggle is dealing with his own
inner demons - alcohol, depression. There will be things revealed in this play that
people may not be well aware of and that is probably going to be how dark and how deep
and how bad things got for John Curtin prior to the Second World War and prior to his election
as Prime Minister.
I think family is a very important thing to him and I think it's probably the most important
thing to him and that continues to drive him. His relationship with his wife - it seems
to be quite strained at times, quite difficult but there is a deep, deep love for his wife
and he is well aware that she keeps him on the straight and narrow.
I think people have a duty to come and see this play, as West Australians, as Australians,
everyone should see this play and celebrate John Curtin and his life and celebrate Australian
writing and celebrate local theatre companies.