Arts / From Shetland to Shakespeare – Yell actor stunned by National Theatre opportunity
ACTOR and stuntman Luke Aquilina could not believe his luck when he was asked to help the National Theatre prepare fight scenes for an epic Shakespeare production earlier this year.
So imagine his shock when the director of Coriolanus, which is being performed in London’s massive Olivier Theatre, decided instead to offer him the chance to join its illustrious cast.
Aquilina, who grew up in Yell, had never acted on stage before being thrust in front of almost 1,200 people a night in the capital.
Oprah Winfrey was among the famous guests in attendance at the play’s press night.
And he has been sharing scenes every day with three-time Golden Globe nominee David Oyelowo, who has earned plaudits for his portrayal of the titular Coriolanus.
It’s not a bad achievement for a man who admits he had “never read any Shakespeare since we did Macbeth at the Anderson High School”.
Aquilina, 28, was brought on to the production through a stunt worker friend earlier this summer.
He said he was “hoping to get on as a fight assistant” for the play’s battle sequences.
But instead, director Lindsay Turner asked him in rehearsals: “Do you do acting?”
“I said ‘yes’, and she just said ‘okay’ and walked off,” Aquilina told Shetland News.
“Then I got asked if I would consider coming onboard as an actor for the whole show.”
For Aquilina – who has starred in a TV advert for Marie Curie UK and has worked as a stuntman on a new Guy Ritchie film with Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal – it would mean months of rehearsals, previews and then eight shows a week.
But for any jobbing actor, the chance of a steady wage – and the opportunity to showcase your talents on one of London’s biggest stages – was too good to turn down.
“I’ve not had a stable job since I was working at the Clickimin in Lerwick,” he laughed.
“I got the contract through when I was in a bookstore with my parents in Pitlochry, and that’s when you kind of realised that this is going to be the next four months of my life.
“I was standing there shaking with my phone in my hand.”
Aquilina admits he probably did not realise what he was letting himself in for when he first signed on the dotted line.
“It definitely took a while to hit me, because when they first asked I was like, ‘yeah alright, that sounds fun’.
“I don’t think I really had a scope of what it was I was being asked to do.
“Then I looked up the kind of people that performed the play before, like Tom Hiddleston, and that I would be performing on one of Europe’s biggest stages, and that was when the apprehension started to build.”
The next test for Aquilina was deciphering the script he had been given.
“I tried to read it at first, and found out that reading Shakespeare is bloody hard,” he said.
“Every few minutes I was having to look up ‘what does this word mean?’
“So I watched the Tom Hiddleston version, which was genuinely helpful.
“Thankfully, because I’m a newbie to the stage, I wasn’t given an enormous part.”
“You’re always living someone’s dream, so you have to get used to that” – Luke Aquilina
Aquilina may not have entire speeches to remember, but in his dual role of Gaius and a Volscian soldier he appears on stage in the very first scene of the play.
He described the feeling of what it was like to make his stage debut in front of 1,200 people at the Olivier Theatre.
“You get this massive rush of adrenaline, which isn’t very helpful when you are supposed to be standing quietly,” he laughed.
“We did the first night and as the curtain came up at the end we got a standing ovation. I couldn’t help myself, I just started laughing hysterically because I didn’t what to expect.”
Some actors will work their whole lives towards a goal of appearing with the National Theatre, especially the chance to do Shakespeare at the Olivier.
Aquilina admits, like some other jobs in his career, he has almost stumbled in to it – but he said he has not taken it for granted at all.
“There’s a lot of imposter syndrome that you get with it,” he said.
“Some of my mates have been pushing constantly for years to get in to the National Theatre, to get this kind of role, so for a little while I didn’t really know how to deal with that.
“You’re always living someone’s dream, so you have to get used to that.”
He said he has gained a huge amount of experience from the cast of Coriolanus, adding he had “asked a lot of questions – probably stupid questions” of his co-workers.
Oyelowo in particular – best known for playing Martin Luther King in the Oscar-winning Selma – has been “lovely” to work with, he said.
“Sometimes you work with actors who are out of reach, and there just to do their work, but David will have a good laugh with you and ask you about your day,” he added.
With Coriolanus set to end its run at the Olivier on 9 November, Aquilina is looking forward to a short break before finding his next assignment.
Aquilina said he “can’t bloody wait” for a rest after four intensive months rooted in ancient Rome.
“It will be bittersweet leaving everyone behind,” he added. “It’s been a phenomenal run and a huge experience.”
In The Grey, in which Aquilina is knocked out by Cavill – of Superman and Mission:Impossible fame – is expected to be released next year.
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