INTERVIEW: New play explores themes of legacy and power
Photo: Murdoch: The Final Interview stars Jamie Jackson. Photo courtesy of Russ Rowland / Provided by Richard Hillman PR with permission.
Murdoch: The Final Interview is a rare piece of theater. For starters, its writer is anonymous, and the manuscript, tucked away in a manila envelope, was left at the door of Theater555 in New York City, according to producer Eric Krebs. The show itself is a one-man play starring Jamie Jackson, who is billed as solely as the Actor, rather than receiving an official character name.
This actor brings the audience on a journey into the life of “controversial media magnate” Rupert Murdoch, who is originally from Australia, and includes fictionalized interactions with family members, presidents, newspaper editors and media professionals, among others.
“It’s been going really well,” Jackson said in a recent phone interview. “We’ve just been discussing over email with some friends and some business acquaintances what a challenge it is to get audiences in this very competitive, saturated market. I’ve never been particularly good at social media. In fact, I don’t have any social media, so I’m finally to lose my social media virginity and try to get on board at this ripe old age of 58. It’s going to be an interesting, fun process. We’re trying to do some little vignettes and things related to the show, get some ideas out there, but the audiences that are coming are really into it. It seems to be something that people recognize as being of the moment, and it has a scope about it. A lot of things are going on in the media landscape and have been for some time. In that sense, I’m so thrilled that we get a chance to do it.”
Jackson said that Krebs knew him from a variety of projects over the years. Krebs had a group called Laughing Liberally, and Jackson was a frequent presence among the troupe members.
“I originally came to New York to become a writer because I was an actor for many years in Australia, but I enrolled in NYU’s music theater writing program where I met my wife,” he said. “So I met Eric through his group called Laughing Liberally, and I auditioned for that. I did some comedic characters.”
One of those characters was a sitting English woman named Lady Margot who used to make cucumber sandwiches and attend National Rifle Association meetings.
“Just really silly stuff,” the actor said. “Anyway, he knew me as an actor, and he knew I’d done some stuff since then. And being Australian, he thought I’d be right for this part, so he just asked me to read it. And I loved it. Then he asked me to do it, so I’m thrilled. I knew about Murdoch, of course, being Australian, having had a lot of experience of his influence from a young age. I knew a lot about him, but I [also] learned from doing this play and researching it.”
Jackson enjoys Murdoch: The Final Interview, which continues through the end of the year, because it cuts through the perceived partisan divide in the world and tries to get at a larger human subtext.
“I think what makes it interesting as a piece of theater is that it’s about a human being who has been influenced by his upbringing, by the culture and has made decisions and choices through his life that have affected all of us because he is such a dominant [figure] in the media landscape,” Jackson said. “So I learned a lot about what made him who he is and how he’s been shaped by parental influence and power struggles.”
Jackson, who has appeared on Broadway in Sweeney Todd and Wicked, has had an interesting time investigating how people make choices in their lives and how those choices have repercussions — all leading to the building of a media empire.
“That has made me think a lot about my own life and how we are ultimately answerable to our choices,” he said. “That is what we have in common, all of us. … You have to wonder: What is the sum total of all my choices? Could I have made better choices? … That’s what I’m feeling as an artist now. What’s the call that I’ve been given, and am I responding in a way that I’ll feel proud of at the end of my life?”
Jackson added: “Anyone who achieves greatness, I think, is at risk of losing sight of their original motivation because there are so many temptations along the way. I think that’s the question that most people are intrigued by about someone with that degree of power and influence. What motivated it? What drove him beyond and beyond all the limitations that he kept meeting? There are so many strands to that.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Murdoch: The Final Interview, starring Jamie Jackson and directed by Christopher Scott, continues through Dec. 28 at Theater555 in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
