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Interviews
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Atomick Productions Philip Fisher interviews Tom Mackenzie and Michaela Ford Following his visit to review Two at the Lion And Unicorn, Philip Fisher has now had the opportunity to ask Tom Mackenzie and Michaela Ford from the ingeniously named Atomick Productions about their lives and their art. It is clear that this couple is very dedicated to the acting profession and neither can now envisage doing any other kind of work. Michaela initially trained as a designer but found this too dull since she was always office-bound. She had an epiphany during a brief spell as a post woman in Halifax and realised that what she really enjoyed was acting. She enrolled in a degree in theatre acting at Bretton Hall College in Wakefield, which is part of Leeds University. By contrast, Tom has known from boyhood that he wanted to act. The public school ethos - he was at Uppingham in the 1990s - would have expected him to follow "a proper career". Hedging his bets slightly, he went to Manchester University to do a degree in English literature. He followed that with an intensive one-year postgraduate course at Mountview. In order to make ends meet, both of them have temporary jobs that they use as fillers between acting engagements. Michaela worked in a mail-order heaven "selling bed linen to very rich women" while Tom is a charity fundraiser helping the likes of the Royal National Institute for the Blind and Action Aid. He feels at home though, as he says that at his call centre 70 per cent of the workforce are actors. While they were performing Two in London, there were rushing from the day jobs to Kentish Town. They have both been very lucky in their professional lives. There have not been too many periods of resting. This has primarily been the result of two engagements on which they have worked together, entirely by coincidence. One was a touring two-handed Christmas show produced by The Storytellers Theatre Company of Wind in the Willows which covered the length and breadth of Britain from Swansea to Lowestoft and London to Newcastle. In a couple of months, they manage to travel 15,000 miles. They're looking forward to a repeat season, which will commence in a few weeks. Michaela plays no fewer than eleven parts while Tom can't wait to get back into his three and especially loves dancing in flippers, a rare accomplishment. If this tour sounds like hard work, it pales into insignificance next to their ten-month, 400+ show, trek around Germany playing three different shows for White Horse Theatre. Each week they performed 12 to 15 times mixing Future Perfect, a sketch story about a boy who wanted to become a pop star, a pantomime, Maid Marion and Romeo and Juliet. In the latter, they played all of the parts with the exception of the title roles. Michaela had to cross dress as Tybalt and the nurse while Tom played Mercutio, Friar Lawrence and Father Capulet. They seemed to cover every square kilometre of Germany from the Dutch border to the Polish. It did prove to be a really valuable acting experience that both of them clearly enjoyed. By the time that they had been playing and touring together for three months, they also became a couple. Having reached the end of their mammoth tours, they decided that it would be a good idea to put on a show of their own in Edinburgh in 2002. After some discussion, they got together with director, Robert Miles and created their own version of Jim Cartwright's Two. This played to good audiences at the Gilded Balloon during the Fringe and transferred to London immediately afterwards. As well as acting, the pair have also produced, publicised, set-designed and created the lighting in an effort that harks back to the good old days of actor-managers such as Donald Wolfit. These two young actors have each been part of companies that have won awards and hope that they have bright futures ahead. They may not be certain of where they will end up but if they had their choice, Tom might be acting in a John Osborne or Howard Brenton play at the RSC while Michaela would like to star in Prime Suspect or a major British feature film. They have the talent so all that is required is a little luck.
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