I was privilege to interview Mark Little better known to us for his role as Joe Mangel in Neighbours and as the presenter of channel 4s “The Big Breakfast” when he replaced Chris Evans in 1994.
T: when and how did you decide that you wanted to get into acting?
M: it was at school really. I wanted to play sports for Australia really but that didn’t happen, I wasn’t sporty enough. I went to a country high school, so you sort of did everything, you'd be in the footy team, the debating team and then you would do a play at the end of the year. I was naturally good at acting and a few teachers said I should apply to go into acting school which I did and I got in. It was a posh acting school and was pretty prestigious and it was funny because I was this boy from the bush in the middle of all these actors. After three years when I left the Australian television scene was really healthy and I got a lot of film and television work so it sort of happened from school really.
T: so you just sort of fell into it
M: sort of yeah, ‘Monty Python’ was really big and I was sort of funny in school, I was the clown
T: you’ve just answered one of my later questions now I was going to ask 'you do comedy roles really easily, are you naturally funny?’ It must be very rewarding to make people laugh?
M: I love it, it is really important to me which is one of the joys of doing ‘Defending the Caveman’ people laugh so hard you cant beat it, especially in these times, we are in hard times
T: we have become a very negative society and I think it is really sad
M: everything is a bit cynical and that’s the thing about this play, its not cynical, it’s good honest adult humour without being offensive. And that’s why it is so attractive to people. They leave feeling really good that they have bothered to come out, and that they have bothered to be in a relationship and that I am able to help them recognize that they have bothered makes me feel really good. I feel like I am doing my bit
T: good for mankind
M: yeah (laughter)
*“Created and performed by Rob Becker in San Francisco in 1991, the show, which was awarded the prestigious honour when Mark took the role at the Apollo Theatre in 2000, is the longest running solo play in Broadway history. With hysterical observations into contemporary feminism, masculine sensitivity and the erogenous zones, ‘Defending the Caveman’ has both the sexes roaring with laughter and recognition as they identify themselves in the tales being told. In short, it mines the common themes in relationships that go straight through the funny bone through to the heart.”
T: you first performed the show ten years ago, when you first performed it how was it to do a whole play solo, did you ever forget your lines or have to improvise?
M: the very first night I performed it was actually the first time I did it the whole way through without stopping. It was terrifying, but now I’ve got it under my belt and I’ve been able to change, update and upgrade it to make it more fun so it’s a really good piece of theatre
T: has it got a bit of you in it?
M: yeah, definitely, the play is written about a man and his relationship with his wife and I have been married to my wife Cath for 28years, I’ve thrown a sort of invisible character into the play, my wife, and she also directed it. I think it’s a lot more exciting, a bit more theatre, a bit more fun and playful. It’s a weird old play, its not stand up and its not theatre, but its sort of a bit of both. a bit of a mongrel, a bit of a hybrid.
T: I believe that everyone has a natural creative talent which unfortunately isn’t always discovered and encouraged. I’m interested to know how you did academically at school? Were you creative?
M: I was creative but I was also a bit of a bright spark. I think you have to have the right teacher. I had a really great English teacher he was great, I was really lucky. He was a Yorkshire man. There was a few English teachers at our school in Australia at that time it was terrific, we had a Geordie, a Yorkshire man and a Londoner. The Geordie taught us science, we couldn’t understand a thing he said but he was really funny
T: did anyone really motivate and encourage you to peruse your acting?
M: yes, I had some great mentors, the main one was my English teacher. Unfortunately I didn’t discover maths until a bit later when I got a good teacher and I realised that maths wasn’t as hard and boring as they made out. I think with the right teachers anyone can do anything. I was lucky that my English teacher was into debating and public speaking and he helped me with all of that as well as with my writing. I think that if you don’t get that good teacher in your life you're lost
T: you always remember your best teacher and your worst teacher, always
M: yes you do. I feel sorry for teacher because they have such a hard and important job to do and they don’t seem to be given much support. Having to follow the curriculum’s mean they are not allowed to express themselves as teachers and as communicators and teach the kids the best way that they can and make learning fun
T: they also have a lot to deal with especially when some children are demonstrating behavioural difficulties. So they not only have to teach they have to help some children deal with their emotions with what might be going on at home, it’s a huge responsibility.
M: yes it is huge and I can’t help but blame the parents. I think parenting has got lazier as we have moved into the 21st century, some parents are expecting everyone else to look after their kids and sort their kids out when really mum and dad should be on top of it
T: I agree as the parent’s have the most impact on a child. I think they should teach parents how to be parents
M: well yeah, in some countries you have to have a licence to have a dog. Once upon a time, because we used to live with our grandmas and granddads there used to be the extended family with aunties and uncles and lots of people helping out. It’s less and less of that in the modern society where everyone is just out on their own and doing it by themselves. It’s just impossible, kids need a tribe of people to look after and raise them and it has just got harder and harder and things are going to have to change. I think it will be when we run out of petrol that things will change and we will go back to the old school way of doing things in our local community but until then I think we are just running head long into a brick wall
T: when do you feel was your big break?
M: my big break? I don’t think I’ve really had it yet
T: oh, behave, everyone knows who you are. Everyone remembers you as Joe Mangle
M: that’s right, that is the most famous thing I’ve done but it didn’t give me any breaks, it just got in the way, I haven’t had any acting work since Joe on the telly and film because everyone just thinks I’m a funny gardener so he actually got in my way and it’s taken me a while for people to get over Joe Mangle and let Mark Little the actor do his thing, but that has slowly happened over the last 15 or 20 years since and doing things like ’Defending the Caveman’ has shown people my acting skills. I’m also working on another piece which is a one man play being performed in the middle of the year in London which will remind people that I am an actor and not a gardener
T: you were very memorable on the ‘The Big Breakfast‘ everyone remembers you from that
M: yeah thanks, that was a great job, that was really my sense of humour, it was like chaos.
T: people saw your personality and you as a person
M: yes that was brilliant, Joe Mangel helped me there. I think that might have been my big break. ‘The Big Breakfast’ suited my sense of humour and I was a jolly farmer and there’s not many farmers that get a chance on English television early in the morning. It was such an English thing but because of Joe Mangel I seemed to have won people’s trust and they let me be on the show with Gabby and do my crazy thing. Yes, I’d say you're right, thank you for bringing that up
T: I think they should bring it back. We should get a petition going to bring back ‘the big breakfast‘ I loved it, I used to watch it every morning. It was the reason I got out of bed in the morning
M: oh, it was perfect wasn’t it? people who hadn’t even gone to bed were watching it and people who were just getting out of bed in the morning. It was a little tradition that this country had like ‘Tiswas’ and it’s famous for that kind of telly but we haven’t had it for a while. I’m thinking of something very similar but late night to replace those late night gambling shows and do a live telly show like ‘The Big Breakfast’ but a live late show. It could be for when people are getting in from the clubs at around two in the morning. Yeah that’s the one I’m putting forward and I would put my hand up and say I’m up for that
T: well if you want a fellow presenter you know where to find me
M: Yes Tal
(laughter)
T: It’s been really lovely talking to you Mark I really appreciate your time. I could carry on talking all day as I’m a right chatterbox
(laughter)
M: you've got to come and see the show
T: I most definitely will Mr Little
M: ah, that would be cool, so what is this magazine your writing for?
T: its Dartford Living Magazine, its one of the many creative things I do. For me its a creative expression, I just need to get it out in any form that I can
M: cool, I’m very much the same, I’ve got to get it out of the system, somehow
T: better out than in I always say
(laughter)
‘Defending the Caveman’ is showing at The Orchard Theatre in Dartford between 9th-11th May as well as lots more other locations and venues nationwide check out www.defendingthecaveman.co.uk for details
(this was extracted from www.defendingthecaveman.co.uk)
