{"id":64092,"date":"2026-05-05T13:15:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/?p=64092"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:16:15","slug":"arthur-boan-45-minute-violin-concerto-prepares-your-brain-for-shakespeare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/arthur-boan-45-minute-violin-concerto-prepares-your-brain-for-shakespeare\/","title":{"rendered":"Arthur Boan: \u00ab45-minute violin concerto prepares your brain for Shakespeare\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Did you watch the film again or reread the book? Or did you stay away from it while you were rehearsing?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, so we started doing workshops for the play about a year and a half or two years ago. The book by Ken Kesey is part of North American literature, so I was familiar with it, but I hadn\u2019t really analysed it in depth. During the workshop I started reading it properly and then went into it in depth from there. Then we did another workshop, I reread the book, and when the transfer happened at The Old Vic, I read it again. So I\u2019m very familiar with it now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yes, I\u2019ve seen the film, but I don\u2019t know if you know \u2013 although it\u2019s an amazing film \u2013 it maybe lacks a bit of the adaptive force it could have had from the novel. Whereas the play feels more aligned with what Ken Kesey was trying to say, especially when it comes to Chief Bromden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost everything I do is based on my interpretation of the book and what I hope Kesey\u2019s vision would want. That\u2019s really been my passion \u2013 trying to bring his idea from the book into the play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And did you work with this material for two years?!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On and off, yeah. The workshops aren\u2019t very long \u2013 usually a few days or maybe a week. You dip into it, work on the material, then you\u2019re away from it for six months, and then there\u2019s another workshop. That\u2019s pretty common in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were you free to bring your own ideas to the production, or was everything quite fixed by the director?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a very collaborative process from the start. Our director, Clint Myers, is unbelievably receptive, and he has so many ideas it\u2019s almost not human. He\u2019s always open to letting actors grow, try things, experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he also knows exactly when to step in and say, \u00abNo, that\u2019s not the direction we\u2019re going \u2013 we need to go this way\u00bb. He knows exactly what he\u2019s trying to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I think he\u2019s done an expert job at harnessing all of these wild cats \u2013 us actors can be like herding cats. He\u2019s really honed everything into his vision, which is beautiful. But yeah, it\u2019s been incredibly collaborative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It felt to me that the play \u2013 and your character in particular \u2013 has a strong religious layer. Not just life and death, play and rules. Did that play a part for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wouldn\u2019t want to label it strictly as religion. I think culturally and spiritually, especially in relation to nature, there are a lot of elements woven into Chief Bromden. But strictly in a religious sense, no, I wouldn\u2019t say that played a major role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m much more interested in exploring the cultural identity that\u2019s been stripped from him, and his kind of quest to reclaim that sense of self \u2013 in that environment, in the institution \u2013 where he\u2019s not really able to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Chief Bromden feels like such a layered character. Is it difficult to hold all of that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s challenging, yeah, but as an actor, that\u2019s exactly what you want. It\u2019s like \u2013 not to draw a direct comparison \u2013 an athlete wanting to compete at the Olympics. You want the most challenging roles, the ones with the most layers and depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I\u2019ve always been drawn to characters who are seen as \u00abother\u00bb, or less than, or pushed out of society. That\u2019s what really drives me. And Bromden is the epitome of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it like to play two shows a day, especially since One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is so emotionally demanding?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a very cathartic show to perform. But it\u2019s also double the privilege \u2013 getting to share the story twice in one day. I feel incredibly uplifted and completely drained at the same time after the matinee. But I have a pretty strict routine \u2013 a 20-minute power nap, a hot shower, a really clean dinner \u2013 and that resets everything. So far, it\u2019s working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arthur Boan and Jon Erik Myre. Photo from Arthur Boan’s archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You started out as a musician \u2013 you\u2019re a violinist. Does that help in acting, when your body is an instrument? When your psychology is an instrument?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got my BA in violin performance in Canada and played the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra for five years. And yeah, in a lot of ways my violin background has helped my acting. The biggest thing is probably the amount of memorisation, and just being comfortable on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playing an instrument is storytelling in its own right \u2013 that\u2019s why I did it. I love storytelling. It just wasn\u2019t quite the medium I needed, so I moved into acting. But it really taught me to lead with emotion, to play from the heart, with empathy \u2013 and then you just add text on top of that. And yeah, memorising a 45-minute violin concerto definitely prepares your brain for Shakespeare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have favourite Shakespeare characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I just did A Midsummer Night’s Dream, so I\u2019m quite partial to that at the moment. But I think my favourites \u2013 oh gosh \u2013 I love Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you play Romeo?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, I wouldn\u2019t do Romeo anymore. Maybe! I\u2019d probably want to play Friar Laurence. (laughs) But it really depends on what’s on my plate \u2013 if someone told me tomorrow I was doing Macbeth in six months, that would probably become my favourite play. Iago from Othello, Brutus from Julius Caesar are also favourites of mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it really depends on what’s on my plate \u2013 if someone told me tomorrow I was doing Macbeth in six months, that would probably become my favourite play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you switch between musicals and drama, does it feel like returning an instrument?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just try to get to the crux of the character. It\u2019s like in Shrek \u2013 \u00abOgres are like onions\u00bb. You peel back the layers until you get to the truth of who the character is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That applies across all genres. The difference between musicals and plays is mostly technical. But at the core, it\u2019s always about finding that authentic centre of the character \u2013 and that doesn\u2019t change whether it\u2019s stage, film, or musical theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Martine Berg.\u00a0<\/em>Photo from Arthur Boan’s archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re still making music \u2013 you have a group with your wife, the actress and singer Martine Berg?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes \u2013 she\u2019s a brilliant Norwegian folk singer, and I play fiddle. And we just thought, why not? We\u2019ve done Christmas concerts called \u00abA Nordic Christmas\u00bb, bringing Norwegian folk music into a Christmas setting, and it\u2019s been really successful. So we\u2019re planning to do more of that next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you use your acting skills in music?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, I think one of my weaknesses is that I probably play with too much emotion sometimes, and it can get in the way of technique. But I prepare in a very similar way \u2013 I have to really feel it. And if I don\u2019t feel it, I won\u2019t rate it. So we rehearse again and again until I really fall in love with how a phrase sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And finally: was it difficult moving from Canada to London?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, it was. Canada is very different from London. The places I lived there were very nature-based. And although London is a very green city, it\u2019s a completely different vibe. I miss the skies, the northern lights, the thunderstorms, the feeling of your lungs freezing in the cold. I miss the sound of winter \u2013 when the snow is so deep it absorbs everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But London and the UK have been incredibly good to me. I\u2019ve met some amazing people here \u2013people I love dearly. So I feel like I have three homes now: Canada, the UK, and Norway, where my wife is from. And through the move, my family was incredibly supportive \u2013 that was the most important thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canadian actor Arthur Boan, a graduate of Guildford School of Acting, is known to London audiences for his roles in Elektra and Oklahoma!. He recently toured the United Arab Emirates with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. And now he has just taken on the role of Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at The Old Vic, directed by Clint Dyer. His Chief turned out to be unexpectedly striking and vivid. We spoke with Arthur about working on the production, music, the violin, and stamina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":64093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"type_post":[184],"column":[185],"class_list":["post-64092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","column-letters-from-the-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64098,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64092\/revisions\/64098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64092"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=64092"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=64092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}