Duo return to scene where they first met

Oct 31 2008 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH Theatre has a very special place in the hearts of award-winning actress Lesley Mackie and her actor/playwright/director husband Terry Wale.

It was away back in 1974, when Londoner Terry was on his very first day rehearsing for his Perth Theatre debut, that he met Lesley, who was also appearing in the production, Joseph (and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat).

Romance blossomed over the following months and years and in 1977 the actors were the co-stars at their wedding!

Now, 34 years after their first appearance in the same Perth Theatre production, Lesley and Terry have parts in the forthcoming Tennessee Williams’ classic ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’

And it’s incredible to think that its been 24 years since these two talented actors were last seen together on stage in Perth Theatre – that production was when Lesley played the title role in the hugely-acclaimed Piaf, directed by Joan Knight.

More recently, Perth Theatre has been the stage for the couple working together on many occasions, although with Terry in a director’s role, most notably with Born Yesterday in 1990 and a revival of Piaf in 1991.

Lesley won a Laurence Olivier Award in 1986 for Judy, a musical play on the story of Judy Garland’s life written especially for her by Terry and which, after its successful West End run, was given its Scottish premiere at Perth Theatre in a production directed by Clive Perry.

Another reason for Lesley’s fond memories of the Fair City venue was her nomination for a TMA/Barclays Award for her performance in Shaw’s Candida.

The hugely successful and enduring on and off-stage partnership for Lesley and Terry did, however, get off to a low-key start, devoid of any ‘eyes meeting across a crowded room’ drama, as Terry recounted: “I arrived from London for the first read-through for Joseph.

“I’d never been to Perth before and I was standing on the stage and standing behind me was this little dark-haired creature being photographed. I thought she was probably a local celebrity!”

Lesley described her first-look impression of Terry on the same occasion: “He’d also been engaged to play Sir Andrew Aguecheek (in Twelfth Night) so he’d grown his hair long for the part and was wearing a pink shirt. I thought ‘he seems nice to have as a friend’!”

The actors got on well but when the run of Joseph ended they went their separate ways. Terry worked mostly in London but Joan Knight’s keen eye for a good actor frequently fell upon Terry who was offered many roles in Perth including Lucio in Measure for Measure, Jack Tanner in Man and Superman and Milo Tindle in Sleuth.

During these Scottish sojourns, the couple’s friendship developed, and by April 1977 they decided to get married.

The wedding in October of that year was in Lesley’s home town of Dundee, and Andrew Mackinnon, Joan Knight’s associate director, was best man.

“We had to get married on a Sunday because of our work commitments,” said Lesley.

“Terry had been doing a season in Chichester and I was on tour with The Matchmaker and The Hypochondriac which finished at Perth on the Saturday and on the Monday we both started rehearsals for Blithe Spirit, so our honeymoon was one night in the Ballathie House Hotel.”

The newlyweds worked together on a Clive Perry production in Birmingham and then for the 1978 Pitlochry season.

“It was a lovely season,” recalled Lesley. “We were staying in a beautiful cottage next to the theatre and Andrew Mackinnon was artistic director.”

For several years the couple were based in the south of England, where their two children, Katy and Oliver, were born.

England’s loss was Scotland’s gain when the Wale family settled in Perth in 1993, the year in which Lesley wowed Perth Theatre audiences as Shirley Valentine, directed by Terry.

Terry also wrote and directed the one-act play, Excuse My Dust, in which Lesley played the celebrated New York writer Dorothy Parker which played at Oran Mor in Glasgow and the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Lesley last appeared on the Perth Theatre stage as Mercy Lott in Humble Boy last year, and she is delighted to be part of this year’s Christmas show, The Snow Queen (December 5-January 3).

And she and Terry are looking forward to being part of the Horsecross production of A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Perth’s Ian Grieve and staged in the 25th anniversary year of Tennessee Williams’ death.

“It’s a wonderful play,” said Lesley.

A Streetcar Named Desire was Tennessee Williams’ second major play. Set in 1940s New Orleans, the drama centres on the emotionally charged confrontation between Southern belle Blanche Dubois and her brutal brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski.

This Horsecross production opens next Friday and runs until November 22.

Performance details and tickets from the box office, 0845 612 6320, or online: www.horsecross.co.uk