Pierre Malherbe on his role as John Ford.
What drew you to Land Of Thirst?I’ve performed a lot in theatre but I’ve never been part of a TV series before. I’ve had appearances in TV programmes, but not as part of the regular cast, so that was a very exciting opportunity for me.
I also thought, there don’t seem to be that many period dramas on South African TV and so that was interesting, and the fact that it was quite a unique kind of script and a unique take on that period (1913).
To see all those different characters - a very sympathetic vision of the chars and their POV, you really get a sense of the period.
Another thing that drew me to the project was the great cast. Ian Roberts, obviously, he’s a legend, Terry Norton, who I’ve worked with before, Steve Jennings and Susan Danford, they are all names that I know - but not necessarily worked with before. I recognised Hlomla Dandala, of course, and he was great as well. So it sounded like it would be a good “family” to act with.
Everyone was so friendly - what I really like is generally speaking with female directors you don’t have that testerone that you have with a male director. It is definitely a different energy, not that it’s more relaxed, but a less stressful energy. That was another attraction - I feel female directors do bring something that male directors don’t necessarily bring. So I liked working with Meg Rickards on Land of Thirst.
How do you feel about the character you play?The character I play, John Ford (an English TB patient in the Karoo sanatorium who finds himself falling for Margaret when she arrives) is a very interesting character, because there’s a fine balance I had to achieve.
I was very nervous of playing him too kind of simpering or sentimental, to maintain that balance. He’s obviously got that artistic side. He’s not a brilliant painter, but he has some inclination towards artistic things - as he paints to while away the time in the sanatorium - so to get that balance between the artistic and sensitive side - and the fact that he did have a military training (before he got TB) - there’s a lot of strength there.
It was about getting that balance absolutely right: he is a strong person, but he’s just hopeless around women, has had no experience around women, as he's been to the army, and to “gentlemen’s clubs”. So that there is that side of him that is interesting: sensitive, but also militaristic. Because of that military background there’s a containing of emotions. It is quite challenging to play those emotions but also to hold them back, those withheld emotions.
What was it like playing a character who's ill and suffering from Tuberculosis?I knew that “consumptive”, as they called it then, meant TB. That’s actually another interesting point about Ford, to always be aware of that aspect of him. I found that challenging and that with all else going on in his head, to be aware of the fact that he is consumptive.
That lethargy, that constant state that takes over, him constantly feeling tired and sick, it was important to be aware of that always. That scene where he really becomes ill was quite a challenging scene to do.
In terms of the whole racial issue which is the beginning and the end of his relationship with Margaret – that’s very interesting. Because she asks Ford straight out: “Are you bigoted?” I don’t think it’s a question that he’s really thought about before until she asks him.
I think in apartheid and in our country’s past there were lots of whites leading very sheltered lives, who never really questioned their beliefs. One has to ask oneself “What do I really feel, what is my attitude to people of different races?” In that way he is quite symbolic of latter day white people in this country.
The way the script is written, Ford is a sympathetic character - and to find sympathy with what is predominantly a racist person, because of his upbringing (like the rest of those who have come out from England), that’s challenging. How do you draw sympathy for a character who has racist tendencies? To find his strength within all those faults that he has is the challenge.
I remember that a friend of mind found these old letters that his great-grandfather had written, and reading these letters, what he found so interesting was that he was talking about how sad he was at the racism and bigotry that still existed in South Africa.
This was a white man and that seemed very forward-thinking for someone of that time - and he wasn’t talking about black-white relations, but he was talking about English-Afrikaans relations. Relations with black people didn’t even enter the equation, that wasn’t even considered - black people weren’t even acknowledged in his views about racism.
So when Margaret asks my character, Ford: “Are you bigoted?” - and she means with regard to black people, it is almost so inbred that he is just like that. So when he is put in that position that Margaret is asking these questions, he has to seriously think about it for the first time in his life.
Your character falls for Margaret, have you played unrequited love before?I played a character - and interestingly enough with Terry Norton - which was more of a break-up in a relationship. So, no, I have not really played unrequited love before.
What was it like spending time on location in the tiny little Karoo village of Matjiesfontein?As it happens, my parents love Matjiesfontein. They often have stayed there, so they were excited when they heard I was coming to act here. I had no idea that it’s so small, just one street, it’s lovely.
I also love the idea of travelling on a long road, I have always been attracted to that. I love road movies. And I do love the Karoo. In 1995 I was doing a play in Joburg, and we drove back to Cape Town and that was the first time I drove through the Karoo before. We stopped over in Hanover. I found it a very kind of rough beauty. I much prefer the N-1 to the N2 anyway.
A lot of the script is very witty, funny, and there are some eccentric characters. So to be involved in a group, I like being part of a group. It’s almost like your family for that period of time that we’re shooting, and the fact that we’re all away, all staying in Matjiesfontein, you really create that spirit. We were all together and I like the togetherness, and the “family bonding”.
What was it like working with the two leads who played Margaret and Khanyiso?With Nina Lucy Wylde (who plays Margaret Harding) I was a little bit nervous initially, to be honest. I had heard she was coming from England, and knowing that I had so many scenes with her and we clicked immediately. She’s very open, she doesn’t have airs - which was pretty much everyone on this set - the two leads were wonderful, mixing with everyone. It just makes everything so much relaxed for everyone.
Lucy is great – she seemed a very good film actress, very, very natural, very expressive. You can read so much in her eyes. She is very professional. I take my hat off to her because she was on camera nearly every day of the entire shoot. Yet she remained very friendly and very open. And Hlomla (Dandala) is so friendly and open.
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