Comedy brings Campbell back to theatre
Veteran actor Nicholas Campbell’s return to the stage this month is a homecoming in more ways than one.
The 55-year-old, best known his role as Mayor Dominic Da Vinci in the hit TV series Da Vinci’s Inquest, is performing in Fabuloso, a comedy premiering Aug. 3 at the Tarragon as part of the Summerworks Theatre Festival. It runs until Aug. 12.
The play marks Campbell’s return to theatre after 20 years away. On a slightly lesser scale, it also celebrates his return to Toronto, the city the Gemini Award-winning actor was born in but has not permanently called home since he was a teenager.
"Just from being on a Canadian TV show, you never really know if your name translates into anything real on stage," says Campbell, who recently moved back home after having lived in Montreal, Vancouver and Los Angeles during a career that has spanned more than 30 years. "I think I really have an audience out there now and it’s feeling very good."
In Fabuloso, Campbell plays Arthur, a character he describes as being like "that friend you had at school who got you doing wild stuff – got you out of your comfort area". The comedy follows Arthur’s return to reunite with his old friend, Teddy, played by Jonathan Higgins.
The play includes other well-known Canucks, including Linda Kash (the Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese angel seen in TV commercials) and Angela Asher, of This is Wonderland fame.
"The amount of press we’re getting with this one has completely knocked me over," said Campbell, who did do a small play, Proof, in Victoria a few years ago.
The opportunity to work on a comedy also appealed to Campbell, whose role as Mayor Da Vinci during the seven-year run of the CBC series was more stern, than silly.
"Having three months to work on (Fabuloso) is almost like going back to drama school," says Campbell, who after graduating from Upper Canada College in 1970 and then Queen’s University studied at the London Drama School and then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. "It reaffirms why I wanted to be an actor in the first place."
Acting, despite its ups and downs in terms of how the industry is doing and how many jobs an actor gets, is full of rewards if you aim high, the father of three said.
"There are a lot of new Canadians that don’t know what we are talking about when we say, ‘Oh, the CBC is crappy’," he says. "But I see (the Canadian film and TV industry) only going forward, because I think there is an optimism and an energy amongst the creative people.
"I am very impressed with the younger actors. I think they are more serious than my generation."
But Campbell’s own career is nothing to scoff at.
While when he started out he only ever saw himself as a theatre actor (dreaming about one day ending up in a west-end dressing room), Campbell has had a successful career in both film and TV.
He’s bagged three Gemini Awards, and has appeared in a slew of projects, including Naked Lunch and Prozac Nation.
Now that Fabuloso has marked his official return to Canadian theatre, Campbell says he has made a conscious effort to do only Canadian projects, whether they be onstage or in front of a camera.
He is spending the majority of his summer in Toronto, shooting Zos, an eight-hour TMN series being produced by Paul Gross’s company, Whizbang Films, about Canadian soldiers in Bosnia.
"I play the American who is in charge – a real, real bastard," says Campbell, with a hearty, infectious laugh. "It’s one of the most enjoyable parts I’ve ever had."