Hello! I’m Jaz

As a director for a repertory company — meaning there is a pool of actors that are regularly employed during a season of plays — in that environment, I see not only their performances over time, but also how they work on their preparation.  So, when I’m submitting a play to the producers for consideration, I have ideas as to who I might know in the companies I’ve worked with who might best suit certain difficult roles. I think it relatively foolish to submit a play when there is no one in the company to play a difficult, substantial role. Example — I submitted The Ruling Class by Peter Barnes, to one company specifically as I had an actor I had worked with who would be well suited for the role of Jack, a tour de force role that goes from Jesus to Jack the Ripper. The submission was approved, but the actor left the company and I was stranded until one of the producers called a friend of theirs to audition. Crisis averted. From that experience, I try to have at least two or three people in mind, always allowing for surprises.

This rule usually stands. Unless I can have my brother Raymond. I will cast Raymond in anything I do; period, full stop, end of story. I’m also lucky in that Raymond doesn’t always want to do the shows I direct so the nepotism thing isn’t always called out. But he is brilliant and when he is cast, he has always come through, so that people know it’s because he really is the best for the role.

I cast him in several gem roles and he has always been stunning. He began to call me Marty and I called him Bobby because I was Scorsese to his DeNiro and vice versa. When I moved to England and began to embark on theatrical work here, anytime I needed audio of one sort or another, I called him. When I did the mystery play, Sleuth, in which the program lists extra actors in non-existent roles to keep the audience guessing — I used Ray’s CV. When I did The Real Inspector Hound and needed a BBC announcer voice — Ray. The disembodied voice in And Then There Were None —Ray. And when I had a rehearsal for a show and one of the actors was not there but Ray was visiting so he came in and read — well, everyone wanted me to recast. Oh, and when a friend directed The Real Inspector Hound — I gave her Ray’s tape.

Now you need to understand something and it feels so strange to write this…Raymond is not my blood brother. He’s not even my adoptive brother. Ray and I chose each other and our respective families have accepted this as fact. One of my best memories was at a Mexican restaurant celebrating Ray’s birthday where I told my dad — then about 100 — that I considered Ray my brother and my dad took Ray by the wrist and said “Then I consider him my son.” From the beginning, Ray wanted both my daughter and son to know he was there for them. He became the Uncle they always should have had and more. He moved in with my son and I for a time and I remember one night I had got my son some card packs of Pirate Ships that you could punch out and build — very small but so cool — and then play a game with a small map and die included in each pack. I left him and Ray to put them together and I know I was not gone from the room too long but when I came back — The Pirates of the Caribbean was on the dvd and he and my son had pirate hats on and were playing the game in full Arrrrrgh voice. When my Son in Law was going to ask my daughter to marry him, he knew better than to ask my dad for permission — my daughter was living with my dad and he was not good at secrets — oh no, he called Ray. When they called to tell us they were engaged, my son and I were over the moon, but Ray — just smiled knowingly, nodding. The fact that he is so accepted makes it very easy to refer to him only as my brother.

So — back to my books, and the character of Simon — who inspired him? Well, that’s not the process — what I did was cast the character according to what I knew he would have to do, and Raymond was the first to come to mind. Mostly because — spoiler alert — Simon must be both sympathetic and diabolical.  Raymond is nothing like Simon, but he could portray both sides of the most nuanced Simon I could ever hope to have.

Imagining him in “the role” enabled me to do two crucial things as I wrote — the first was “fleshing out the details” of whatever action was needed to move the story forward (the look in the eye, the tone of the voice… the things that make the character real) and the second was just as important — keeping the personality of the characters distinct (I never lost track of where he was in his story arc).

Daniel Cabuco, my illustrator, asked me early on in the art process if I had anyone in mind as the characters he was about to draw. I asked if he wanted pictures. He responded positively and I emailed him the different people I had cast as well as several of Ray. It truly makes me happy, when I’m looking at the artwork, especially of Simon with Hansel and Gretel, to see my brother brilliantly captured (right down to his slender hands) — but also my daughter as both Hansel and Gretel, each different, both obviously related, and yet two different moods, attitudes, intentions.

When the opportunity to do an audio book came, I told Skyboat Media — who produced the audio and also were staffed by people I had known from the company that Ray and I had been a part of — that Ray was my only choice as Simon. They agreed. If you have not heard the audio, you are truly in for a treat hearing several of the voices that I would always hear in my head whilst writing Once Upon a Mouse.

So on this National Siblings Day, I wish all of you with brothers and sisters to share in some banter, relive a good memory, maybe share a hug if you’re so inclined, but also know that I wish each of you had a brother like my brother, Raymond.