Christie Logan is probably one of the juiciest roles actor Wayne Robson has played in a long time. Robson, a veteran Canadian actor, was partially instrumental in the success of such Canadian productions as Bye Bye Blues, Justice Denied and of course, The Diviners. In the latter, an Atlantis Films/Credo Group mow based on Margaret Laurence’s novel of the same name, he played the crotchety adoptive father of Morag Gunn.

Robson says he was not intimidated by the prospect of portraying a strong character in Canadian literature. In fact, he says, it was a ‘piece of cake’ to develop the character traits of Christie because Laurence had described the character so thoroughly in her novel. ‘What was so intimidating was the actual shooting of it because there was very little rehearsal,’ says Robson.

‘The Christie scenes were virtually all monologues. So there’s a lot of words to bite off. Basically I got up in front of the camera and let the camera follow me around.’

There wasn’t a lot of floor work with director Anne Wheeler and screen writer Linda Svendson either. That all came about in an early reading. ‘There were some words Linda used that I felt would be wrong coming out of Christie’s mouth the way I saw it,’ says Robson. But he adds all changes were approved by Svendson.

Despite his success in Canada and some plum parts in Los Angeles, Robson believes it’s more difficult than ever to find work now. One week after the The Diviners, he was shooting Scales of Justice. ‘I couldn’t hope for two better roles inside a year in my entire career. And I thought, `Here we go; I’m on the fast track.’ And it immediately dried up. The last role I played was a straight man to an orangutan,’ he laments.

Although there is more production in Canada involving Canadian producers, indigenous actors are not getting work, according to Robson. ‘It’s much easier for a producer or director to hire an American who they might know or owe a favor to or saw on an episode of Full House than to take the chance on an unknown here.’

He thinks actra should take a stronger role lobbying for better parts for Canadian talent. KM