019: Dominic Keating is coming home.
Today’s guest is Dominic Keating who is a British actor who has spent the past 25 years in Los Angeles. He caught up with his friend and host of the Show People Podcast, Andrew Keates whilst filming a new movie which stars Derek Jacobi. Dominic talks in detail about his entire life, from growing up in Leicester as the son of a theatrical landlady and discovering theatre whilst at Stoneygate and Uppingham Schools, receiving his first review from Rowan Atkinson and how when he was denied the opportunity to train as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama he cut his teeth by gaining his Equity Card by unexpectedly becoming a drag-queen, being mentored by Theatre Critic, Jack Tinker and playing roles in early fringe venues, including originating the role of Cosmo Disney in the premiere production of Philip Ridley’s A Pitchfork Disney at the Bush Theatre. Dominic is best known for appearing in long-running television shows including playing Tony in Desmond’s and Malcolm Read in Star Trek: Enterprise for Paramount Pictures. Dominic talks about his experiences in both shows, why they were important and Andrew asks about the rumour that his Star Trek character was nearly the first openly gay main character in the franchise as well as the highs and lows of being an actor in Hollywood.
Episode features include:
The Soapbox: Andrew and Dominic discuss whether or not the grass is really greener for performers who move to LA, including explaining Dominic’s decision to move to the USA, the people and haunts he first found himself in when he arrived, the different casting processes he’s experienced, what work is available to British actors, the difficulties that performers face getting a green-card and Andrew asks Dom the question, if he had the choice again, would he have left the UK all those years ago?
Theatrical Tips: Andrew delivers his theatrical tips of shows to see this May 2018 including productions such as 3Women, Absolute Hell and Chess the Musical.
The Platform: Our platform is given to friend of Arion Productions (due to being in our production of the European premiere of ROOMS: A Rock Romance), Alexis Gerred, who many will recognise from both BBC Eurovision’s Let It Shine and many West End productions such as American Idiot. Alexis is currently appealing to supporters to help him raise £4K to produce his debut album and we play an original track by Alexis called ‘Sweet Angel’.