Whenever Canberra born-and-bred actor Leon Ford is on TV (ABC’s Dog Park) or on the big screen (Elvis}, his old drama teacher from Narrabundah College always sends him a text.
Mr Wilkins played a formative role in Leon’s acting journey and 33 years later he still keeps in touch as Leon prepares for Bell Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar at the Canberra Theatre next week.
“He texted me the other day actually because he saw me on a bus stop,” Leon said. “He ran a really great drama school and that was like a sanctuary in what is an otherwise turbulent time in your life.
“When you’re 16 and 17 you go through all sorts of emotional ups and downs but the drama area at Narrabundah, we were always welcome there. He ran incredibly interesting classes, introduced us all to [Russian character actor] Stanislavski and method acting – not that I took that up but it was all just fascinating to see the different techniques and experience.”
Whilst at college, Leon said there was so much going on in his teenage brain that he didn’t have space to appreciate the metaphysical depth of Shakespeare.
“But I think it’s so embedded in our language, like Julius Caesar is a perfect example, there are so many quotes that are now just part of our vernacular. I brought my kids to see Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar, and the amount of times they’re going, ‘Hang on, did he say that first? Why does it sound so modern?’”
Similarly, the storylines of Shakespeare’s works are timeless – and very familiar,
The upcoming Julius Caesar play tells a story of the 44 BC conspiracy against the Roman dictator, his assassination on the Ides of March, and the resulting civil war.
“Well [the ousting of] Venezuela president happened while we were rehearsing and now the Iran war’s happening,” Leon said. “The last time Bell Shakespeare did it, it was killing season in Canberra in Parliament, with the Libs and then Labor, so it’s always something going on that people can just tap right into.”
It’s been 500 years since Shakespeare penned Julius Caesar but it could well have been written last week.
“Which is slightly depressing really, isn’t it, that we haven’t learned anything,” Leon said. “We haven’t particularly set Julius Caesar in any exact time, it’s more of a representation of Rome and the political shift in Europe. But for the most part, audiences are finding that it could have been written now because they’re literally talking about replacing a tyrant.”
Leon plays Cassius, a Roman senator and the primary mastermind behind the assassination of Julius Caesar.
He said Shakepeare’s depiction of Julius Casear had an uncanny resemblance to a current political leader.
“The director saw no point making that point overtly because it’s just there,” he said. “When Caesar’s character says that these women were adoring him and that it doesn’t matter what he did – he could have killed these women’s mothers and they still would have adored him.
“It’s so close to when [US president] Trump said, ‘I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and I’d still be popular’. It’s so close.”
Another influential teacher in Leon’s acting life was Mrs Edgerton at Telopea Park School.
“So I did everything in French, which probably explains my maths grades,” Leon said. “Mrs Edgerton really opened up interesting texts like [American writer] Arthur Miller. She was the one I remember a lot.”
As to why Leon attended a French-speaking school, that’s a mystery.
“Still to this day I have no idea why I went there,” he said. “My brother went to the English side, the English stream, and they put me into the French stream, so I really think I was just an experiment.”
Bell Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is on at the Canberra Theatre 10-18 April. Bookings: canberratheatrecentre.com.au/show/julius-caesar-2026
