By Catherine Lambert
There have been plenty of times in the past year when Sharriese Hamilton wondered if she’d ever work on stage again.
Australian actors have had the same concerns but for Hamilton, who has been at home in Chicago during the pandemic, the fears of not working again have only escalated, with no hope in sight. Being surrounded by a more cavalier attitude to the pandemic hasn’t helped, especially when she was personally affected by its gravity.
Sharriese Hamilton plays Hannah in Come From Away.Credit: Simon Schluter
"I lost a couple of family members to this so I’ve definitely been directly affected by the virus and, let me tell you, Zoom funerals are very weird and difficult," Hamilton says.
"So it’s never been a thing I’ve taken lightly or thought I didn’t have to wear a mask and follow the rules. It’s been very personal and serious for me."
Hamilton plays Hannah in Come From Away and left the Melbourne production a week before it was forced to close last March to return to the US. Some artistic projects such as doing a radio play of Animal Farm for Steppenwolf Theatre, helped along with gardening and being at home with her partner.
"It was strange wondering what my life would be now, not just whether I could come back to do the show in Australia as planned, but if I could work at all and wondering if people cared about the arts," she says.
"It’s been a part of me since I was a little girl, singing and telling stories all over the house. I remember the moment I realised I could actually do this as a job and following through with that, so this is an extremely hopeful time for me. There are still times I can’t believe I’m here, on another continent doing theatre."
I just couldn’t believe I was back singing this song with its wonderful message of hope.
Sharriese Hamilton
Hamilton landed in Melbourne on December 10, had two weeks of quarantine and began Come From Away rehearsals on January 5. When she first came here in 2019 for the show’s Australian premiere she had never travelled so far away from home, so she related to the sense of isolation and uncertainty experienced by the passengers in the show who find themselves stranded in Gander after the 9/11 attacks.
"This time, that sense of wanting to be close to the people you love and not being able to, feels even more real," she says.
The reality of being in Melbourne, preparing to mount the show at the end of the month, hit when the cast first ran through one of the main songs You Are Here.
"We call it the song of 'hushed intensity' and I started tearing up because I just couldn’t believe I was back singing this song with its wonderful message of hope," she says.
There have been many emotional moments during rehearsals as the cast reunites and welcomes some new cast members to the fold. It was particularly difficult for Hamilton to awake last week to the news of the Capitol riot in the US, which reminded her in many ways of September 11, which is at the heart of Come From Away. Her character, Hannah loses her son, a firefighter, in the show.
"I almost couldn’t get through my song because I let myself really think about the feeling of helplessness that Hannah feels," she says.
"I’m grateful and feel fortunate to be able to take that pain, fear and frustration and get it into something more positive, feeling it reach people through the medium of art. It’s a way of healing, knowing you’re not alone and things you might have gone through are not all in vain."
She also hopes the show will be a beacon of hope for her fellow actors around the world, to see that theatre can operate safely in a COVID-19 world and that love for the medium hasn’t diminished. She will join the entire cast and crew in having weekly COVID-19 tests with thorough sanitisation measures in place throughout the theatre.
"I know a lot of people in the US are looking at what is happening here and it gives them hope that people care about this form of entertainment."
Come From Away is at the Comedy Theatre from January 19. Bookings at comefromaway.com.au