Gemma Ward impresses the critics and a new artist mate

the sunday telegraph

As a teenager Gemma Ward conquered the fashion world. Now 23, she is slowly making her mark in the film business, with her fourth film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, due for release on May 20th. But how does she shape up as a theatre performer? Not too shabbily, according to reviews of her stage debut in The Perth Theatre Compay’s production of The Ugly One, which premiered on March 22nd. “Ward does well on her stage debut and, to her credit, is better as the 73-year-old reconstructed cougar Fanny than as Lette's younger wife” says The West Australian’s David Zampatti; “It's impossible to ignore her international celebrity as a beauty but, while this perhaps adds an unintended extra layer to Von Mayenburg's text, it does it no harm”.

the australian

Notes Perth Now’s Maria Noakes:

“Can she act? In a nutshell, yes, she can. But she’s still learning and it’s a big leap from the catwalk to the stage. Swinging between three characters including Fanny, a 73-year-old woman with a fetish for plastic surgery and the young wife of Lette, Ward only stumbled over her lines once but at times, particularly at the beginning, she looked somewhat wooden. However she made a good go of it and as the play hit its straps she warmed and seemed to settle into her roles. 

Her co-stars WAAPA graduate Benj D’Addario, Brendan Ewing and stage veteran Geoff Kelso out shone her but that was to be expected – the trio have years of experience under their belts.

No doubt given time Ward will come into her own as an actress. Despite her inexperience she is mesmerising to watch. It’s a surreal experience seeing the towering former international supermodel perform just metres in front of you and an experience Perth audiences wont forget in a hurry”.

The Australian's John Kinsella didn't think Ward was too bad, but concurred that there is definitely room for improvement:

"Gemma Ward, cast as Lette's wife, and also a 73-year-old CEO who lusts after the new Lette, makes yet another subtext. Supermodel, and one of the faces of her time on the catwalk, she becomes a mirror for proliferating narcissism. Ward was acceptable, and certainly knows how to use the stage and hold her glances. But her voice was thin, and though the roles were deliberately flat, she could have made them more dynamic. The play relies so much on skin-deep humour that she was well-placed with her industry background to bring this out".

 

Wards mother Claire, naturally, loved the play. After the show, she told a reporter that her daughter was a little bit nervous about the sex scenes:





Prepping for her stage debut is not the only thing Ward has been up to in Perth. She also found the time to pose for US-born, Perth-based artist Matt Doust, for Doust’s entry in the 2011 edition of Australia’s most prestigious portraiture competition, The Archibald Prize.

"I think he's extremely talented, he's going to go so far and I was very honoured to work with him" Ward told News Ltd. "Just the alignment of every feature on her face intrigues me" noted Doust - who set tongues wagging at a Prada dinner in Perth on March 15th, that the duo’s relationship may have developed a little further than artist and muse.

Doust is the second Californian-connected artist to become enchanted by Ward’s features.

Danny Roberts, an LA-based fashion illustrator and colleague of Ward’s sister Sophie Ward, has done over 100 Gemma Ward portraits.

Gemma Ward is back - in black

perth theatre company via perth now

Well it's not Hedi Slimane or Tom Ford (we don't think), but this ill-fitting tux worn by Gemma Ward and conceptual photoshoot for The Perth Theatre Company's upcoming production of The Ugly One, in which Ward is due to make her stage debut, could be the next best thing to a piece of fashion theatre that Ward's fans have had since the former world number one disappeared herself from the sartorial stage. The shots have just been released by the PTC, presumably shortly after today's press conference in Perth, during which Ward's fellow actors Benj D'Addario, Brendan Ewing and Geoff Kelso were reportedly totally ignored by the assembled media throng, in favour of Ward. They should probably get used to this.

During the course of said presser, only one question apiece was permitted and it emerged that: Ward plays three roles in the production, including a septuaganarian; that she is playing ping-pong, chess and guitar with the Perth-based fam during her downtime; and that Marius von Mayenburg's play has prompted some introspection from Ward regarding the subject of beauty. 

Noted Ward, “It has made me look at everything that we feel about beauty and the way it affects us... I started to notice how often we refer to things as beautiful or not. It’s a fascinating prism to look at the world through.”

Clearly, she has been out of the fashion biz for a bit too long.  

perth theatre company via perth now

Gemma Ward delivers a video address, calls in a favour from Mario Testino

mario testino for vogue paris via TFS

 
The furore of global coverage sparked by the news that Gemma Ward had broken her silence (well, kind of) on her relationship with Heath Ledger in Perth’s Sunday Times newspaper over the weekend sounds like nothing compared to the media circus the Perth Theatre Company can expect once Ward rocks up for rehearsals later this month. Ward mentioned Ledger during an interview to promote her involvement with the company’s new production of The Ugly One, which will run from March 22-April 9, with three previews starting on March 18. Last night, Ward lent yet another helping hand to the official launch of the company’s January-June season at the new WA State Theatre Studio Underground, addressing the invited guests in a prerecorded video which was reportedly filmed on her laptop from her New York bedroom. The YouTube version, needless to say, is likely to go ballistic once the company eventually puts it online. 

Ward told the guests, who included her mum Claire, sister Sophie and brothers Oscar and Henry:  

"I'm sorry that I couldn't be there tonight, I'm sure you're all having an amazing time soaking in the new State Theatre of Perth. I'm really excited to be on board as an Ambassador for the Perth Theatre Company and I'm thrilled to be in the opening play of the new Studio Underground.... I hope that you can all come and help us enjoy this play and continue to support the theatre. So, thank you and I hope I see some of you soon. Have a good night. Bye!".

Also lending a helping hand to the until now relatively low profile theatre company: legendary fashion lensman Mario Testino, who has given permission for one of his many archival photos of Ward (above) to be the official image of the program, a Perth Theatre Company rep tells frockwriter.

The photo, part of a beauty spread from the February 2005 edition of Vogue Paris – which Ward covered - depicts Ward clipping her eyelashes. Brilliant choice of image, in other words, to illustrate Marius von Mayenburg’s black satire about the contemporary pursuit of physical perfection.

Given Ward's battles with the fashion establishment - which has been accused of turning its back on the erstwhile world number one model once her previously coltish adolescent figure filled out - she has made a fascinating choice of vehicle via which to make her stage debut. 
 
 

Gemma Ward to make her stage debut in The Ugly One

zimbio

Well it's not a return to the runway, but she will be treading the boards. Perth’s Sunday Times newspaper reveals today that Gemma Ward will be making her stage debut in The Perth Theatre Company’s production of The Ugly One at the new State Theatre Complex on March 22nd, with rehearsals due to commence in Perth from February 14th. Written by German playwright Marius von Mayenburg, the black comedy revolves around the pursuit of physical perfection via cosmetic surgery. So it won't be too much of a stretch at all for Ward, who of course spent half her teenage years in the fashion business. Perth Theatre Company artistic director Melissa Cantwell met with Ward in Perth in December and offered her the role of Fanny, which is described as a complex role that will see Ward playing several characters. “I’m so excited... I’ve just been jumping out of my skin” Ward told The Sunday Times from New York. No word on how long the season runs. With Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, in which Ward plays a mermaid, due for release on May 20th, one assumes she will soon be hitting that promo trail. 

In the same story, Ward also opens up about her relationship with the late Heath Ledger, telling the paper that her three year break from the media spotlight had been spurred by Ledger’s death. 

The pair met in New York in November 2007, just two months prior to his death, while both were “struggling with things that I won’t get into and we bonded over that” said Ward. They spent Christmas 2007 together in their home town. 

She noted, “There was noone like him - and noone will ever be like him. I’m just so grateful that I got to meet him and get as close as I did with him”.