Channelling Brunel

Tom Wainwright plays the role of Isambard Kingdom Brunel in Walking the Chains, performed in the Passenger Shed until January 25. Here he writes how he channels the reckless engineer.

I was surprised (to put it mildly) when the director of Walking The Chains, Robin Belfield, offered me the role of Brunel.

I don’t normally leave an audition thinking how brilliantly it went, and this was no different. But cast me Robin did and I was delighted. Then afraid. Very afraid.

Brunel is something of a sacred figure for Brits, and nowhere more so than here in Bristol. With every great opportunity, though, comes the prospect of dismal failure and I was keen to avoid this eventuality. I still am.

Anyway, I was put instantly at ease on the first day or rehearsals by writer ACH Smith who informed me that the only reason they cast me is that apparently I look a bit like Isambard. I’m short, basically. Comes in useful sometimes.

Research-wise, I tried to be as willing as possible, I read a couple of books, including Eugene Byrne’s helpfully concise pocket book. Eugene also spared the time to give me some invaluable nuggets of insight about Brunel’s character.

There are vast amounts of words published about his engineering feats, and essential though it has been to get a handle on these, it’s the personal stuff which is most helpful in a rehearsal room.

IKB’s diary entries and testimonies from his friends and colleagues have really captured my imagination in terms of trying to inhabit him as a character in a play.

His flamboyance, his workaholism, his glad eye for women, his exceptionally high opinion of himself, his absolute refusal to ever give in and his privately-voiced self-doubt – these are the things I’ve based my performance on. That is, after making sure I’m standing in the right place and saying the lines in the right order at the right time.

ACH has been a champion in rehearsals, whispering the odd IKB anecdote into my ear from time to time. Mal too, who is in the choir, and used to do Brunel tours in Bristol gave me her tour guides and various other bits of info not that widely available. She LOVES Brunel and, so far, she doesn’t seem too horrified at what I’m doing. Fingers crossed that continues.

Fantastically, Joanna at the ss Great Britain showed me around their archive and presented some of Isambard’s sketches, his penknife and even one of his cigars. It was spooky, in a really really excellent way.

So I’ve no excuse now. I’ve had a lot of help from a lot of people, not least the cast who remind me on a daily basis that it’s “not all about me” (one of my lines).

For more information and to book tickets for Walking the Chains, visit www.colstonhall.org/shows/walking-chains/.