Meet director, actor, playwright, and Neptune Theatre’s artistic director, Jeremy Webb.
20 Questions with Jeremy Webb
1. Your first job.
Oh, boy! The job is not embarrassing, but how I got it is a bit. I was a Saturday shoe store salesperson in Cambridge, UK. I was 16 and had never worked anywhere and had never interviewed for a job before. I showed up on the first day, scared but keen. There was no job. I didn’t get it, but I had assumed I did. They sent me home. Three weeks later they called me back and gave me a job anyway. So I learned to never take no as a final answer! I now have a complete dislike of feet.
2. The job you always wanted as a child?
I spent a lot of time wanting to be a chef in the navy … I have no idea how that came to be a wish.
3. Your pet peeve.
I truly believe making mistakes and learning is wondrous, but when people are totally unaware of their own limitations, and they believe themselves to be experts, it drives me nuts!
4. Your hero.
The late Tim Conway, Nathan Lane, and Kenneth Branagh.
5. Your biggest indulgence.
Oh, jeez … if you want to know, it’s a glass of red, alone when everyone else in in bed, with DVR’ed TV to decompress. Maybe The Walking Dead, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., or acres of Netflix.
6. One thing no one knows about you.
I have a complete fear of social gatherings – the kitchen party setting scares me to death. I rarely attend when invited.
7. Three things you would want with you on a deserted island.
A Tardis, a superstore, and electricity.
8. The one word your best friend would use to describe you.
How on Earth would I know?
9. If they made a movie about your life, who would it star?
James Corden, maybe?
10. Hero or villain?
Villain, but really? Why so black and white?
11. Your life’s motto/mantra.
“Do, or do not; there is no try” (Yoda) or “I prefer people who rock the boat to people who jump out” (Orson Welles).
12. Your favourite playwright.
Impossible. Refuse. Too many.
13. The last book you read.
Scripts, only scripts … I have Michelle Obama’s biography waiting to be read from last Christmas.
14. If you were a cartoon character what cartoon character would you be?
Bugs Bunny – he rocks all the boats.
15. What will it say on your grave marker?
Jeremy Webb
Best Before: Sept 30th, 2032
Keep refrigerated once open. May contain nuts.
16. Who would you most like to have dinner with?
Easy: Stephen Fry. Will everyone send him this link?
17. Your idea of happiness.
Hearing my two kids laugh at my jokes when they watch something I’ve written on stage.
18. If you could go back in time, what would you tell your twenty-year-old self?
You think you look like crap now, wait until you hit 50! Relax a little.
19. The one thing in your life that makes you most proud.
My boys.
20. To be or not to be?
That’s the last question.
Meet Jeremy Webb
Jeremy Webb is the twelfth Artistic Director in Neptune Theatre’s history. Prior to Neptune, Jeremy was the Artistic Producer of Halifax’s Eastern Front Theatre.
He ran his company Off The Leash Creative since 2009. He moved to Canada, from his native UK, in 1998. He grew up in Cambridge and trained at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Jeremy has been working at Neptune ever since 1998.
For Neptune so far he has directed Mamma Mia!, Shakespeare In Love, Cinderella (which he also wrote), Noises Off and Little, Thing Big Thing. Cinderella went so well that Neptune is bringing it back for a limited run this summer. Next season he is writing and directing Peter Pan, he’s also directing Calendar Girls and Billy Elliot next season.
Most recent Canadian stage appearances include ‘Cogsworth’ in Neptune Theatre’s Beauty and The Beast (twice), ‘Jaggers’ in Great Expectations (Neptune Theatre), ‘Jack’ in Broadway on Argyle St. (WillPower/OTL), ‘George’ in I’ll Be Back Before Midnight (Valley Summer Theatre), ‘Macbeth’ in Macbeth (WillPower Theatre), ‘Max Bialystock’ in The Producers (Rainbow Stage, Winnipeg), ‘Riverdale/Churchill’ in Rexy (Neptune), ‘Under Milk Wood (touring since 2013,) ‘Paul Fisher’ in his own play Fishing (touring since 2012,) ‘Beowulf’ in Beowulf (Two Planks & A Passion), The Comedy of Errors, The Wizard of Oz and Romeo & Juliet(Neptune Theatre), MacBeth, ‘Iago’ in Othello (Shakespeare By The Sea), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Beauty & The Beast (Niagara Falls).
In Canada, he directed (and wrote) The Chuckle Hour (Festival Antigonish), Pinocchio (for Shakespeare By The Sea), Urinetown, Blue Remembered Hills, The Wizard of Oz, A Streetcar Named Desire, Animal Farm, The Farm Show, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night, Liar, Joseph, Grease, Godspell, The Wind In The Willows, and Til It Hurts, I Do! I Do!, Double Double, Les Miserables, The Hobbit and Oliver.
His one-man version of A Christmas Carol has been a great success since 2003, touring Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the USA, in schools and theatres since then. His other plays, Shakespeare On Trial and Fishing, have also both toured for years.
Jeremy won a Best Actor Merritt Award for his portrayal of ‘Iago’ in Othello, for Shakespeare By The Sea and a Best Director Merritt for Little Thing Big Thing.
He won the 2010 Mayor’s Award for Achievement in Theatre and The Coast (Halifax’s weekly newspaper) Best Theatre Actor Award in 2007, 2009 and 2010 (2008 wasn’t such a great year!)
In 2013, Jeremy won the Creative Arts Nova Scotia Established Artist Award.
In 2014, Off The Leash/Jeremy Webb won the 2014 Touring Performers Award, presented by The Atlantic Presenters Association.
In 2017, he was awarded The ACTRA David Renton Award of Excellence (for service to the film & TV union.) He is most proud of two ‘productions’ Dylan (4 years) and Samuel (7 years).