Kaleidoscope - Lisa Harrow and Grant Finch

Television (Full Length Episode) – 1984

RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) trained actor Lisa Harrow dominates this Kaleidoscope episode. Aileen O'Sullivan talks with Harrow on the set of Other Halves, the movie adaptation of Sue McCauley's provocative 1982 romance. Harrow reflects on her love of Shakespeare and the craft of screen acting. Director John Laing praises Harrow's artistic abilities. Novelist Sue McCauley joins Harrow to talk about adapting her work to screen. There's also a short profile of Christchurch leather craftsman Grant Finch, and a eulogy for painter Philip Clairmont, who died just before this episode went to air.

I like the uncertainty of this sort of work, and I like the danger of filmmaking. I mean there's no reason why you're not going to be awfully bad . . . you've just got one chance to do it right and if your juices aren't working, everything in the world can be right but you mightn't be right. And it's too bad, because you can't do it again, whereas if you're doing a play in the theatre, if you get something not quite right one night, well you can have another bash at it...
– Lisa Harrow on the unpredictability of screen acting versus working for a theatre company