OFF – ST A G E Handy performer Octavia Walters
familiar face has returned to Richmond’s Orange Tree Theatre – but this time it is not to the stage. Instead Octavia Walters, actress daughter of Artistic Director Sam Walters and his actress/director wife Auriol Smith, has set up shop in the prop room to pursue her other career: massage therapy. “I have always been interested in muscles and bones; the links between them and how they work,” she explains. “During shows I would give massages to the other actors backstage. People told me I had good hands.” Octavia’s childhood revolved around the Orange Tree. Born during its infancy in 1973 – when it was based across the road, above the pub of the same name – she still regards Richmond’s theatre-in-the-round as home. Yet despite her upbringing, it was by no means a foregone conclusion that she would end up on the stage.
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“I tried everything not to act,” she reveals. “I was rebelling. Then one day I called my mum from my job in an eventing yard and said that I thought I wanted to be an actor. There was stunned silence.”
Octavia Walters is from one of Richmond’s leading theatrical clans. Now she has swapped the stage for life as a therapeutic masseuse. Shannon Rooney meets an actress with a hands-on approach
Her decision was vindicated from the start. Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), Octavia worked solidly for a decade, including 19 roles at the Orange Tree. Nor, she insists, was she intimidated by the professional proximity of her parents.
“Oh no, I love working with mum and
dad. We think in the same way.” Now, however, it is massage which occupies most of her time. In addition to her weekly slot at the Orange Tree, she is also practising at Movement3 in St Margarets, a new clinic combining therapy and personal training to help correct body movement. Octavia met Managing Director Jason Anderson during her training, when he gave one of the lectures she attended. Later, having qualified as a level five sports and remedial massage therapist, she asked if she could join him at Movement3. “Sports and remedial massage therapy is deep tissue work,” she explains. “It’s not only massage, but involves stretches to particular muscles to help correct damaged, weak or tight areas in the body.”
Furthermore, Octavia’s burgeoning career is sufficiently flexible to suit her present needs. She now lives in the country, near Stratford, with cats, dogs, four horses and 20 chickens all making demands on her time. Icey Run – her distinctly modest racehorse, whose inglorious display at Worcester once distracted her father from an interview with The Richmond Magazine – has now switched successfully to the cross-country sport of team chasing. “I couldn’t afford to live in Richmond,” she
admits. “I went to an estate agent, told them how much money I had and that I wanted a garden, and they laughed.”
So will we see Octavia back on stage? “Well, everyone has their wish list. But the longer you leave acting, the harder it is to go back. There are a few plays I would be keen on doing though – something by DH Lawrence, for example. And I’d love to do The Archers. It would give me some mental indulgence.” A massage for the mind, perhaps.
To contact Octavia call 07810 375363. Visit:
www.valesportsmassage.co.uk Showtime returns next month
www.richmondmagazine.c o .uk
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