“It’s pure fun”: Christiaan Schoombie on Troukoors (Wedding Fever)

Whether it’s on a stage in New York, in productions with Idris Elba and Laurence Fishburne, or local success as Dr Tom Greeff in Binnelanders – few opportunities have been such “pure fun” as playing Liam in Showmax’s first romcom, Troukoors (Wedding Fever), quips Christiaan Schoombie.

Watch: Troukoors Season 2, streaming from 5 May 2022

Liam is one of the lead character Jessica’s (Ilse-Lee van Niekerk) love interests.

Read more about the talented cast of Troukoors (Wedding Fever) »

Tell us about Liam

Liam is a chef and he’s very down to earth. There’s nothing showy about him. He doesn’t have pretentions and he’s comfortable with who he is. One characteristic that comes across strongly is that he is very straightforward. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything. Sometimes that is to his detriment, but he believes in being honest.  He would rather tell you the awkward truth than what you want to hear. That gets him in trouble sometimes!

That said, he is man enough to admit when he’s wrong. He’s not so obstinate that he thinks only he knows what is right and wrong. He is a bit of an introvert and he weighs his words carefully.   

Are you and Liam alike?

I can get along well with big groups of people. I wouldn’t be an actor if I couldn’t, but in my personal life I’m kind of … I believe in having a few friends of high quality, instead of huge quantities of acquaintances. In that way, I think we are similar.

Tell us more about Troukoors (Wedding Fever).

I enjoy it immensely. To me, it’s like our take on Modern Family. We are in the 21st century and there are realities that are acknowledged by the show. It’s wonderful how the characters and their relationships are depicted. The deeper one reads the scripts, the more attached you grow to the characters.

You find them funnier and funnier, you start getting to know them, and you start getting to a point of, “Mmmm, I know what you’re about to do! You bastard, I know. what you’re going to do.” But then it’s still funny, how the situation is depicted. I don’t want to say it’s predictable, not at all. But it’s fun. It’s just pure fun.

In a way it’s groundbreaking, considering South African entertainment. There’s a tendency to be a bit conservative in South Africa in our views on certain things, and I feel like this show works towards subverting some of those perceptions.

Just to see that there are many shades of love, and we must accept and embrace it, you know? The themes and the storylines pull you in. It’s fun, but there are also serious themes that beg discussion, and that are certainly very relevant today.

Do you and Liam have similar approaches romantically?

This is where Liam and I are like day and night. I think Liam has had a bunch of relationships. He has an ex-wife who forms part of his identity and his prior life experience. I’ve actually been a bachelor all my life. (laughs) In that sense, I had to rely on my imagination.

It’s a little bit challenging because in terms of long-term relationships, I don’t have much of a frame of reference. I try using friendship as an alternative to that. It’s a tricky issue and it’s one of the challenges of the part. I have to sort of imagine a whole history of prior romantic experiences for myself.

Liam’s studies took him to England where he trained as chef. I think he would have at least had a fling there! Or a relationship! It is London, after all, and apparently the Afrikaans accent is very sexy. (laughs) In that sense we are quite different, and it’s a fun challenge.

Your views on marriage?

I think there is someone out there for everyone, but I guess one should be patient. I’m answering this as a bachelor!

What was it like having an intimacy coordinator on set?

I feel very nurtured by the whole approach on set. The intimacy coordinator led us through the whole process, through the love scenes. It makes one feel very nurtured because as an actor, you can feel very uncertain about what your boundaries are, and what your co-actor’s boundaries are. It’s good to have this framework on how we can share with one another what we are comfortable with, and to make sure we’re doing right by the other person and respecting one another.

I’m very grateful for that. It makes things simpler. It almost feels like choreography. Like a dance. You follow the steps, and then it reads well on camera. The scenes are very specific, and they’re worked out very specifically. I think that’s something all drama schools ought to do. They should prepare actors for this. Maybe not in the first year or two of the course, but once you know you’ve separated the chaff from the wheat. When the remaining ones are those who want to be in the industry. They’re serious about it. Then there should definitely be, in my opinion, a semester or two spent on that type of work. It would make a massive difference.

What was Nina Swart like as a director?

It’s a wonderful set. Everyone is so friendly and professional. Nina is wonderful. She’s just a bundle of joy and the most vocal director I’ve ever encountered in my life, but I love it! After a take, there’s always feedback – she’ll make some sort of sound. (laughs) But she lets you know if there’s something worrying her, or something that needs adjusting. She’s wonderful. So friendly. Oh, everyone is just fantastic.

Tell us more about the part.

This is my first lead role, and I’m very grateful. It’s a wonderful new adventure and full of its own challenges. There is a strong romantic storyline for the character, and this isn’t something I’ve encountered before. I did the self-tape audition in Johannesburg. I was a little surprised that I got the part! Like, “What? Wow! Okay! Thanks so much!”

I helped with the call-backs and chemistry reads when they were still looking for Jessica. We could audition for any of the parts, and I picked Liam. The character description we received was very short, just two short paragraphs. So, my decision to go for Liam was guided by which character sounded like the most fun. The Dawid character also sounded fun.

I’ve never played something like a chef, so it sounded like a fun challenge. I didn’t know how much of a love interest the character would be in the end. I thought he would be a character they bring in now and again for comic relief. They told us these are the main characters, but I thought it would be one of those series regular parts, not like a real lead role. And when I got the thing, I was like “Wow! Top-10 on the cast list! Hell, it’s the first time I’m in the top 10!” I’m usually number 13, or something like that. It took me a long time to get to seven.

What other work have you done?

This is a nice local part for me. Most of my work to date has been on international projects, like in Madiba opposite Laurence Fishburne, and I also had a small part in The Dark Tower with Idris Elba. Two other nice international projects were Netflix’s Troy: Fall of the City and Warrior.

In Troy, I played one of the Trojan princes. I had a wild beard, so you’ll have to look twice to recognise me! I’m most proud of my work in Warrior. That was great fun. Pure joy. And I must say I’m really loving this project (Troukoors). It’s all very exciting to me. We go very fast and shoot a lot of scenes every day.

What’s it like on set?

You’re always learning. Every new project you do, there are new things to learn and new tricks you pick up. “Oh, okay, that’s how that works. Okay, gotcha!” Or, “Oh, that’s what that means.” You pick up new jargon and lingo on every job. Each director also has their own methods. I really like my co-actors. They are all extremely professional, honest, and in the moment, and it’s great to be playing off them. They give you a lot to work with, and I hope I’m doing the same for them.

I haven’t had one down day on this set. Not one. And I can tell you, on most jobs that tends to happen kind of on the early side, at least somewhere. There were a few days on some of my earlier gigs where I was just wishing the day would end, or where nothing was working. There are always a lot of hiccups. We have picked up some problems on set, but we always got to work really quickly to sort things out.

And Nina (Swart, the director) is such a great problem solver. When we start running out of time … somehow, she pulls a rabbit out of a hat again. She has a lot of reality TV experience, and I can imagine how many snags you encounter there. And there’s not a lot of time on a reality set. You’re forced to find a solution now.

She and Faheema (Hendricks, DOP) are a dynamic duo. Those two, they have their shorthand, and they just figure it out really quickly. The other day, we were near our cut-off for the day. We didn’t have a lot of time to shoot quite an important scene. But, what! With them it just went so fast. “This is what I want, Okay. Tighter. Get it.” And we finished in time. That’s impressive.

We are expected to pull our weight, to know our lines, and I must say, I haven’t seen an actor on this set who is not prepared. It’s always a bit of a nasty surprise, when that’s the case, and it happens. But no, not here. Here, everyone is on the ball. It’s refreshing, and it just makes the whole thing that much more fun.

You should watch, because …

To me, it’s simple. If you want to laugh, and sit with a smile on your face for half an hour, then this is the show for you. You’re going to enjoy it so much. It’s just pure fun. There are serious themes that are explored, but there’s always humour to balance it out, and it’s so clever, the way Louis works with it. Only good writers can do that.

We all know there are so many shows that are just a draining struggle. Goodness! Don’t these people ever make a joke? Do people never smile in this world? That can become quite irritating. The best dramas, the best serious stories, are told with a lot of humour. Just think of The Wire. Breaking Bad. Full of humour.