I first encountered Kip Williams’ work in
2013, with his production of Romeo
and Juliet for the Sydney
Theatre Company. From the opening moments with the Montague boys swinging
on the chandelier, to Mercutio’s mustard-coloured velvet suit, the revolving
mansion, a tangibly dangerous knife-fight, snatches of Alt-J and Max Richter in
the soundtrack, and the devastating conclusion of empty white beds in a black
void, I was struck by the poetic imagery and exuberance with which it exploded
onto the Drama Theatre stage.
I’ve since had the pleasure to see the
rest of Williams’ work for the STC. From the stark isolation of his Macbeth,
to the aching Chekhovian lyricism of Children
of the Sun, the luscious haunting of Suddenly
Last Summer, and the frenetic kaleidoscope of Love
and Information, Williams’ body of work is nothing short of remarkable.
Following my recent chat with fellow STC
Resident Director Sarah Goodes, I sat down with Kip Williams for an
engrossing and lengthy discussion about the nature of scale, the poetics of
space, the enormous challenges of wrestling Love
and Information to the stage, and the promise of STC’s 2016
season.
When John Doyle’s play Vere (Faith) was announced as part of
Sydney Theatre Company’s 2013 season, I leapt at the chance to become
acquainted with director Sarah
Goodes’ work. I had heard positive reviews from her previous productions at
STC – Anthony Neilson’s Edward Gant's Amazing
Feats of Loneliness in 2011,
and Hilary
Bell’s The Splinter in 2012 – so although
I had been unable to see both those productions, I knew of her work’s
reputation as being generous-spirited, inquisitive, and compassionate pieces of
theatre.
Since 2013, I’ve had the pleasure to see
four of her productions, with a fifth – Orlando
– about to open. Following the end of Battle
of Waterloo’s run, I sat down with Goodes for a discussion about her
work as an independent theatre-maker and as a Resident Director at STC, the
importance of new work, the role of a director, and the seriousness of playing.
In October 2011, following two enormously strong
productions for Bell Shakespeare – John Bell’s exuberant Much Ado About Nothing, and Michael Gow’s theatrically-encyclopaedic
Faustus – Peter Evans’ production of Julius Caesar arrived in Sydney at the
end of a four-month national tour. Intelligent, concise, and subtly condensed
for a cast of ten, Evans’ Caesar was a
rare example of a production which eloquently captured the contemporary mood
(and political climate) in a raw, poetic and theatrical way. Robust, haunting,
and profoundly gripping, it made me sit up and take notice of Evans’ work, and remains one of the
cornerstone productions in my theatrical fascination with Shakespeare.
Peter
Evans is Bell Shakespeare’s co-artistic director,
and is about to take the reins of the company once John Bell concludes work on The Tempest. I sat down with Evans at
the end of July for a discussion about playing the classics, his career as a
director, the challenges facing a specialist company like Bell Shakespeare in Australia’s
theatrical climate, his fascination with Meyerhold’s system of biomechanics,
and what might lie ahead from 2016.
Sometimes you encounter
a piece of theatre which seems to shine with its own light, theatre which
reaches out into the darkness of the auditorium and gently holds you, slips its
fingers under your skin and doesn’t let go for a very long time afterwards. It
was March 2012, and Rita Kalnejais’ Babyteeth was
playing in Belvoir’s Upstairs theatre; billed as “a
mad, gorgeous, bittersweet comedy about how good it is not to be dead yet,” it
was filled with a warmth, a big-heartedness, and an almost-visible hum, and was
– still is – one of the most beautiful new plays I’ve ever seen.
Babyteeth was directed by Eamon Flack,
Belvoir’s Associate Director – New Projects. I don’t make a secret of being a
strong admirer of his work as a director, in particular his work at Belvoir. Following
his recent appointment as Belvoir’s new artistic director from 2016, I sat down
with Flack at the beginning of the year for what became an in-depth discussion
about the classics, dramatic and historical context, his intentions as incoming
artistic director, and about the need for compassion.
