Tag: Interviews

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Theatre here there and … anywhere: Paul Osuch (Interview 8)

The ways of social networking can mean that you get to ‘know’ a lot about someone … or at least what is posted about that someone online … long before you meet them.  And that meeting can be face to face or via the old-fashioned telephone call.

So it was that I got to know Paul Osuch before we ‘met’ via a video Skype call a week or so ago.  What I knew about Paul was that he was the founder of Jam and Bread Theatre Company, which, for lack of a venue went dark before it had even lit up.  You know the old saying about a door closing and a window opening?  Well, the Jam and Bread door slam has opened a window into a rather cool idea – the Anywhere Theatre Festival (ATF) planned for Brisbane in May 5-14, 2011.

I also wanted to talk with someone who’s tried and been unsuccessful in acquiring a performance space in Brisbane – what led eventually to Jam and Bread’s early demise.  Then there was the ATS and planning for another new festival in town, but I especially wanted to meet Paul to find out more about this online presence – someone who clearly has some big ideas, but whose name wasn’t especially familiar to me in theatre circles. We ended up having a wonderfully rambling conversation for about an hour. At the end of it (and I still haven’t met Paul face to face) I feel I do know him a whole lot better.  Those big ideas are taking root, and what he had to say about his experiences in Brisbane made for a fascinating conversation.

Apart from his producing and directing credentials, Paul is a playwright and script-writer. In company with other writer and actor friends including Stephen Vagg and Guy Edmonds, he began creating sketch comedy and then short plays in Brisbane at the Cement Box Theatre. It was at this time (1998-2002) that Vagg wrote what became a trilogy of works (All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane, Friday Night Drinks and Dirty Caff) with Paul’s own Borderline Defamation Productions. ‘They all had a distinctly local flavour,’ he tells me. ‘For a start, no one had ever written about an infamous night club in Brisbane before this.’ With the introduction to directing, he also came to learn the importance of production and marketing.  ‘It was good to see that for the 20-somethings at the time, Brisbane stories were really successful in picking up a particular audience.’ I’m keen to find out more abut how and why that happened. Continue reading “Theatre here there and … anywhere: Paul Osuch (Interview 8)”

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Clearly and simply: Andrea Moor actor, director, teacher (Interview 7)

Andrea Moor has been back in Brisbane for some years now, and she’s loving it – feeling privileged in fact.

‘The political landscape has changed so much since I was last here.  It’s a lot like Sydney felt in the early 80s – it’s such a supportive community.

The standard of acting in Brisbane is incredibly high, as good as any in the world, probably because local actors have been working constantly here and so practising their craft.

The standard of acting in Brisbane is incredibly high, as good as any in the world, probably because local actors have been working constantly here and so practising their craft.’

As an example she segues into last year’s production by Queensland Theatre Company of Arthur Miller‘s The Crucible directed by Michael Gow – for which, incidentally, she won a Matilda for her portrayal of Elizabeth Proctor. ‘The big  … Crucible acting company (19) was composed of several generations, Queensland actors many of whom had gone away and come back.  It was such a harmonious and good feeling during that period, a microcosm of the theatre industry here.’  She goes on to note, ‘There’s a different focus here in Brisbane, not the preciousness and egos of those constantly being watched.  Here actors are genuinely happy to see colleagues get work, and on opening nights, it’s about the show.  Elsewhere,’ she says, ‘it’s about me – who’s out front to help me get my next job.  It’s liberating here … mind you,’ she adds drily, ‘ it’s not to say we wouldn’t like this.’ Continue reading “Clearly and simply: Andrea Moor actor, director, teacher (Interview 7)”

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The best job in the world … Lewis Jones (Interview 6)

Everything’s coming up roses for the Empire Theatre right now.  Lewis Jones and I are having lunch at Encores, the very smart little restaurant attached to Toowoomba’s iconic theatre.  As is fitting for the Garden City on the Range, we can see gardenias and overflowing beds of gorgeous pink and white roses just outside the floor-to-ceiling open windows.  There’s a crisp autumn breeze, a touch of rain, but there’s no dampening of enthusiasm when Lewis talks about EPC, the Empire Theatre Projects Company – he’s its Artistic Director.  The Empire goes well with the roses; it’s a beautifully restored art deco building that is justifiably the pride of the city.  Lewis is clearly relishing his job at the helm of EPC.  Since his appointment in 2008, his task has been to establish a company to work with and reflect the community of Queensland’s Darling Downs region.

‘Friends in Brisbane ask me, How are things up there? and they think I’m joking when I say, I have the best job in the world.  I really do.’  I’m keen to hear why he thinks working in a regional city trumps a similar job in a metropolitan centre.  It seems to be all about opportunity, and it’s all positive.

Continue reading “The best job in the world … Lewis Jones (Interview 6)”

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Soapbox Theatre: “… work with the Coast culture, not against it” (Interview 5)

Jessica Westhead
Sarah McLeod

Where do you go to perform when you don’t have a home?  Easy … anywhere that will have you.  That’s the message from Soapbox Theatre Productions on Queensland’s Gold Coast, one of the newest indies on the scene.  If it’s on the steps of a chapel on a Golf Course … fine; a night-club in the heart of Surfers’ Paradise … fine.  “You have to embrace the culture here – work with the Coast, not against it.  It’s a strip; there’s no hub,” says Sarah McLeod, General Manger.  She and Artistic Director Jessica Westhead are talking about their passion and engagement with a company fiercely committed to ensemble work.  Their artistic vision goes like this:

Soapbox Theatre Productions encourages its artists to fully flex their creative muscles within a collaborative framework, without the traditional term of a ‘director’, and within all aspects of production.  As a group of united artists, the members of Soapbox create their own work in fields of acting, physical theatre, technical operations, design, visual art, dramaturgy, dance and music and hope to inspire more artists to do so.  Soapbox Theatre Productions not only strives to collaborate fully with its artists … but also work within site specific and new unexplored performances spaces. We aim to bring the highest possible entertainment to our audience as well as creating innovative performance opportunities to the Gold Coast.

I’m curious about their approach, especially their rejection of the traditional role of ‘director’ so I press them a little. Continue reading “Soapbox Theatre: “… work with the Coast culture, not against it” (Interview 5)”

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Conversation with the audience: Sven Swenson (Interview 4)

Photo: Leesa Connelly

I’ve known Sven Swenson and admired his work since 1996, the year his first play Vertigo and the Virginia workshopped for Queensland Theatre Company.  Since then Sven’s completed 15 plays, but he notes there are 33 others “in various stages of disrepair.”  His latest work, The Bitterling premieres next week as the opening production of the inaugural La Boite Indie program; ‘opening’ and ‘inaugural’ – a lot of firsts, and a lot of expectations.  He’s writer and director.

He tells me, “We know we are the indie guinea-pigs, we’re all keenly aware of this.  There is constant dialogue between the participants and La Boite, who are extremely supportive and available.  They have a genuine and profound desire to see good indie theatre develop.”  He goes on, “There’s a real air of excitement right now, and it’s helping us to create at our best.”

I’m glad to catch up with Sven, one of Brisbane’s most prolific and also proudly parochial writers.  I want to know more about the inaugural winner (2002) for Road to the She Devil’s Salon and then finalist (2008) of the prestigious Queensland Premier’s Drama Award.  His play Beautiful Souls was produced Off-Broadway (2007) and also in Los Angeles.  Among other things we talk about beginnings, influences, how he works, and the local theatre scene. He has a few surprises for me along the way. Continue reading “Conversation with the audience: Sven Swenson (Interview 4)”