Cultural Storytellers - Richard Huber and Anya Tate-Manning

Glorious is a 1940’s-style American screwball comedy – written by Dunedin playwright Richard Huber. A finalist for the Playmarket New NZ Play Award, it’s hitting Auckland after successful seasons in Dunedin and Wellington.

Renee Liang caught up with Richard and actress Anya Tate-Manning.

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I don’t think it’s just my writerly bias that enjoys lines like “Words are like men, once you get your tongue around them they’re yours for life.” From what I’ve read of reviews, this is a play that’s stuffed full of clever wordplay, witty repartee and two classic characters.

The setup goes something like this: Gloria is a bored socialite with a rich father; Jimmy is a writer working as a waiter at her father’s birthday party. Gloria decides she’s going to marry Jimmy in order to upset her father – and what Gloria wants, Gloria gets. Except Jimmy doesn’t think so.

Richard, why did you decide to write this play?

Richard: I had two characters from another play and I thought that they would work better in this type of comedy. The original piece was a film noir styled play and it seemed an interesting idea to swap genres. Screwball and noir were the popular film genres of the time and seemed to be dealing with the same stuff, but in very different ways.

Also, I love Katherine Hepburn movies.

Anya, how did you become involved?

Anya: I read the play when I was down in Dunedin doing Emma at the Fortune in 2009. I did an audition for Patrick and Richard for the Dunedin season and they agreed to cast me in it. I loved the script from the first moment I read it and have always fought hard for it. Mostly it’s because it’s the type of role I would never get cast in, but the kind of thing I've always wanted to do. For the Dunedin season we were lucky enough to work with the wonderful Daniel Coppersmith, as Jimmy, whom I convinced to come to Dunedin for 7 weeks and do the show with me. Patrick and I really wanted to bring the show to Wellington, and it took about 18 months to sort a two week season at Bats Theatre. And this year we have had the fortune of working with the splendid Sam Bunkall, as Jimmy, for the Wellington season, and also now, for the Auckland season at the Basement Theatre.

What 'quirks' do you use to bring your character alive? Did you base your character on any particular actress or movie character?

Anya: Initially I based a lot of it on Katherine Hepburn in Bringing up Baby and The Philadelphia Story. Her voice, energy and physicality are very challenging for me, she's lot lighter and faster. It’s the opposite of my own energy, so I need to fight against my own instincts. For the Wellington season we watched more screwball comedies, and discovered Barbara Stanwyk, and The Lady Eve, holy moly, that was a revelation.

Ultimately though I had to do my own version, and step away from the films. It’s a different medium to theatre after all, its dated and its not impressionism. Gloria is a strong character in her own right and this is just my version of her.

What kind of 'research' did you both do?

Richard: I watched a lot of screwball films and romantic comedies. Also I read up about the Depression in America and the way that people dealt with it and understood it. The Left at the time was very critical of Hollywood and romantic stories. So I wanted to use these ideas and contrast them with a typical Hollywood love story.

Anya: I watched a lot of screwball films, in particular a lot of Katherine Hepburn movies, the early and the later films. I got a bit obsessed with her life and career. It was a foreign genre to me and those actors are basically all dancers as well, so the physical comedy is very skilful and there were a lot a lot of bits we watched over and over. Katherine Hepburn's autobiography was also really interesting, she was a very different type of actress in her time, in a world of sirens and heartthrobs, she was practical and athletic and unromantic.

Some would say this is a 'retro' piece. What is it about screwball comedy that appeals to modern audiences?

Richard: It's wit and strong characters. They are rom-coms with flair.

Anya: I think the style of dialogue is actually very ‘in’ right now, writer Aaron Sorkin has developed his own style of it in Studio 60, The West Wing, The Social Network etc. It’s very fast and very clever. Screwball comedies are essentially romantic comedies, but I think they're much more interesting than our standard rom-coms at the movies, the relationships are more difficult and the characters have to really fight for their happy ending. Also it’s about politics and class, social philosophy, gender politics and searching for a meaning in our lives. Yes, it’s a comedy, but it’s not just meaningless or pointless pastiche.

How have audiences responded so far?

Richard: Very well. Romantic comedy isn't really a genre you see in Theatre very often and audiences seem to like it because of that.

Anya: Really well. We've had school groups and retirement groups and everyone in between, and most people seem to love it.

What is it that is unique about this play?

Richard: It uses a different type of humour compared to most comedies produced by New Zealand writers. Also, I think just having two characters creates a strong emphasis on the skills of the actors to pull it off. It's a very theatrical type of piece that goes against the grain of the typical television and film underplaying you tend to get these days.

Anya: It’s an unusual piece, and, I think, brilliant. It’s an exercise in genre and skill, the writing is delightful to perform and it’s a total work out as an actor.

Any plans to take it further?

Richard: I'd like to develop some of the possibilities in the script for filmic image making. To extend the sound and music dimensions. It's very verbal at the moment- which is part of the style, but also due to the limited resources we've had to mount the productions.

Anya: I've always wanted to take it to Australia and Edinburgh, it’s a great show for touring because there's only two actors and hardly any set.

What's next for both of you?

Richard: I've got two more scripts in development. Both are comedies, but are of very different styles to Glorious. I'm interested in the range of different approaches you can take to Comedy. They allow you to explore different ways of saying something and creating different staging styles. Different ways of exploring the language of Theatre.

Anya: For me it’s Toys at Bats Theatre for their Christmas show and then some writing of my own.

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Glorious

1-12 November 2011, 8pm

Basement Theatre
Lower Greys Ave
Auckland CBD