BWW INTERVIEWS: Anne Chmelewsky And Matt Wright Of THE OFFICE: THE OPERA

How did you get the idea for The Office: The Opera?

Anne: As a joke! I was studying at Guildhall and I did a classical composition course. We had to do a module where we had to write contemporary opera scenes, and we had to take anything to get inspiration. So I wanted to do something absurd, and thought, The Office: The Opera - what an idea!

And how did it take off to become the production we're seeing now?

Anne: It took off because I did ten minutes just for the course. But I was working at the Bridewell on another production, and ran into Stephen Merchant in the entrance. So I told him about The Office: The Opera. He was really nice and gave me his email address, so I posted a video of it. He said that he really liked it, and he showed Ricky Gervais and he loved it, and he was just really supportive - he said if I wanted to do anything else with it, to let him know. I went on to study my Masters at the Royal College, and forgot about The Office: The Opera. It was such a joke, I didn't even think of it. When I finished, I was writing film music, and it occurred to me we could do something with it for Comic Relief. Then what happened, I called up Comic Relief, and they said I had to get permission. I'd forgotten I'd got his email address, so I took the chance he still had the same email. He replied and said it was fine, and that they wanted to use us on their sketch for Comic Relief. So that's how it happened. If I hadn't bumped into him in the street it would probably have never happened.

That must have been exciting, being on Comic Relief with them.

Anne: It was really cool. It was really weird. We were on the news, and in papers, and now Comedy Crunch asked us to do this show to begin their season in August.

Is it difficult taking on such iconic characters?

Matt: Being the main role, it does revolve around David Brent, and if you don't do a good job, it's going to have a knock-on effect on the whole thing.

Anne: Everything revolves around you and feeds off your energy.

It must be nice knowing that they think it's funny.

Matt: They came to watch it before we filmed the Comic Relief sketch, and Ricky hadn't seen it before. We did it, and we were a bit nervous because we didn't know what reaction we'd get. It was just amazing. He loved it, he really enjoyed it.

Anne: It was nice, it was really, really cool.

Matt: Ricky made me do the dance three times. I think he realised how ridiculous it looked...

Obviously The Office is very naturalistic, and opera isn't...how do you strike that balance?

Matt: I've pinpointed specific mannerisms he's got. He does a lot with his hands. There's quite a plethora of things. On stage, it has to be amplified. My job is to make sure I pick very specific ones that people can identify with. It's all about making sure you get the right gestures.

Anne: Everyone's in the right frame of mind, so it becomes quite natural. There are bits of talking, but because most of it is sung, it's a slightly slower rhythm. They all speak really fast in The Office, and we slow it down and use this totally ridiculous music with it.

What are your plans for when you finish this production?

Anne: I don't know. We'll see what happens. We'd have to speak to Gervais and Merchant, because obviously it's still their words. I'd really love to go to Edinburgh with it. It depends what response we get. Office purists may be a bit annoyed because some quotes have been changed. I think maybe 80 per cent of the people who were watching it when we did it at first, with maybe 200 people across two shows, had never seen an opera before, or anything in that style.

Matt: As an opera singer in training, I'm hoping to bag an audience from my generation. It's our responsibility to introduce people to this style of music. That's what I love about this show - the audience are all our age, and they're loving it.

 

 

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