BWW Previews: MINNEAPOLIS at Subiaco Arts Centre

At Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is what was the quietest room in the world. The silence is unbearable, and the most anyone can stand to be in there is around 45 minutes. The weight of silence was something Will O'Mahony wanted to work with when he was writing MINNEAPOLIS, which opens at Subiaco Arts Centre on July 27th.

"The idea of the quietest place in the world feels relatable. People are very used to noise I think, so things being quiet suddenly is jarring. It's also a matter of contrast. Boy is a drummer, so it is a radical shift for him if things are quiet all of a sudden. I sort of worked on that polarity, from loud drums to silence, and being a drummer myself it definitely drew me to really ponder that contrast. It may be an obscure title but it feels like a perfect fit for the play." The play itself looked like a good fit, and was enough to convince some big names to join the small cast. Co-directing (alongside Will) is Dr Frances Barbe, the Associate Dean of performance at WAAPA. Barbe has a long and distinguished career as a performer, director, and arts researcher all around the world. Starring alongside Will is comedian, broadcaster and performer Andrea Gibbs. Gibbs gave a TEDx talk on 'The Power of Storytelling,' and knows a great deal about conveying things to an audience. Tobias Muhafidin is an up-and-coming performer who plays a teenager who comes to befriend Boy, and well known Perth drummer Liam Hickey plays the drums on stage.

In some ways it must be tough as a writer to entrust other creatives to help out with your own work.

"Obviously I wanted people who would come in and give interesting perspectives on the play. They are all excellent performers, but obviously we still need to balance artistic licence with the show that's written. Actors can't just do whatever they want, and that's the beauty of having someone like Frances Barbe directing. It's her job to ensure that all the actors are on the same page and I guess in the same play. But it is still a collaboration, and each of the performers has brought something to it. As a writer there's been times when I've spoken up and said 'That's not what I had in mind, this is what I had in mind,' but then there's also been times where Frances or Andrea or Tobias or Liam have come forward with their idea for something and I've had to say 'That's not what I had in mind, but that's actually better.' Each person brings a unique perspective to the play and I really appreciate that and enjoy seeing what they make of it."

MINNEAPOLIS is a play about saying something out of line and being taken to task for it.

"It all started with the question 'What if you fall in love with the person who tried to destroy you in public?' and it went from there," said Will. "When I was originally writing the play I didn't have names for the characters, I just called them 'Boy' and 'Girl,' and that's carried into the play. Boy is pleading with girl to take a video down that she took of him doing something incriminating. The play from there is a series of scenes where we explore the idea that, if their relationship is built on that sort of destruction, can they find any positive connection? Their relationship plays out with a third character in the sidecar of their motorbike, metaphorically speaking. He goes along with them but has his own story, too. Then there's the drummer. Boy himself is a drummer, so Liam, the on-stage drummer, provides the landscape, atmosphere, and tone whilst being a sort of alter-ego to Boy."

Whilst the play speaks a lot to contemporary cancel culture, it also delves into masculinity and where it is at today.

"It starts with Boy showing very problematic masculinity, which causes outrage. Boy is holed up in his house waiting until he can leave again. His only friend become this adolescent delivery driver who is somewhat on the verge of manhood. I guess if there's a space between a boy and a man, this delivery driver is in it. Since the delivery driver is the only person Boy sees, they develop a sort of friendship that I hope somewhat captures masculinity as it is today. There are moments that are very old fashioned in that sense and that show the parts of masculinity that a lot of people are trying to dismantle. But there's also moments of genuine tenderness and connection between the two, and in fact a sort of love develops there."

O'Mahony doesn't aim to preach, however. In fact, he describes the entire process of writing as a means of making sense of his thoughts.

"I rarely have an agenda when I'm writing. I often write to work out what I'm thinking, or seeing, or getting from the culture around me. I tried to reflect where masculinity is, and it's at somewhat of a fork in the road if we're honest. The world I see has done some reform in that space and we're slowly dismantling the structures that harm females and in doing so harm everyone. If the play is doing what I hope it does it shows the audience all of that. Where masculinity is, where it's been, and where it's hopefully going."

Exploring such big issues can be tough, both for an author and for an audience. Whilst MINNEAPOLIS may not be confrontational as such, O'Mahony realizes that there are still parts that may be uncomfortable for some.

"A friend read it and said it was 'Brave' writing. But maybe the difference between brave and stupid is thin," Will suggested. "There's definitely elements there that will challenge the audience, and there's parts that may make them feel a bit uncomfortable, but in a way that's meant to drive those thoughts and responses to hopefully realise what we as humans need to do. The theatre is a wonderful place to be doing that though. People come together as a community and sit, and they become one part of a group. You witness the things on stage that reflect the culture back to you as a group. It's not always comfortable, but looking at the way things are isn't always comfortable. I know I'm not always comfortable looking in a mirror!"

The idea behind MINNEAPOLIS has been a long time coming, starting with a dinner roughly a decade ago, then beginning to formulate more recently as Will works on writing as well as his work as a performer whilst also teaching at WAAPA. The idea, in fact, all sprang from one thing a friend said.

"I was at a dinner, 10 years ago, and we went around the table just saying what we'd do if we were in Groundhog Day, like if we all knew life would reset at the end of the day. A friend of mine made a gendered comment that just took the air out of the room, or table as it were. Luckily no one else around overheard it. Everyone at the table- particularly the women- took the friend to task and completely picked the comment apart. They made sure to highlight every bit of it that was wrong, and there was a lot of emotion going around. The person who made it did come to realise quickly how problematic it was, and everyone at the table is still friends. It was a point of growth for the person who said it and we've all moved on in a way, but at the same time it's still weighing in some way on the minds of the people who were there. Recently I read a book about people who've done things or said things that have cost them their reputation, and it made me wonder what would have happened if that comment had gone beyond the table."

As difficult as it may be to witness first hand how an audience reacts to something you've written, Will O'Mahony has the added difficulty of doing it whilst portraying a character that is at times problematic.

"Being on stage, you can alter things slightly to respond to how the audience is. It can be tough to be a part of an audience and see them respond to something you've written, and I know to react to the audience as a performer rather than a writer! My character will be unpopular, and I know the audience may not like who I am. I certainly know the feeling of seeing a character and thinking 'Don't do that!' and 'Why would someone do that?' but you can't look away. In some ways you come to support the person, but then you also don't disagree with bad things that may happen to them. I hope I can create enough empathy that the audience says 'That's a stupid thing to do, but I can't say I wouldn't do something similar in that situation.'"

"I hope the audience is introduced to and asked to live for two hours with these characters that aren't stereotypes, and they go from bringing out the best of themselves to doing the opposite. There's a tug of war between each version of the characters across the play. Someone asked me why this play might resonate with people, and the answer-hopefully- is that we're all human. We've all done something stupid. We've all said things that are careless and clumsy and possibly cruel, but perhaps these isolated moments shouldn't define us. There are decisions made in the play that people may not agree with, and that's a part of being human, we make these decisions and we, as well as the people around us, react to them. This play may not have solutions, but I hope it articulates some of those questions and feelings we have about accountability and people's actions currently."

MINNEAPOLIS is at Subiaco Arts Centre from July 27-31. Tickets and more info from The Perth Theatre Trust.

Picture thanks to: Simon Pynt.

Video thanks to Performing Lines WA.

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