BWW Interviews: Kris Spiteri, Creator Of PORN: THE MUSICAL

I guess first of all I have to ask - why choose such a controversial and politically charged topic to write a musical about?

To be perfectly honest, when we were discussing the topic in the initial stages, we never wanted to make any kind of political statement. We just thought that something like "Porn the musical" is a hilarious concept and that is as far as we thought about it. We just wanted to make a feelgood, funny show. Lots of people seem to be focused on the word "porn" in the title which is quite understandable given the subject, but having "The Musical" in the title is equally important. Our show does not only make jokes about the porn industry but also makes fun of the musical theatre.

Did you ever worry that you might be veering away from being a bit cheeky and provocative to just being salacious?

I must say that we did worry about that quite a lot. We always wanted the show to be more cartoon-like than anything else but with a subject like porn, it is difficult to know when you've gone too far. We never intended to shock audiences but rather the focus was always on good old-fashioned tongue-in-cheek humour. As a matter of fact, it took us quite a long time to finalise the script in order to keep the right balance. Some people have different thresholds as to what is "too much" and it is obviously very difficult to cater for everyone. I just hope that the majority of the audiences who watch the show will find it nothing but pure fun and entertainment, which was always our intention.

As you know, I've been a great fan of Porn: The Musical since I saw it at Edinburgh last year. However, there's been a bit of critical backlash surrounding it, not least on the Guardian's theatre blog - have you found that upsetting or frustrating?

I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion. The Guardian have accused us of being undecided on whether porn movies fulfil a vital function or offer a degradation of sex. We had agreed at the very beginning that we wouldn't portray a particular stand point, because that is not what the show is about. Our show is simply a love story set in a very unusual environment. We don't believe that it is our place to force our views, but purely to entertain. People can make their own minds on the subject and they certainly don't need us to tell them whether it is wrong or not.

But audience reaction seems to be good - you must have been delighted to be nominated for an award at the Fringe last year.

You may not know this, but ‘Porn the musical' is the first Maltese original musical that has been staged at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a London theatre. So we were absolutely thrilled when we were nominated for the Best New Musical award in Edinburgh, especially when the competition was of such a high standard. We have also just learnt that Porn the Musical has been nominated for the Best New Musical in the Off West End Theatre Awards, known as ‘The Offies'.

How involved have you been as the show's developed and travelled across Europe?

Malcolm, Boris and I have been fully involved throughout the whole evolution of the show. We have staged three productions so far, Malta, Edinburgh and London. Each production required certain modifications from the creative side, so we were tweaking the script and the songs for each production. We also had other roles in the show itself. I was the Musical Director in all the productions. Boris and I played in the band for Edinburgh and London productions. Malcolm played the part of the narrator in all the shows and directed the productions staged in Malta and Edinburgh.

So you've come from Malta to Edinburgh to London - where next?

The show has created a tremendous amount of interest during its run in London. As yet, we don't have anything tangible but we are very optimistic. It would be great if the show transfers to a bigger venue in London or goes on tour.

Did you expect the show to have as long a lifespan as it has had so far? After all, with "adult" topics some venues must surely be a bit wary about taking it on...

We didn't expect that at all. We thought that after our initial run in Malta, the life of ‘Porn the musical' was going be over. So everything that happened after was totally unexpected. Malta is renowned for being a very religious country and our show did extremely well there. This was the perfect test for staging such an ‘adult' topic. As the famous song goes: "If I could make it there I'll make it anywhere...."

What are you working on at the moment?

We are dying to do something new. We have been so busy with 'Porn' for the last year that we didn't have time to work on anything else. Now we have finally slowed down a bit. We have lots of ideas for the next project, but we are still in the brainstorming process so watch this space.

 

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.