Five questions for... Kylie Trounson
November 2009
Kylie Trounson is a playwright and actor. She trained in acting at the Method Studio, London and the National Theatre Drama School in Melbourne, and is currently completing a Masters in Playwriting at Queensland University of Technology.
Her play The Man with the September Face was developed with PlayWriting Australia at the National Script Workshop 2007 and showcased at the inaugural National Play Festival in Brisbane in 2008. It was produced by Full Tilt at the Arts Centre, Melbourne in association with Uninvited Guests in 2009.
The Man with the September Face manages to seamlessly meld communism, existential angst, 80s power ballads and roller-skating. Where do those influences come from?
My childhood in the 80s was predominantly on wheels. Dad took me to rollerskating lessons in his white Kingswood with bench seats, no seatbelts. My friend and collaborator, Clare Watson, gave me two 80s ballads for inspiration – Gold by Spandau Ballet and Vienna by Ultravox – which became literal and musical themes for the play. The existential angst and misplaced obsession with Communism was me as a teenager. Like the character Harriet, I stole the Communist Manifesto from the school library. Actually, I didn’t really steal it, I had to borrow it for an essay but I never took it back.
How has the play changed from when you first brought the project to work with us at the National Script Workshop back in 2007?
The script grew enormously out of both the Workshop in Canberra and the National Play Festival in Brisbane in 2008. It became a much richer, subtler and more heartbreaking piece, a lot simpler than I had previously imagined. Eamon Flack was my dramaturg at the Festival and he has helped me find a telescopic view of the play – how the events in the world outside this suburban outpost resonate with the characters within, and why this point in time and place is pertinent now.
You’ve worked closely throughout the development of the project with director Clare Watson and actors Luke Mullins and Kath Tonkin (who appear in next month’s production). Is collaboration a crucial part of the process for you?
The collaborative nature of making this work is absolutely one of its strengths. I like working on my own, but this process is a lot more fun, plus I got to hang out in suburban roller-rinks and eat Wizz Fizz with my skate posse.
Rehearsing on roller-skates must bring with it some particularly unusual hazards. How has the rehearsal process gone?
So far, no major injuries. Luke and Kath have been working on their skate legs since 2006 and are quite skilful, and even Chris Ryan (who once fell into a bin) now has moments of elegance on wheels. Undoubtedly there will be some unchoreographed spills and thrills during the run, but as Kath Tonkin says, ‘it’s all about the recovery’…
What are you working on next, and can we expect more roller-skating?
I am writing a new play based on the Labor party hero of the 1950s, Doc Evatt, and his wife Mary Alice. The 1950s and 60s are another delicious aesthetic to work with, and watching episodes of Mad Men is a nice counterpoint to the extensive library research. It may be difficult to work in a rollerskating routine, but I’m not ruling it out.
