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Men, boys and monkeys collide in Caleb Lewis’ latest play. Its director Christopher Hurrell spoke to Reg Domingo.
“It’s about sex and masculinity,” says director Christopher Hurrell of the new play, Men, Love and the Monkeyboy.
“It’s about working out how to be a good man. But it’s also about intimacy. How it’s scary as well as wonderful. How sex is an essential part of that. And how growing beyond the influence of our family relationships, which are by their nature stifling as well as nourishing, is crucial to working out how to experience intimacy – sexual, emotional, intellectual. And how to relish it.”
Written by up-and-coming playwright Caleb Lewis and awarded the 2007 Mitch Matthews Award, Men, Love and the Monkeyboy is a sharp, satirical play that looks at men, masculinity and male bonding. It follows 29-year-old Phillip, who in the company of some very dysfunctional fellas, discovers a few home truths about what it means to be a man.
“I think the play is incredibly current,” Hurrell says. “It couldn’t have been written any sooner, really, by which I mean it responds to all the gradual shifts and developments in masculine identity that have occurred in the last few years by observing and commenting on them all. The ‘snag’ has been replaced by the metrosexual and the idea of non-straight and non-macho masculinities are more heavily represented in mainstream culture than ever before, and between all these competing ideas of identity, somehow blokes have to find a way to just get by and live and be themselves.”
Hurrell, who recently directed the world premiere production of Mr Bailey’s Minder by Debra Oswald, is the Literary Manager of Griffin Theatre Company, where he has collaborated on the development of all of Caleb Lewis’ major plays, including the compelling 2005 production of Nailed. That play was the culmination of a two year residency with Griffin Theatre which, like his compeer Tommy Murphy, earned Lewis glowing critical responses.
“Caleb has a habit of starting with the most simple of premises – almost like a cliché or catch-phrase, and drilling into them to discover genuine insights,” Hurrell says. “With Men, Love and the Monkeyboy, it was a simple, absurd transaction between a father and a son. Any other writer might have thought, ‘Well, that’s a cute idea for a scene but nothing more’, but Caleb has the ability to interrogate these things and reveal why an idea or a catch-phrase or a gimmick is so memorable or eye-catching to us.
Hurrell, who is openly gay, says that despite the absence of gay characters, he was attracted to the play because of the themes about masculinity and male relationships that Caleb explores. “Not only is it not a gay play, it’s an incredibly straight play,” he says. “And I’m practically a walking, talking gay stereotype – a gay theatre director who’s obsessed with Sondheim. But the themes in this play don’t just resonate with me, they touch me deeply.
A lot of it is about having to negotiate your way through the dominant and dated ideas of a masculine world – when you don’t fit into, or even want to fit into, that paradigm. There are reasons – structural and thematic reason – why the central character, Philip, is a young guy who everyone thinks might be gay. It’s not so much his journey that I relate to, as the way he experiences the men around him.”
Men, Love and the Monkeyboy features a sextet of seasoned Australian actors which includes Bryce Youngman, John McNeill, Julia Davis, Andy Rodereda, Laurence Breuls and Angela Hattersley. It is the perfect cast, says Hurrell, who marvels at the ensemble’s cohesion and synchronicity.
“One of the great joys of this production is the cast. There’s a special alchemy that happens between actor and character that only happens when the actor happens to be perfectly ideal for the role. This is more than them just seeming the ‘right type’; its when it sits so deeply and uniquely with them that they seem at once to bring everything you expected out in the role, but also everything you never thought of.
It’s actually pretty rare when an entire cast enjoys that symbiosis with their characters, but in this case, it’s true for all six. It permits an ease, a flair, in the performances, and creates an unusual electricity between them. It’s an energy that is palpable, I think, and will be one of the highlights of the production I expect.”
Men, Love and the Monkeyboy plays at Darlinghurst Theatre (19 Greenknowe Ave, Potts Point) from March 26–April 19. Tix $30/$25. For bookings, visit darlinghursttheatre.com.
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