Half a century is an impressive gestation time for a play.
To find success (or better still, notoriety) in any production is remarkable enough, but to stand the test of shifting cultural values and interests across 50 years and remain just as engaging – if not more so – is a feat few plays can achieve. The Killing Of Sister George returns to the stage right in time for Mardi Gras, and with its themes of sexuality, fame and the overlap of public and private lives, it is as pertinent as ever.
“My first contact with [the story] was Robert Aldrich’s movie, actually,” director Peter Mountford recalls. “I saw it in my coming out years. My really good friend Marty introduced me to the movie, which apparently Quentin Tarantino has recently described as one of his favourites. So I didn’t even know then that it had been a stage play. But we’d put a theatre company together in London about 15 years ago, and we found the original script and did a version. It was written as a comedy by Frank Marcus, but I was quite a moody mid-20s director so we did a version that was very dark. There’s a clairvoyant in there who appears as much for comedy value than anything else, so we took her out and only focused on the dark and serious issues of the play.
“But coming back to it now, we’ve realised how funny it is. One minute I’m laughing my head off at the actors delivering lines, and the next moment comes this really dark, almost S&M aspect to the scene. Something that Marcus does really well is go from one extreme to the other within just a few lines, and you’re totally taken along with it.”
The private lives of celebrities have become one of the most coveted and sensationalised aspects of entertainment today. Tabloid websites are gushing in speculation and stolen personal moments, and although the world of the play may seem a more innocent time, the fear at its heart is familiar.
“The [character] June Buckridge, who plays Sister George in this BBC serial that’s been running in the world of the play, has this touch of fame, but of course it’s 1965 and that idea of celebrity is quite different,” Mountford explains. “Back then the paparazzi hadn’t happened yet, you didn’t hear anything about the private lives of actors. It wasn’t Hollywood, it’s all BBC, very sanitised. I’m not giving too much away to say she’s fired from this radio show, and it talks about the mortal fear that happens with actors. What’s going to happen next, are they going to lose that fame? That’s as real now as it was then. It’s as much about what it’s like to be paid to act as it is about the idea of being famous.”
Marcus’ depiction of lesbianism and women who do not fit into traditional gender roles was remarkably progressive at the time, and although Mountford has updated the production for modern audiences, the emotional core of the text remains as sincere as ever.
“Eileen Atkins, who was in the original stage production, was saying that they took it around to all these provincial towns and it just bombed. People were walking out without applauding, and then it got to London and found these wonderful camp, gay crowds who laughed all the way through, and from there it was a massive hit! At the time a lead lesbian protagonist who makes no apologies for that in the text hadn’t happened before. That’s one of the reasons that, to me, makes this such an interesting work.”
G.bod Theatre‘s The Killing Of Sister Georgeruns Wednesday February 24 – Saturday March 12 atKing Street Theatre.
