Tell us about the story behind The Motherf**ker With The Hat.
OK, here’s the lowdown on MoFo. Jackie’s an ex-con released on parole just before the play begins. When we first see him, he’s riding high with a new job, he’s back with Veronica, his childhood sweetheart, he’s not drinking or dealing or using drugs, and the future looks bright. Good times! Then he’s confronted with some information – in the first five minutes of the play – that threatens to destroy his dream and change his life forever. The play dramatises just how hard it is to pick up the pieces of a life shattered by addiction and start again.
What’s the greatest challenge of staging a Broadway hit on the Eternity Playhouse stage, or even the smaller Tap Gallery where it played last year?
Doing justice to the complexities and richness of the roles as Adly Guirgis has written them. We were riding high last year when we did the play – we got amazing reviews, which is always nice, but more importantly, the audiences loved the production. Coming back to the play more than a year later, when the roles have been quietly fermenting in our collective subconscious, I’m confident we understand the characters more deeply.
What is it about expressive swearing that so captures our thoughts and feelings?
We never had a single complaint about the fairly relentless profanity in the play, though I guess if you were offended by the title of the play, you probably wouldn’t have bought a ticket! I don’t think the swearing’s shocking at all. There’s a lot of profanity in this play and the characters are very inventive in their use of it, but if you’re familiar with other examples of brilliant writing in a similarly very colourful vein, like The Sopranos or anything written by Quentin Tarantino, you won’t be offended. Or disappointed. Swearing is a way of making it clear there’s an intensity and passion in the ideas and feelings the character is communicating. It’s a signifier of just how hurt and damaged they are. It can also be, as it very often is in this play, a source of great comedy. But it’s also a verbal reflex.
Should the audience prepare to be shocked, heartwarmed or something more?
The play’s not shocking, but I think you’ll be moved by the challenges the characters face. Audiences found the play very compelling last year. I have no doubt our new audiences will too.
The Motherf**ker With The Hat is atEternity Playhouse fromFriday September 19 to Sunday October 19, tickets online.
