The Unspoken Word Is ‘Joe’, by Zoey Dawson, is a semi-autobiographical play about a young woman searching for approval from society. It started as a break-up play, but as actor Nikki Shiels explains, it’s become so much more.
Have you ever experienced a painfully cliché break-up?
Of course. The first boy I ever loved broke up with me by a river.
Do you think there are certain expectations we have of female artists and female modes of storytelling?
For me the expectation is always to be able to engage with the work, creative risk and the artist’s investigation into form and content, regardless of whether it has been made by a male or female.
Give us an insight into working with director Declan Greene and Zoey Dawson.
Well, it’s a mad romp really. I find them both very open and playful as people and theatremakers, so it’s a lot of fun trying things out, failing, trying again. Failing. Failing. Crying. And then somehow making something. Declan is a very freeing director, a fantastic dramaturge and a master of post-dramatic form. He has a great sense of humour and never directs without mischievousness or a strong sense of meaning. Zoey is very open to all offers the actors make in the room and extremely patient when we don’t remember her words exactly as they are written. She’s also got a wicked sense of humour, and so together she and Declan are a powerhouse of creativity, filth, emotional truth and irreverence – my favourite kind of theatre.
Tell us why Sydney should avoid seeing this show.
Zoey Dawson is a tyrant who will hunt you down in the foyer afterwards, sleep with you and then cast you in her next play.
If you weren’t a famous actor, a darling of the independent and main stages of Melbourne, what would you be?
I’m not this. I don’t pretend to be this. I am currently working in retail to pay my rent. But if I wasn’t, I would like to be a talented visual artist with a beautiful garden to paint in.
