Intheatre circles, Lachlan Philpott is known as the “rebel playwright”, which is a pretty nice moniker even if it makes it sound like he beats up old ladies in the foyer for their pension cheques. He’s an outspoken supporter of writers’ rights in Australia, and has found enough critical success to be invited around the globe to showcase his work; on the heels of his latest play,M.Rock, he is off to San Francisco and then Scotland.
“The nature of planning and living as a playwright – or at least trying to – is that you have to pursue opportunities overseas,” he explains in what can only be described as an entertaining torrent of words. “Last year I had more work go on outside Australia than I did inside. It all sounds very glamorous, and while it’s exciting in one way it doesn’t come from wanting to be some international jet-setter. It’s not like you’re making enough money to be able to do anything while you’re in these places; you’re counting your money all the time. The excitement of travelling on a shoestring budget isn’t actually that exciting.”
As well Philpott should know, having spent a great amount of time in Berlin researching M.Rock. The play follows the journey of the elderly Mabel, who leaves the comforts of home to track down her missing granddaughter somewhere in the Berlin club scene. It is based, in part, on the surprise career of 74-year-old DJ Ruth Flowers.
“I wanted to understand having an old woman who defies expectations and does something really crazy onstage. I guess also it gave me an excuse to go to Berlin to do some ‘research’. I was curious about their club scene, which is kind of legendary, and like a lot of scenes that become that prominent, they become overly popular and lose their edge. And also because the Australian theatre industry, particularly in Sydney, seems to be obsessed with German culture and emulating that Berlin aesthetic. I wanted to fuck around with that, to not be quite so highbrow about that culture but try to play around with it.”
In a curious break from theatre norms, the production features DJ Johnny Seymour onstage for its duration. Philpott’s original ambition was to stage the play at an actual nightclub, which strikes me as one of the most ingenious approaches to acquiring new theatre audiences that I’ve heard in some time. “The idea would have been to stage the play before the club really gets started, and then people can stay and dance. Everyone liked that idea, but logistically it was too difficult to do.”
And what of his reputation? The rebel playwright?
“It probably comes down to the fact there are a lot of playwrights thinking the same things but don’t have the courage to say it. That’s because we work in a very small system where if you speak up and say what you think, it can often mean that people feel challenged about working with you. It’s a shame and I’ll never understand it, because the role of the artist in many ways is to be a provocateur. Some artists can be really meek and we don’t do ourselves any favours when we come across as being gutless or passive within the industry, so I guess I’m often the person who stands up and says what they think. Afterwards I’ll have people say, ‘I’m glad you said that.’ Which is nice, but it makes you want to say back, ‘That’s great. I wish you’d stood there and said it, too.’”
SeeM. Rock at the Sydney Theatre Company, Wharf 2 from Thursday June 12 until Sunday June 28, tickets available online.
