The Platypus,Greenslade’s ambitious debut play,shares some DNA with a sketch show in that it jumps from one genre to another. Premiering at St Kilda’s Theatre Works,it stars John Leary (MTC’sNorth by Northwest) and Rebecca Bower (Spooky Files) as Richard and Jessica,a feuding couple whose relationship is faltering.
Francis Greenslade’s ambitious play,The Platypus,will debut at Theatre Works.Wayne Taylor
Bleakly comic,the form-shifting play also marks Greenslade’s professional directorial debut. “I ended up with this idea that when you’re at home with your partner,you’re asyou as you will ever be,” Greenslade says.
“Then when you go out,you meet someone you knew at school and didn’t like very much,or you’re standing in a queue having an idle conversation with a stranger,and you have different personas you put on like a mask.”
Whenever Jessica or Richard leaves home,the play leaps into another genre. “There’s a bit of Shakespeare,a bit of Oscar Wilde and also a[Stephen] Sondheim-inspired musical theatre piece composed by Matthew Frank,” Greenslade says. “So it’s a bizarre show that’s a bit like a platypus – a bizarre creature with its beak,fur and the fact it lays eggs.”
Greenslade initially tackled a translation of French playwright,novelist and musician Boris Vian’s absurdist 1959 playThe Empire Builders,about a family retreating to ever-smaller corners of their home from a disturbing noise. But he received dispiriting feedback from a major theatre company. “They said,‘I don’t think the nuclear family is very relevant any more’,and I found that quite gobsmacking.”
Rebecca Bower,John Leary (obscured) and Francis Greenslade in rehearsal for The Platypus.Nicholas Coghlan
Disillusioned,Greenslade turned his mind to what would becomeThe Platypus instead,but it wasn’t a straightforward journey to the stage. “I’ve carried this play around with me for a long time,” he says. “So much so I had to change one of the scenes because the characters were watching,and I’ve had to change it to Netflix to feel more current.”
Labouring over the script for years,it all came together during a long weekend break while appearing as Tilney in MTC’s 2019 production ofShakespeare in Love in Canberra. “It was freezing cold,I didn’t know anyone,and I was trying to save money,so I sat in my hotel room for three days and finished it off,” he says.
Again,the main stages were reluctant. “They all said various forms of:‘That’s fantastic,Francis,but we can’t see our way to programming it,’” Greenslade says,recounting how they were concerned about whether audiences would recognise the deliberate jumps between genres and how he would pull off the script’s style leaps on stage. “That’s been the process of rehearsals and hopefully,it’s sorted now.”
Bower and Leary have helpedThe Platypus swim through these style switch-ups successfully. “They’re both wonderful actors,and they do have to jump through a lot of theatrical hoops,” Greenslade says. “They’re the ones who know the play best next to me,and their insights have been quite extraordinary.”
Greenslade is grateful that Theatre Works grasped his vision for the oddly shaped play and for championing new Australian work more broadly,despite facing their own challenges.
“They’re a really vital part of the Melbourne theatre scene,and yet they run on the smell of an oily rag,” Greenslade says. “When I first came to Melbourne in the ’90s,there were a lot more little and mid-sized companies,with more opportunity to develop new work and get a decent cut of ticket sales.”
He hopesThe Platypus reflects the struggles of a very recognisable family,even if audiences won’t necessarily spot all the theatrical styles he’s nodding to.
“I’ve put little clues in most of the scenes to tell them what the genre is,but you’ve got to be able to tell the story without the audience knowing,” he says. “But there are plenty of Easter eggs for theatre nerds.”
is on at Theatre Works June 19 to July 6
