What’s My Scene: Playwright Sean Riley knows the power of a good mentor
In regular Q&A column What’s My Scene, InReview speaks to emerging and established local artists to get their take on the South Australian creative scene and their place within it. This week, Bright playwright Sean Riley reflects on the impact of his high school Drama teacher, and the privilege of paying it forward across decades of youth theatre.
Where was your first Adelaide performance, and how did it go?
In 1990 I landed a Drama Tutor job at Unley Youth Theatre. It was a class of ten kids aged seven to nine years of age. They were totally anarchic, and I adored them. I realised that I was good at inspiring them, and they seemed to be listening to me – so I reached for the stars and wrote a 30-minute screwball comedy for them called Tutti Fruitti. They were utterly brilliant, and I will never forget their reactions when they got their first laugh; that moment when the penny drops for young performers is indescribable.
One year later, when the writer and director of a big project – with food as its subject – for the same company, both decided to jump ship after months of fruitless collaboration, and with a looming theatre booking, I put my hand up – and in ten weeks, I wrote and directed a two-act comedy for a cast of 20 extraordinary young performers from nine to 23 years. It was a terrifying, all-consuming rollercoaster ride, but I gathered a brilliant team of creatives (always a wise move!), and we created a gem called Eat Me! – a nostalgic screwball comedy (yes, I adore the genre) about the seductive nature of food. It sold out, audiences loved it, and my fate was sealed, so to speak.
What is your artist origin story?
I was born and bred in Burnie, Tasmania; a million miles away from Broadway, which is where my eight-year-old self thought he truly belonged. I spent my childhood watching black and white Depression-era movies. They were my inspiration and are (still) my touchstones. I wanted to be Bert Lahr; an all-singing, all dancing type. But then I met my Year 11 Drama teacher, who blew my mind and taught me that there was more than showtunes. She exposed me to the whole world of great playwrights. She laid the seed. She was my great mentor, the one who taught me that all audience want is the truth. I still hear her voice in my head when I’m in doubt about my creative choices.
Mentors – good mentors – are so important, and when all is said and done, this is the reason I do what I do. It’s important, now, more than ever. Being a mentor for generations of young artists has been, and remains, a privilege.
What was your impression of the Adelaide creative scene when you first started, and how has that changed?
Adelaide was AMAZING for youth arts in the early nineties. And for the entire arts sector, to be honest. I think of that time as the ‘Halcyon Days’. There were so many second and third tier companies, and independent collectives. It was a much bigger scene than what it is now. And there were theatre spaces galore. They’ve gone now. I sound like I’m being overly nostalgic, but I’m not; I lament the loss, and the erosion of the arts scene. It isn’t just Adelaide It’s global. And I get it. Theatre is an expensive undertaking, for producers and audiences.
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My wife and collaborator, Kim Liotta, have been creating new works for the past 40 years, and we are expert at producing low- to no-budget shows. We do it really well, and take pride in the fact that all of our production design is 100% recycled.
How has your own work evolved since you first started?
I don’t just sit down and write a play in isolation anymore, alone, in my garret. I create works through a two-year development period, where the works are created from the ground up with the cast. Collaboration is my essential lifeline to creativity. I thrive upon that shared vision that exists in the workshop space. I’m much less precious about my words. That comes from working with large casts who are, more often than not, highly opinionated and definite about their views.
Most of the casts that I work with, I’ve been working with for a long time, so there is the luxury of shorthand and familiarity. In my latest work, Bright, most of my cast have been working with me for over ten years, beginning with me as ten-year-olds. With my process, the cast have total ownership of the work, and by the time we enter the theatre, there is no stress. Bliss.
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What is it about your next project that you’re most excited or nervous to share with the world?
With every new work, I’m worried, sometimes neurotically so, that people won’t get it. That all our hard work will be met with the sound of crickets. It’s what every creative goes through, but it’s ridiculous, of course, because all that people want is to be engaged in a great story. And Bright is a great story. I’m very proud of it; it’s a beautiful play; it’s very funny; it’s like curling up in front of a fire with a really good book.
Who are the artists around you that inspire or challenge you?
All of the cast members in Bright. There are fifteen of them, they are all so different, and yet they all bring themselves so totally to the work. I set the bar high and they clear it every time.
Favourite Adelaide venue to play?
Goodwood Theatre and Studios. It has such fantastic memories for me – I’ve done so many shows there over the years. It is the perfect venue for youth theatre because of its size and acoustics. It’s a very generous theatre, and generations of young actors adore it. It must be treasured and protected. In case you haven’t noticed, theatres aren’t exactly thick on the ground anymore – a fact that fills me with horror.
Dream artist to perform alongside?
Mike Leigh. He is my idol, and his process of developing works from the ground up through long form improvisations, is the one I’ve embraced. I’d just like to sit in a corner of a rehearsal room and watch him work. I’d even fetch him coffee, if he wanted one.
Favourite artist to collaborate with?
Set and costume designer Kim Liotta. She can take a script and locate its beating heart, the central metaphor, and build it, on stage, in recycled glory. It’s a thrill to witness.
Where is your next Adelaide performance, and how do you hope it will go?
Bright, at the Goodwood Theatre and Studios. Three years in the making, a cracking page turner of a play, populated by some of the most adorable characters. I hope it goes off like a firecracker, and that people laugh. Loudly.
Bright by Sean Riley is presented at Goodwood Theatre and Studios from July 30 – August 1
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