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Who Will Buy.....
2nd June, 2008
by Katherine Simpson
With Mountain
District Musical Society’s production of Oliver very much in
home-straight territory, I caught up with director Catherine Carr
and Bill Sykes himself, Mario Mohorko, to get the low down on those
mischievous street urchins and shady crooks.
KS: Hello
Catherine, how’s Oliver shaping up with only 2 weeks to go?
What have been the main highlights and challenges to date?
CC: One of the
main highlights has been the concept in the design of the show. I
asked a friend of mine, Doug Bennett, highly regarded in straight
theatre circles, to be my set designer. He and his wife had travel
plans and didn’t quite want that commitment but was happy to give me
a concept design and see what I thought.
 I
loved what he presented, it set the tone that pulled many of the
ideas that we had spoken about together. Then with the MDMS Set
designer Ron Harvey working with Adrian Carr, and scenic artist
George Simons and myself, we continued to refine and add to the
concept. It will be interesting to see what he thinks.
Chris Shute
(Musical Director) and I were on the same page at the first meeting
with wanting the rawness of the music and lower class Victorian
times to come through. Kim Annette’s movement design has also been
a rewarding experience; both are extremely talented and have helped
bring it all together.
As for
challengers, they are always there for any Director at any company
but you focus on resolving them and move on. Often the real
stimulation of doing a show is the creative aspect of the solutions
required.
KS: Charles
Dickens is renowned for writing rather bleak portrayals of 19th
century England, but the musical interpretation of Oliver Twist is
rather less gloomy, to some extent at least. What kind of
experience can audiences expect from MDMS’ Oliver?
CC: Charles
Dickens had a huge social justice consciousness after bad times fell
on his family and he spent a short time in one of the workhouses.
His early works as a journalist was often a voice for the
downtrodden. I have lent towards the story of Dickens’ era not
being lost.
So I think you
need to see it and sense the experience. (Is that a plug?)
KS: Ah, who
cares, plug away! MDMS seems to encourage young performers and
family involvement. Do you enjoy working with younger performers?
Has it been interesting having a child as the main protagonist of
this show?
CC: The family
involvement is right! It’s great to see that because it is often
the next generation that continue on the passion of companies they
belonged to with Mum or Dad, and get on committees and keep them
going (as Alannah Guthrie-Jones is currently doing).
This is the
first time I have actually ever directed a show with children.
Normally I direct straight plays with mainly seasoned actors.
The process
with children is interesting to say the least, they should all be
very proud of what they are achieving and I can see some great
friendships being formed. I also want to thank them, as some of them
would have wondered what they had struck when it comes to putting on
a show.
They do like
the down ball at break time. Having Douglas Rintoul as the lead has
been a huge blessing. He is a committed and instinctive young actor
and I couldn’t have asked for more.
KS: Hello
Mario! What has it been like doing a production with MDMS? Have
you participated in an MDMS production before? How does the
experience compare with other companies you’ve worked with?
MM: This is my
first production with MDMS and I have been made to feel very
welcome. I tend to get extremely over committed with my theatre and
they have been very accommodating to my overbooked schedule. They
remind me a lot of Players of which I’m president in that they are
very family oriented and there is a real sense of camaraderie within
the cast and production team. While we are all having a fun time
there is still that sense of putting on the most professional show
we can and I look forward to getting into the theatre.
KS:
There aren’t many endearing characteristics of a man like Bill
Sykes. Have you tried to bring something to the character to make
the audience feel for Bill, or will you be as ruthless and callous
as possible so people love to hate him?
MM: No one
should feel sorry for Bill. He is an evil and loathsome person.
His only interest is stealing as much as he can. He never has the
slightest thought of what anyone else may be feeling through his
actions. I quote the line “Once bad, what’s the good of turning. In
hell I’ll be there a burnin, meanwhile think of what I’m earnin”.
With that in mind, if I get booed during my bow I will know I have
done the job just right. It’s a role I have always wanted to play
since seeing Shaun Kingma do it with Catchment and I only hope to be
as half as good as he was. It’s another nasty to tick off the list.
 KS: You’ve
played some mean and nasty characters before (Javert in Les
Miserablés, Daryl Van Horne in The Witches of Eastwick), is there a
pattern here? Should the theatre going public be worried that
underneath it all you’re actually a bad guy?
MM: It is
true, I’m as black as the ace of spades and it has all been method
acting. In all seriousness I love the dark characters. I’ve played
Horton the Elephant in Seussical and, to be honest, it just wasn’t
“meaty” enough for me. I know with the characters I have auditioned
for I am getting to be typecast but I really don’t mind. I would
still love to on day play either Valjean or Enjolras in Les Mis, as
I think my years and lack of hair have finally caught up with me and
I will never live the dream of playing a love interest like Marius.
I still have that passion to play comedy roles or contemporary stuff
and will start looking around for that but until something like that
comes up, colour me evil and keep the bad guy roles coming.
MDMS’ Oliver runs from June 13 – 21 at the Karralyka Theatre in
Ringwood.
For bookings call 9879 2933.
See Whats On for Further
Details
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