Holding on to the magic

Holding on to the magic

When Holding The Man opened in November last year the Griffin Theatre Company and its resident director David Berthold expected their new production to have some interest in the gay community.

But they had not anticipated the overwhelming support that saw the first season sold out even before opening, and they’re now moving to Sydney Opera House’s Playhouse for its third season next month.

The gay community loved Tim Conigrave’s book so much, they bought tickets before anybody knew anything about the play, Berthold said, crediting the appeal of the book’s same-sex love story.

The gay community were so quick they locked everybody else out -“ regular Griffin theatregoers couldn’t get in that first season at all, he said.

Now into the third season, and getting more diverse, clearly the audience hasn’t been exhausted in Sydney yet.

Although Berthold left Griffin after the first season to pursue freelance projects, he is so proud of this particular production he said he would continue to return no matter where it travels.

The script by Tommy Murphy will remain the same, along with the cast, but Berthold and designer Brian Thomson will reshape the production to suit the larger space in the Playhouse.

It’ll be a better version of the show for it. It’ll be good to have a bit more breath in it, a bit more space, in the story and amongst the actors’ bodies on stage, Berthold said.

The redesign will also make future transfers easier, as it is hoped that the production will travel to Melbourne in 2008.

Sydney likes to take ownership of these things, but the play is mostly set in Melbourne -“ it’s only natural it should travel there, he said.

But Berthold was adamant that wherever the show moves the indefinable dynamic that moved audiences to tears would still be there. A theatre director for the last 16 years of his life, Berthold had never seen the kind of reaction provoked by this one production.

Each evening it was clear in the foyer afterwards that everybody had a very visceral, very deeply held response to watching the story on stage, Berthold said.

The most extraordinary thing for me was watching the audience be affected by it. You see it so rarely.

Berthold said the greatest fear wasn’t success or failure but whether people would accept the adaptation, but after workshopping the script on NIDA students they felt confident of its power.

One student hadn’t even heard of the book, which was fantastic for us, because we wanted to know what this story did for them, he said.

They didn’t see it as -˜another depressing AIDS play’, it had settled into something historical that fascinated them.

But it was also good to watch their response as the story was unfolding for the first time -“ all these people crying their eyes out around the table by the end -¦ at a reading.

It confirmed for us that the magic from the book was indefinable and something that had transferred to the play. It made us braver, he said.

Berthold said his best audience was a group of 17-year-old boys out of school.

They gave it a standing ovation, leading it even, about 30 of them. It was wonderful to see them affected by the story -“ you can’t beat that.

The third season of Holding The Man plays at the Playhouse, Sydney Opera House, from 9 May to 26 May. Bookings on 9250 7777 or www.sydneyoperahouse.com.au.

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