ALPHA, where did the title come from?

ALPHA is a question to the Audience, what is an ALPHA? The obvious answer is a 6 foot 2, heterosexual man, that for no apparent reason is deemed the leader or alpha in any given circumstance. Of course as queers we understand this not to be the case, and in a sub-culture that is gender and sex diverse our leaders pop up in all different shapes and sizes.

The title is used to encourage the viewer to consider themselves,  how important they are, indeed how important everyone is. What role do we play in all the differing communities we build in life, be it family, social or work environments? As a theatre maker I hope to in-still a sense of strength and belief in my audience members. A perfect scenario, is if someone is moved enough by what is explored on stage in ALPHA, that they are inspired to use their own voice, tell their own stories about their personal experience. We need to understand we are the custodians of our own culture and experience. If we are unsatisfied by any aspect of our experience, it is up to us to create a better environment for us all to share.  Heaps Gay for that reason is a fantastic collective, as it stands to build and strengthen LGBTIQ community.

Theatre in Melbourne, different from Sydney?

Absolutely, I think there is an understanding in Melbourne that theatre is a radical forum within which to explore ideas. Globally, theatre certainly has a history of being a safe place to express (dangerous) new ideas and some (of these ideas) have tured into movements, in Melbourne you have an audience that is ready and willing to digest experimental theatre.

After opening last week at the old Fitz I was musing on the difference of Sydney and Melbourne, I cannot speak with a deep knowledge of Sydney but certainly in Melbourne you can be  a “poor artist” and still have a sense of success because of the community that surrounds and supports you. This is both a good a bad thing, what I am coming to understand about Sydney is that success is defined more by profit than community.

Tamara and myself are really excited about moving to Sydney, and bringing up with us the idea of, “this is how we do theatre, and this is how we support each other” “this is how we keep each other on our feet” and make sure our stories continue to be told. Tamara and I have walked in on Sydney at a very interesting time, we are witnessing a beautiful city that has in many ways lost much of its confidence since the lock-out laws were introduced two years ago right in time for Mardi Gras 2014.

What we need to remember as queers is that most of our collective identity and culture is not sustained in books or monuments but in the spaces we create, our common stomping grounds are nights such as Heaps Gay and gay friendly venues.

It is within these spaces that we fall in love, let go, let ourselves shine and build on the understanding of ourselves. Now more than ever we need to diversify in how and where we express ourselves. Tam and I believe that reminding people that queer theatre is a “home”, and a space for the LGBTIQ community and an exciting place to be. Some of the greatest things I have witnessed have been on stage in shows by the likes of Sixxters Grimm, a Melbourne based theatre company headed by Declan Green and Ash Flanders

So the soundtrack is different to traditional theatre, tell us about it. 

I met with a number of excellent musicians in the creation process of ALPHA and all of them offered to score the piece and give me a recording I could use along side our work but I was adamant that I wanted a live musician, in retrospect I am so happy Tamara and I pushed forward with this decision, because in so many ways Milla (our guitarist) is the backbone of the piece.

Theatre is an incredible beast and I believe every element to be a living and breathing story. What Milla brings to ALPHA (besides being a hot babe) is not just sound that supports the words in the piece, she has a finite queer sensibility, immediately Milla could tap into the subtext of the piece and the broader message that Tamara and myself were creating and enhance it sonically.

She stepped in one week before we opened in Melbourne and subsequently we rewrote the last ten minutes of the piece because the sound Milla created really completed and advanced the piece, Milla’s soundscape stands alone and works as the third performer, with recurring sonic phrases Milla’s sound quietly nestles into the mind of the viewer.

ALPHA is a flexible piece, and Tam and myself know each others lines back to front, so we are constantly shifting the tone of how we land each scene, for this reason also it is so important to have a live musician who can play, and by play i mean have fun,  just as much as we do on stage, theatre has no rules, anything is possible and there is no limit to what can be achieved.

Alpha is running at The Old Fitzroy Theatre until Saturday 20th Feb.