Poking The Buttons

He’s back with a new work, this time based on Shakespeare’s Richard II, developed for the Melbourne Fringe Festival in collaboration with old friend and performer Olivia Monticciolo. Taking some dialogue from the original work, the pair use it to explore how it reflects the characters’ expectations and use of power in a new interpretation of the text.

Despite being a work where, generally, a “sensitive young actor will use it as something of a vehicle,” Wilson believes Richard II is too bound up with a British nationalism that doesn’t usually translate to other parts of the world. “I’m really interested in when story and metaphor fail. This is a brilliant play and a brilliant character but it’s so rarely performed here. I’m interested in why a text may not resonate for us.”

The unknown commodity of a play explores “what leadership is, what kind of leadership we are looking for and whether or not we are obsessed with it”; ideas that are clearly relevant to modern Australia.

The pair won’t quite take the same approach as Unsex Me. “It’s a very sexless play. Where Macbeth is very sexy, Richard II is much more imaginative and lyrical and political, so it’ll be received very differently.” This was a vaguely intentional choice for Wilson, who’s been concerned about being known as “the guy who does crazy sex things on stage” potentially eclipsing his genuine passion for the work. “I find [Shakespeare] really inspiring and invigorating, and an endless source of inspiration… and it just makes for great theatre.”

Wilson recently completed an acting fellowship at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, credentials that mean he isn’t fazed by the doubters. “It’s been said that you have to give 100 per cent respect to Shakespeare and zero per cent respect to Shakespeare. You can’t just be a fawning fan and burst in there arrogantly. I think there are certain productions that are too reverent or too shallow, but you’ve really got to get in there – you’ve got to really wrestle, and to wrestle you’ve got to know your wrestling partner.”

Though his next project will be directing a straight production of Macbeth – a “liberating” experience – Wilson firmly believes in the power of controversy and using comedy as a thematic vehicle: “If something is awkward or uncomfortable for society then that’s good. You want to poke those buttons and set that on fire a bit to look at why it makes us uncomfortable. And also to just have a good time,” he laughs. “You know, I’m not writing essays here.”

17-28 Sep, Northcote Town Hall — Studio 2
Part of Melbourne Fringe Festival
Book Tickets Here