Kim Jong-Il Ate My Rabbits

"I've directed things I've written before, so I'm kind of used to wearing two hats in a way - but I think the task of acting in something and writing something at the same time is very different to directing something that you've written."

A man of many talents, Kit Brookman, actor, playwright, and director can add modesty to the list after his somewhat muted recounting of the accomplished nature of his cap juggling. In recent years his plays Heaven and Small & Tired have won or been shortlisted for Philip Parsons Young Playwright's Award, two Griffin Awards and a Patrick White Award.

"The challenge at the moment is trying to be completely present and new in something you've been writing for three years..."

While Lee Lewis will direct his latest plan, A Rabbit For Kim Jong-Il, Brookman still has double duties - the NIDA performance graduate will somewhat reluctantly don his actor's hat (and a bunny suit) for the role of Felix, the pet of a German giant rabbit breeder who finds himself in hot water and North Korea.

"The challenge at the moment is trying to be completely present and new in something you've been writing for three years and letting all of your knowledge about it drop away," Brookman laughs. After our interview he will continue his dual process of forgetting and discovering, week three of rehearsals rolling on.

"I haven't been on stage in quite a while, I'd kind of given it away, quite happily really. The last time I was acting on stage was a production of Twelfth Night Lee was directing, so that it made easier to say yes to the idea of acting in this, we'd worked together before and I felt very safe and I know how good she is, so it was easy to say yes in the end."

Initially, the role of Felix was intended for Luke Mullins, and Brookman had been content to simply write his take on Karl Szmolinsky's story, a tale that felt "too absurd to actually be invented in a way, so strange it could only be true."

In 2006 Szmolinsky, a retired truck driver, and breeder of giant rabbits from Eberswalde, Germany, was approached by the North Korean government. Szmolinsky agreed, but faster than a rabbit could breed, the North Koreans revoked the invitation. Though the big bunnies were ostensibly for a breeding program, Szmolinsky has made public his unverified opinion that the rabbits were eaten during a February 2007 banquet celebrating Kim Jong-Il's birthday.

"There is very little information that emerges from North Korea, so everything is speculation really," says Brookman. "The only way to tell the story was to fictionalise it because there was just no way of getting to the truth."

In fictionalisng Szmolinsky's story for the stage Brookman turned to thrillers, to comedy, and finally to fables.

"I think what fables do quite beautifully is take something outlandish or slightly unreal, but what they're speaking to is very much real world concerns."