Dream On

Matthew McFarlane tumbles through the doors of the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) headquarters at half past one just in time for our interview, having spent the morning teaching year 10 drama and music out at Lilydale Secondary School. He tells me, “I'm actually at university doing my teaching qualification at the moment just to prepare for if there are quieter times I'll have something – a plan B.” Right now, those quieter times seem some way off as he counts down the days till the opening of True Minds, the new Joanna Murray-Smith commission at the MTC. 

Regardless of his foresighted preparation for the times when employment might not come so thick and fast, things are going pretty swimmingly for McFarlane as he completes the final week of rehearsals for the new comedy from Australia's most produced playwright. True Minds centres on a clash of political and social ideologies. Daisy, the daughter of a prominent left wing political figure, is soon to be betrothed to Benedict (Matt McFarlane) whose mother is the iron-lady of Australia's political right. Their marriage plans have been kept under wraps until now. However, Daisy's carefully stage-managed first meeting with Benedict's imposing mother goes off the rails when her uninhibited parents and alcoholic ex-boyfriend, fresh from a stint in rehab, both show up unannounced. Obviously, hilarity ensues. Murray-Smith has taken inspiration from the lighting fast dialogue and verbal gymnastics of the Preston Sturges screwball comedies of the 1930s and 40s.

McFarlane reflects on the play, “First of all what made me want to do it: It's such strong writing.  I was laughing off the page reading it in my bedroom and then I was weeping at the end. There is a reason she is Australia's number one playwright.” The events of the play might sound like an absurd turn of events but it is the close examination of people and their tightly held beliefs which makes a Joanna Murray-Smith play ring with incisive truth. “You only need to see her writing on stage to realise that it's not about fictitious events. It's about real stories and real lives and real problems. This particular play doesn't sugar coat the problems, it lays it out on the table and asks- can we overcome these problems?” 

Since graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2007 McFarlane has consistently been in work. Mostly, on large international and locally produced musicals such as Love Never Dies and Priscilla-Queen of the Desert. Even so, the role of Benedict Perring is, in some ways, the break that McFarlane has been waiting for. “An MTC production was the first play I ever saw when I was young and so from then on I've been hell bent on working with the company. This is the one I've been waiting for, in terms of wanting to work with one of the best dramatic institutions in the country.” He's been wanting to break into straight theatre for some time now. “I've learnt to sing and dance out of necessity for employment. To make sure I continue in the industry. But I love acting. Acting is my passion. It is my number one. And, it's liberating to have a new piece to work on. No other actor has been Benedict Perring before which I find a really amazing opportunity and responsibility to deliver a performance that I'm proud of and that is original.”

WHAT: True Minds
WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 25 April to Saturday 8 June, MTC, The Sumner Theatre