Dean Bryant On How Washington's Present Mirrors Broadway's Past In 'Born Yesterday'

Peppered throughout social media feeds and splashed across headlines the world over, one man's name has dominated in recent months: Donald J Trump. The circus of the US Presidential snafu has put contemporary American politics squarely in the spotlight. But as one surreal scandal after another has sent newspaper editors and late night talk show comedians into a feeding frenzy, an unexpected side effect has emerged: when reality offers up scenarios more laughable and ridiculous than any fiction, political satire becomes redundant.

It's a conundrum Melbourne Theatre Company's new associate director Dean Bryant has had to navigate in the first production of the 2017 season — Garson Kanin's 1946 political comedy of manners, Born Yesterday. It centres on the dysfunctional relationship between bullish, corrupt scrap metal dealer Harry Brock and his ditzy showgirl mistress Billie Dawn. Following WWII, a junkyard bonanza beckons Brock to Washington to press the flesh with the political elite in an effort to secure the rights to lucrative salvage contracts, by bribe if necessary. Unfortunately, his girlfriend's lack of smarts threatens to derail the whole enterprise. Brock's solution is to hire journalist Paul Verrall to tutor Billie. Not such an airhead after all, Billie Dawn shows that a little education can go a long way. Finally equipped with the insight to understand the unscrupulous activities her boyfriend is embroiled in, she uses her newfound intelligence to foil his dastardly scheme.

Dean Bryant in MTC's rehearsal room

It may be more than 70 years old, but the notion of a sleazy tycoon infiltrating Washington, with a trophy wife in tow, is now alarmingly prophetic. Born Yesterday is a Broadway classic, affectionately described as a "screwball romance", but in a less flattering, Trumped-up light, its unpalatable stereotypes, particularly those of women, share an uncomfortable resonance with the gut-churning misogyny that has gone hand in glove with the President-elect's inglorious rise to power. Perhaps it's drawing a long bow to make such comparisons, but when the zeitgeist is this glaring and ubiquitous, it becomes a theatremaker's responsibility to acknowledge it.

Bryant's solution has been to refocus the storytelling while retaining the essential DNA of old Broadway. "It's a story celebrating the political awakening of a young woman," he explains. "I think this is probably where I've headed into darker, more contemporary territory. We're essentially exploring a woman who has come to view herself as an object, because that's the only way she can get what she thinks she needs — security, money, and luxury. Even her introduction to education is a form of control and sexism. But through this intellectual awakening, her boyfriend basically hands her the gun to shoot him. She suddenly uncovers this incredible mind, that she's always had of course, but has never cultivated. She discovers this love of learning and an ability to put things together very rapidly and becomes, by the end, the most powerful character in the show."

"How do I honour what Garson Kanin has written while still acknowledging how our society has evolved in the seven decades since this play's setting?"

Of course, disarming any potentially offensive faux pas without the text losing its essence is a careful balancing act. The spirit of Born Yesterday is still rooted in the sensibilities of the 1940s, but Bryant has fine form in conjuring the worlds of yesteryears with well-judged sensitivity, as evidenced in his acclaimed recent productions of Sweet Charity and Little Shop Of Horrors. "I feel it's vital to honour where a text comes from because as a director I also have a duty to the playwright," Bryant observes. "It's the same approach I'd take if I was working with a new script — how do I honour what Garson Kanin has written while still acknowledging how our society has evolved in the seven decades since this play's setting?"

In achieving this equilibrium between period authenticity and present day tact, Bryant has had a handy barometer in his leading lady and long-term collaborator, Christie Whelan Browne. "Even though she's known for playing these beautiful, Broadway siren types, who aren't often thought of as being particularly cerebral, she's such a smart, engaged person, and in whatever role she plays she absolutely understands the truth of a human situation in any given circumstance," Bryant explains. "Christie would never allow herself — or allow me, for that matter — to play anything resembling a hollow stereotype."

There are, however, some stereotypes Bryant has chosen to preserve. "In some ways, it's a surprisingly dark piece, because it reveals the callousness of men who have to succeed at all costs, and how it's so much harder to come out on top if you're principled. Essentially, it's a study of how it's far easier for the right to win over the left," Bryant notes. "The writing does actually feel very fresh and very relevant, both in the way it paints political corruption and in its depiction of this defiant, capable but underestimated woman."

It seems Broadway's fictional past has become Washington's present reality, and while Melania Trump is unlikely to pull a Billie Dawn on Donald, we can at least dream.

Melbourne Theatre Company presents Born Yesterday, 14 Jan — 25 Feb, Southbank Theatre