First Wives School

“It was good to be back in Western Australia, good to have some of my family and friends come see my show, and we had really big houses in Western Australia – a couple of shows with 500 people there – so it was really good to get a packed show at that point. The audiences were really reacting to it,” actor Meyne Wyatt says. He has just completed the Perth leg of Bell Shakespeare's The School For Wives, a 17th Century French comedic romantic romp penned by Molière, brought into the 1920s under the direction of Lee Lewis and following Justin Fleming's translation. “It's a comedy,” Wyatt adds, audibly elated, as an afterthought, or perhaps a clarification.

Away from home, Wyatt has made an impressive name for himself on the east coast, often with roles that have a darker, more volatile side to them than the charm and comedy he plies as Horace in The School For Wives. As a troubled teen he terrified audiences at Griffin in last year's lauded production of Lachlan Philpott's Silent Disco, also directed by Lewis, and was similarly formidable in the dark and enchanting Brothers Size, at the same venue earlier in the year. After their working together on Silent Disco, Wyatt credits Lewis with getting him involved in this latest project, “We had a good rapport with each other, she knew what I was about and we work well together. We talked about doing the comedy stuff, the huge tour, and I've always wanted to work with Bell Shakespeare, so she really opened the door for me there.”

As Horace, Wyatt catches the affection of a young girl, Agnès, who has been raised in a convent under the request of a bullish man, Arnolph, attempting to retain her innocence and manufacture the loyalty of love. It should be easy enough – while still entirely bigoted – were it not for Horace stealing her heart, while under Arnolph's nose, and further complicating by telling as much unwittingly. Wyatt is clearly relishing the role.

“In any production I've ever done I've always tried to put a hint or a flair of comedy in it – just to entertainment myself, really,” he laughingly concedes – it was present certainly in the cocksured-ness and bravado he brought to his roles that broke the sombre tones in the likes of Brothers Size and Silent Disco. “But now this an avenue where I can actually explore that side of my acting. A lot of the other roles that I've done in the past have had a lot of serious notes attached to them, this is great though, when you're on stage it's a more relaxed feel and you get more of that rapport with the audience,” says Wyatt – at the recent Perth run he cherished being able to play to their responses, feed off an eager crowd.

“It's more technical,” Wyatt reflects, “You've got to hit the line, everything has to be more precise with comedy, it's a totally different avenue. Playing to the audience is the best thing about it, you see the potential on the page, but then on stage, flirting with the audience, you can see the laughs come, see where the comedy actually is.”