Theatre Maker Lally Katz's Somewhat Unorthodox Research Methods

It’t this curious resort straddling the International Date Line, guests can claim a bonus day for free – just step back in time to the other side of the island.” So reads the synopsis for theatre maker Lally Katz’s new play, Timeshare. Just like in her previous play, it explores the concept of time – albeit in a very different way. “I’m always like, ok, and here’s the idea: there will be something that happens with time,” exclaims Katz in a loud, enthusiastic voice, her American accent with hard Rs tinged with looser Aussie long O sounds. “And then I’m like, wait a minute, that’s not a new idea, I do that in every single play!”

The idea for Timeshare was sparked when the play’s director, Oliver Butler, explained to Katz how fascinating he found all-inclusive resorts (where the accommodation price include meals, activities, etc); you think you’re going to have a relaxing time but then there are so many rules to abide by. “I’d never been on one, so I went by myself to a couple of all-inclusive resorts, which was quite weird and interesting. I liked them a lot better than [Butler] did! We thought, we have such trouble organising ourselves to work on the project, time-wise... [so] this resort that they’re in should be on the International Date Line so it’s kind of funny – you know, when the date line runs through somewhere so you can be standing here, and you’re in yesterday, and you could be standing here, and you’re in tomorrow. But then we thought, what if there is actually real time travel involved?”

Immersing herself into the world of an all-inclusive resort gave Katz a lot of material to mine for her play – but there were plenty of observations and stories she just couldn’t fit in. “I actually wrote like about 20 pages of notes, ‘cause I was by myself. I was just sitting by myself at the bar every night getting drunk with my computer, spying on people like a weirdo, like literally listening to conversation and writing stuff down and taking secret photos of people. I was in Fiji first, and it was at a family resort during school holidays so everyone else was on a holiday with their family, and then there was me,” Katz laughs, “this weirdo who was there writing a play on their own! I would have loved to reflect that but we could only have a cast of four so we couldn’t really put that in.”

Eavesdropping on strangers is one thing, but Katz also admits to using anecdotes from her own friends in her plays, whether they’ve given permission or not. “Oh yeah, I steal everything! To me, the world is just like a place where I get material from. Anything anybody says, people’s personalities, their emotions, their joys – I’m like a vampire. The only people I don’t steal from are other writers because I figure they get first dibs to their own stories… Anybody else, yeah, for sure! Sometimes people like it, sometimes they don’t [laughs].”