May 24, 2024 • 8 mins
The stage play The Woman In Black is coming to town and Clairsy & Lisa spoke to it’s star John Waters where he told them why it’s been described as the most terrifying theatre experience there is.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Woman in Black has honored His Majesty's Theater from
May thirty until June nine. You can get your tickets
through the Woman in Black dot com dot au. At
the start of the show, John Waters is with us.
Good morning, Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, good John.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I have seen this described as the most terrifying theater
experience there is. I thought that was Drinks at the Bar,
but Edie tell us about The Woman in Black.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, it's a player that's been going for years and
years in since it started in England thirty six seven
something like that years ago, stayed in the West End
for the second longest run of all time after The
mouse Trap. Well. I think the reason for this success
of this play is that it's an amazingly accessible play
to everyone. I think it's a great way to introduce
(00:50):
people to theater if they're not really accustomed to going
to see anything other than the big musical. You know, yes,
and it grabs people. It's very direct and immersive for
an audience, and it's two actors on stage telling a story,
inspiring the audience to use their imagination in certain parts
until we get them really really involved in the story.
(01:13):
And then there are a few twists and turns, which
can be quite sort of alarming at times, but that's
part of the fun really, although it's a serious story,
and so the seriousness of the story kind of gradually
increases as the play goes on. But it's very great
little workout for two actors, I mean, Daniel Person and
(01:34):
myself are all flat out all the time. And it's
written in a very beautiful language too, which is a
slightly archaic sort of the English of the early of
the nineteen twenty six.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I love me some Gothic, So yeah, it's got that.
Because this is a ghost story, really, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yes, so it is. And we tell the story in
a rather unique way, as I am a man who's
had these horrible experiences thirty years ago and I've never
been able to properly tell people about them. And I
hire a young actor to help me tell the story.
And what he does is we're in a supposedly deserted
theater and Nieces, we're going to make this into a
sort of play and we're going to perform it, and
(02:14):
you're going to play all the other people that came
into your life, and I'll be the young you. And
so we launch into this thing, and we sort of
go in and out of that where he stops occasionally
and says, how you're doing, And I say, it's horrible.
I'm trying to exorcize these demons by acting them out,
and it's quite a traumatic experience.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
It must be a very different experience working with it's
a two person play as opposed to a full ensemble
or a larger cast. I just rely so much on
each other.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes we do, and we need to be, you know,
like perfectly in sync with everything that we move. We
move the props around, we change costumes. It's highly choreographed
in that respect. The lighting is amazing. There's a beautiful
soundscape which helps with creating the atmosphere here the sounds
of traffic, you hear, the sounds of the wide open
(03:01):
marshes and birds singing. And the setting of the story becomes.
It moves to the north of England where it's in
a sort of bleak, isolated house, the typical sort of
old house that you might think as a few ghosts around,
and then gradually the story emerges.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
On the subject of that you know, sort of cast
size that you just touched on looking through a glass onion.
If I May famed for a moment is one of
the one of the greatest things to have ever graced
the stage. Being on your own?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Can that be a blessing and.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
A cur I guess in some ways, you know you can.
It's sort of easily correct your own little mistakes or
glitches if you're seven. I tried not to, but it
wasn't any experience for me. I deliberately created that. I mean,
of course I had the fabulous Stuart Derrieta, yes, various times,
different bands and things, but I was I was standing
(03:56):
in a spotlight doing all the talking myself, and it
was kind of a test for me. Actually, I think
when I first put it together, I thought, let's see
if I can do this, and you know, I caramem off.
Of course I chose some great material to work with.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah, and that man, that man, Lennon Moman. I went
back and saw the show two nights later. John. It
was that damn good.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Thank you doing that.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I know you had that love for sixties music. How
much fun was Radio Luxembourg for you doing all of
those not just the Beatles but all that other stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, look, it was great. It was read to I
thought Okay. I have a love for the music of
my teens and early adulthood, the British rock of the
nineteen sixties, and so I just put the show together
Radio Luxembourg. It's actually a baby boomer's dream. I think
there's a set list that includes, you know, all the
classics of the Kinks, and there's a Rolling Stones track
(04:48):
and a Beatles track. But I've sort of steered away
from those making bands in order to concentrate on some
of the others and tracks that you don't normally hear
done live. I mean, we do something in the air
stander Clap Newman, which has played on radio a lot,
but it's fantastic to do live, and so I get
to sing the songs that I really loved, you know,
(05:10):
Chris Filo's out of Time, which is a song that
I have saw him sing at Elpie Island and Trickenham
when I was sixteen years old, and it's great.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
John having a career that has spent theater, film and TV.
Would asking you which is your favorite be asking you
like asking you would choose your favorite child. I guess
favorite child, Yeah, I guess it depends on what the
project is.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, it does and it also it's some I mean,
having a few strings to my bow. The ideal world
for me is one in which I can just you know,
alternate between things and just keep keep up with all
of them, not have to give up any one of them.
I'd like, after a run of a play like this
to go back to some green works. It's available, some
(05:57):
film and TV. And because I know that, I'm going
back touring with the band doing Radio Luxembourg starting in January,
doing in the Eastern States tour and hopefully that will
lead to bring it up West.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, I'm guessing that's the key to your longevity and
your enthusiasm is to keep it mixed up, keep it.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, that and a desire to keep paying the rent.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Bringing up of course, selfishly, we want to hear you
do the small places and in Perth on the stage
with your vast career. Who are the people which performances,
you know, be it doing Lenin and Blastman or whatever.
Is it that people that come up to your approach
and start talking about or is it play school kids
former play school?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Well, yeah, there's a lot of place school kids, I mean,
who are now many of them in their forties and
that's that's incredibly rewarding actually to think that you are
a part of somebody's early childhood and they remember you
very solidly because it was a mental to them at
the time. So that was kind of the you know,
(07:02):
it started as something I did on the side as
a sort of pause between acting jobs, and then it
became a little bit more important to me than that.
And I suppose the thing that I first did that
made me sort of nationally recognizable was the ABC TV
series Rush about the gold Rush era, and that can
name early to mid seventies, and that was a fabulous
(07:25):
experience in acting some beautifully written scripts about Australian history,
which was was a lesson in history for me as
well because I came from England a few years before that,
not really knowing that much about Australian history.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Well, there is a reason why this is second only
to the longest running play in the West End after
The Mousetrap, and we all find out at His find
out why at His Majesty's Theater from May thirty until
June nine. You can get tickets through the Woman in
Black dot com dot au. John Waters, thank you for
joining us, Thank.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
You be there.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Or be squat, so I'm looking forward to it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Mine, and was a pleasure to hear that voice.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Thank you guys, thanks jus Yeah
The Woman in Black has honored His Majesty's Theater from
May thirty until June nine. You can get your tickets
through the Woman in Black dot com dot au. At
the start of the show, John Waters is with us.
Good morning, Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, good John.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I have seen this described as the most terrifying theater
experience there is. I thought that was Drinks at the Bar,
but Edie tell us about The Woman in Black.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, it's a player that's been going for years and
years in since it started in England thirty six seven
something like that years ago, stayed in the West End
for the second longest run of all time after The
mouse Trap. Well. I think the reason for this success
of this play is that it's an amazingly accessible play
to everyone. I think it's a great way to introduce
(00:50):
people to theater if they're not really accustomed to going
to see anything other than the big musical. You know, yes,
and it grabs people. It's very direct and immersive for
an audience, and it's two actors on stage telling a story,
inspiring the audience to use their imagination in certain parts
until we get them really really involved in the story.
(01:13):
And then there are a few twists and turns, which
can be quite sort of alarming at times, but that's
part of the fun really, although it's a serious story,
and so the seriousness of the story kind of gradually
increases as the play goes on. But it's very great
little workout for two actors, I mean, Daniel Person and
(01:34):
myself are all flat out all the time. And it's
written in a very beautiful language too, which is a
slightly archaic sort of the English of the early of
the nineteen twenty six.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I love me some Gothic, So yeah, it's got that.
Because this is a ghost story, really, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yes, so it is. And we tell the story in
a rather unique way, as I am a man who's
had these horrible experiences thirty years ago and I've never
been able to properly tell people about them. And I
hire a young actor to help me tell the story.
And what he does is we're in a supposedly deserted
theater and Nieces, we're going to make this into a
sort of play and we're going to perform it, and
(02:14):
you're going to play all the other people that came
into your life, and I'll be the young you. And
so we launch into this thing, and we sort of
go in and out of that where he stops occasionally
and says, how you're doing, And I say, it's horrible.
I'm trying to exorcize these demons by acting them out,
and it's quite a traumatic experience.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
It must be a very different experience working with it's
a two person play as opposed to a full ensemble
or a larger cast. I just rely so much on
each other.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes we do, and we need to be, you know,
like perfectly in sync with everything that we move. We
move the props around, we change costumes. It's highly choreographed
in that respect. The lighting is amazing. There's a beautiful
soundscape which helps with creating the atmosphere here the sounds
of traffic, you hear, the sounds of the wide open
(03:01):
marshes and birds singing. And the setting of the story becomes.
It moves to the north of England where it's in
a sort of bleak, isolated house, the typical sort of
old house that you might think as a few ghosts around,
and then gradually the story emerges.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
On the subject of that you know, sort of cast
size that you just touched on looking through a glass onion.
If I May famed for a moment is one of
the one of the greatest things to have ever graced
the stage. Being on your own?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Can that be a blessing and.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
A cur I guess in some ways, you know you can.
It's sort of easily correct your own little mistakes or
glitches if you're seven. I tried not to, but it
wasn't any experience for me. I deliberately created that. I mean,
of course I had the fabulous Stuart Derrieta, yes, various times,
different bands and things, but I was I was standing
(03:56):
in a spotlight doing all the talking myself, and it
was kind of a test for me. Actually, I think
when I first put it together, I thought, let's see
if I can do this, and you know, I caramem off.
Of course I chose some great material to work with.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah, and that man, that man, Lennon Moman. I went
back and saw the show two nights later. John. It
was that damn good.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Thank you doing that.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I know you had that love for sixties music. How
much fun was Radio Luxembourg for you doing all of
those not just the Beatles but all that other stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, look, it was great. It was read to I
thought Okay. I have a love for the music of
my teens and early adulthood, the British rock of the
nineteen sixties, and so I just put the show together
Radio Luxembourg. It's actually a baby boomer's dream. I think
there's a set list that includes, you know, all the
classics of the Kinks, and there's a Rolling Stones track
(04:48):
and a Beatles track. But I've sort of steered away
from those making bands in order to concentrate on some
of the others and tracks that you don't normally hear
done live. I mean, we do something in the air
stander Clap Newman, which has played on radio a lot,
but it's fantastic to do live, and so I get
to sing the songs that I really loved, you know,
(05:10):
Chris Filo's out of Time, which is a song that
I have saw him sing at Elpie Island and Trickenham
when I was sixteen years old, and it's great.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
John having a career that has spent theater, film and TV.
Would asking you which is your favorite be asking you
like asking you would choose your favorite child. I guess
favorite child, Yeah, I guess it depends on what the
project is.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, it does and it also it's some I mean,
having a few strings to my bow. The ideal world
for me is one in which I can just you know,
alternate between things and just keep keep up with all
of them, not have to give up any one of them.
I'd like, after a run of a play like this
to go back to some green works. It's available, some
(05:57):
film and TV. And because I know that, I'm going
back touring with the band doing Radio Luxembourg starting in January,
doing in the Eastern States tour and hopefully that will
lead to bring it up West.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, I'm guessing that's the key to your longevity and
your enthusiasm is to keep it mixed up, keep it.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, that and a desire to keep paying the rent.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Bringing up of course, selfishly, we want to hear you
do the small places and in Perth on the stage
with your vast career. Who are the people which performances,
you know, be it doing Lenin and Blastman or whatever.
Is it that people that come up to your approach
and start talking about or is it play school kids
former play school?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Well, yeah, there's a lot of place school kids, I mean,
who are now many of them in their forties and
that's that's incredibly rewarding actually to think that you are
a part of somebody's early childhood and they remember you
very solidly because it was a mental to them at
the time. So that was kind of the you know,
(07:02):
it started as something I did on the side as
a sort of pause between acting jobs, and then it
became a little bit more important to me than that.
And I suppose the thing that I first did that
made me sort of nationally recognizable was the ABC TV
series Rush about the gold Rush era, and that can
name early to mid seventies, and that was a fabulous
(07:25):
experience in acting some beautifully written scripts about Australian history,
which was was a lesson in history for me as
well because I came from England a few years before that,
not really knowing that much about Australian history.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Well, there is a reason why this is second only
to the longest running play in the West End after
The Mousetrap, and we all find out at His find
out why at His Majesty's Theater from May thirty until
June nine. You can get tickets through the Woman in
Black dot com dot au. John Waters, thank you for
joining us, Thank.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
You be there.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Or be squat, so I'm looking forward to it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Mine, and was a pleasure to hear that voice.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Thank you guys, thanks jus Yeah
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