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The Return Of Tommy Murphy
After the huge success of his play ‘Holding the Man’ in 2007, Tommy Murphy became the pin-up boy for Sydney’s theatre scene. This week Murphy sat down with Same Same’s Joel Bryant, to chat about love, fertility, and his new play ‘Saturn’s Return’.
“There’s nothing holding her back. She’s just really horny,” Murphy says of his lead character Zara, before giving off a cheeky chuckle – something he does throughout our chat at Sydney Theatre Company’s wharf, where his latest piece is in rehearsal.
You get the impression Murphy likes to laugh. After all, it was his comic, yet endearing, take on Timothy Conigrave’s AIDS memoir that launched him into the public eye as a playwright of note. A number of his previous plays are known for their humour too, not to mention for their impressive writing. After all, Murphy has won the NSW Premier’s Award for Best Play – twice.
Murphy modestly attributes some of his success to Tim Conigrave’s inspiring story, saying that although it’s the last amazing 20 pages that people remember, it was a funny ride along the way.
“I think… the timing was right in that the distance was enough to look at HIV in a different way,” says Murphy. “So much great art came out of that tragic moment, most of it was documenting that experience of living it. Now, when we write about it looking back, we’re doing something different.”
And Murphy looks set to continue surprising us. Saturn’s Return is part of STC’s Wharf2Loud program, and he says there’s been “a real invitation to experiment” with his new work.
“It’s about the fragility of love, even if love is lost… the play becomes a cautionary tale about how you have to hold on to those treasured moments. I hope it’s a really optimistic play about the beauty of love,” he says.
Astrologers call the period between ages twenty-eight and thirty ‘Saturn Return’. It’s the first time the planet Saturn completes its cycle through your birth chart and returns to the spot it occupied when you were born. Astrologically, it’s regarded one of the most important times in your life – a time of endings and new beginnings.
Murphy’s play tells the story of Zara, a young woman questioning every aspect of her life. “It’s a crisis of values,” he says. While in Zara’s case it’s about her decreasing chances of fertility, Murphy believes the concepts are universal. “It’s about any moment for anyone, of any age, when they’re consciously entering a new chapter… I feel like that happens every Monday morning, not every 29 years!” he jokes.
Given that Tommy is 29, he was conscious of his own hopes and fears during the writing process as well.
“I’ve been with my partner for eight and a half years,” says Murphy, and like himself, he has his character Zara staring “down the face of forever” with her partner. “Everyone has fears about longevity and having kids,” he says. The play explores the structures we build up around us – relationships, careers, dreams.
“I try to get [my partner] to read all my work, but he always says ‘I’ll just come on opening night’. But with this one, I had to say, “no, no darling. You need to read it. I didn’t want him to think I was saying this about us!”
Being his first work since Holding The Man, which had six sell-out seasons and one in San Francisco, Tommy’s aware that there are great expectations. Our anticipation and excitement is shared by Sydney Theatre Company’s artistic directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, as well as Saturn’s Return director David Berthold – all theatre veterans, all singing Murphy’s praises. Tommy acknowledges that the validation of his work, and trust in his craft, by his mentors is “so encouraging.”
“I was nervous at various times in the writing, but seeing the actors at work, you start to see the play exist beyond your intentions when everyone brings their piece to it. You do theatre because it’s dangerous, and when the lights go down, the audience can do whatever they want with it. But you learn to love it for that danger.”
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nooneuknow
said on the 21st Aug, 2008