SameSame.com.au ~ Inside Out Australia

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

Feature, By Christian Taylor, 18th April, 2009

At first, people thought it would be impossible to take a crass, exploitative TV show like Jerry Springer and transform it into an opera that would play to sell out crowds in some of the world’s most revered theatres. One such person was award winning actor David Bedella, who created the role of Warm Up Man/ Satan back in 2002, when the show first appeared at the Edinburgh Festival.

“When I left the states in 2001 I was really very happy to leave sensationalised television like The Jerry Springer Show behind me. It was something that I found really upsetting – not that I’m offended by bad words and people fighting, I’m offended that it glorifies this kind of behaviour in human beings, that we can get to the point where we actually want to celebrate hurting each other emotionally – that’s what the TV show does.”

Bedella said that when he was invited to audition for the role, he wanted nothing to do with it. “I actually had quite strong feelings against The Jerry Springer Show… so I turned it down the first time. And then my agent called back about a week later and said ‘there’s a tremendous buzz about what this show is, apparently it’s intelligent and beautiful and I think you’d be foolish to not go in and meet them’. So I did, but I went in with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. They put two pieces of music in front of me, and it was so clever and stunningly beautiful. I thought ‘this is sensational, I have to be a part of it’.”

According to Bedella, it’s the paradox at the heart of the show that’s cemented it as a part of contemporary theatre history.

“They took a very low, base storyline and subject matter and they elevated it, using a very intelligent script and gorgeous music that spans everything from classical to opera to broadway, jazz, pop – it touches on everything. You look at certain shows that did something brand new to what everyone else was doing, and they became landmark shows. If you look back in history you have Oklahoma, where for the first time ever the songs were moving forward in action what the characters were doing, you had West Side Story, that took Shakespearean themes and put them into a contemporary urban setting – those shows started a whole trend of other shows. I think Jerry Springer in that same way is one of them.”

The show doesn’t shy away from controversy – not only does it contain 174 swear words and a tap dancing troupe of Ku Klux Klan members, but Act II features a full biblical cast, set in hell. In January 2005 when it was broadcast on BBC Two the network received 55,000 complaints. There were also protests by religious groups at a number of BBC offices and some even pursued bringing about blasphemy charges against the broadcaster in both the Magistrates Court and the High Court. When the show toured throughout the UK the protests continued.

“The controversy never really bothered me too much because I think the piece is so glorious that it speaks for itself,” says Bedella. “However, I think the thing that was most upsetting to me was that Christian right wing extremists were giving Christianity a bad name, which is a problem for me because I myself am a devout Christian. They make people think that we’re all as crazy as they are. Most of the people who were doing the protests were doing it out of ignorance. Over and over I’d go outside the theatre and I’d have conversations with them, I’d invite them in to see the show. I’d tell them ‘I know you’re upset about it, I can get you free tickets, I can put you in the balcony and you can watch, and then we can have an informed conversation about what it is you’re protesting,’ and universally they’d say, ‘nope, we don’t need to see it to know that it’s bad, we don’t need to see it to know that it’s blasphemy.’ So you were dealing with a level of ignorance there that really was hard to have conversation with.”

Bedella says that he doesn’t know if the show will tour. “I’m only booked in for the Sydney Opera House at this stage. I know that there’s an intention to tour Australia, but I think it’s dependent on how it’s received here. I anticipate it being a good response, I think American and Australian cultures are very similar – we’re both ‘say what you feel, put it out there on the table, don’t skirt around the issues’ kind of people. I think there’s a real similarity, so I’m guessing it’s going to go over pretty well here.”

Bedella says that he’s loving working alongside the Australian cast, which includes Kate Miller-Heidke, David Wenham and Marcus Graham, as well as Alison Jiear, who starred in the original UK production.

“They’re all lovely, so much talent in one room – it’s great! I feel like I have to up my game to keep up with them and that’s always a good feeling.”

Jerry Springer: The Opera plays at the Sydney Opera House from 21 – 26 April, 2009. Tickets are still available.