HEROES OF MELBOURNE THEATRE: NEW FROM RED STITCH NEXT MONTH
Mollie Mooney had no idea what she was getting herself into when she joined Melbourne live theatre company, Red Stitch, as the graduate actor for 2020.
The role presents a great opportunity for a young actor. It is selected by audition from hundreds of graduating students around the country. The graduate actor joins in company discussions and is involved in creative decisions over the course of the year. In addition, they make important friendships and connections that will support them on their journey into the performing arts industry.
However, despite an outstanding audition series, the young actor found herself stepping into the most challenging year of Red Stitch’s 20 year history.
One of the Best Theatre Shows on in Melbourne - on Zoom!
Anyone else might have found the weekly Zoom meetings during the long months of lockdown a frustrating waste of their time.
But Mollie, a confirmed ‘people person’, treasured the strength she gained from the tight-knit group of performers, and their collective resolve to pull through adversity.
“Honestly I count myself to be very lucky to be within an ensemble theatre company that is so passionate and so driven…just to sit in the middle of it and to watch how actors deal with this really hard time and to get past it and to continue…it’s really inspiring. I feel really lucky.”
The extension of her membership into a second year has gifted Mollie a wonderful introduction to live theatre in Melbourne. She appeared in Burning Love by Jean Tong for Red Stitch’s Playlist, then understudied Jessica Clarke in Iphigenia in Splott by Gary Owen. Now, she’s preparing to take on the role of Emily in Will Arbery’s timely study of American religious conservatism, Heroes of the Fourth Turning.
Graduate actor, Mollie Mooney, and Darcy Kent appearing in the powerful play, Heroes of the Fourth Turning, at Red Stitch next month.
The Trump Legacy
Set the night after Charlottesville in 2017, ‘Heroes’ is about a small group of young friends from a right-wing conservative school in Wyoming.
Appearing alongside Mollie is ensemble member, Darcy Kent, as the wayward and over-imbibed party denizen, Kevin.
Kevin is struggling with his faith, and everything about his past is called into question over the course of the evening. The friends have gathered for a reunion and the reality of life is starting to impose on their dreams.
“It’s like a two hour conversation”, says Darcy. Each character is trying to reconcile their belief system with the challenges of the Trump administration and the realities of modern American politics.
The opinions presented are unfamiliar to many of us in the arts: “Not ones that…left leaning people hear very often!”, says Darcy.
Heroes of the Fourth Turning is nevertheless a fascinating and sympathetic look, not only at the conservative ideology, but the difficult journey of our twenties, from student life to adulthood.
Faith, Hope and Ideology
Arbery’s play will no doubt be challenging for some audiences, among the many other theatre shows on in Melbourne this year.
“When I first read it”, Darcy recalls, “I went in so tentative…Like, do I really want to read a play about people that are anti-abortion?”
But the power of ‘Heroes’ lies in its empathy and understanding, he says. The play is able to sit above the fray of domestic politics and present these characters as people and not just political ideologies. The closer Darcy got to the text, the more he has been inspired by it:
“It’s been an amazing and confronting...and confusing...and a beautiful experience to enter into this world with the cast.”
The political divide in modern American politics.
Theatre in 3D
Mollie plays Emily, a strident yet gently spoken conservative. She suffers from Lyme disease, a disabling bacterial infection that affects the skin and the nervous system. Her strong beliefs, compassion and sense of purpose belie the near constant pain she must endure.
‘Heroes’ was the very last play Mollie set herself to read from the long list of contenders for 2022.
“I was putting it off because I felt I’m not going to be able to relate to these characters”, she says. “But I was just blown away by how much I did relate to them. It’s so far from how I grew up but all the characters…you sympathise with them, you really do.”
Darcy and Mollie first met online (on Zoom) and it was some 6 or 7 months before they actually met each other in ‘3D’ at the theatre, and only then for a few minutes.
Now they’re working intensively on the show together in the rehearsal room - and it’s a strange and wonderful feeling for them both, says Darcy:
“People have been missing (this) sense of community…throughout last year and this year…Meeting up (every week), even if there was nothing to really update…was actually massive for me. Live theatre is such a community…We were just cut off from that.”
It’s Why We Do This - Right?
In some ways, the time for reflection without the urgency of live rehearsals was really useful early on in the process. Theatres have adapted, as they always do, and Zoom rehearsals have served their purpose.
Now, it’s all about the detail, subtlety and connection you can create on the rehearsal room floor. Mollie and Darcy are reflective of all that time spent in solitary and are aching to get back on to the Melbourne stage.
“Watching a lot of shows kept me actively engaged”, says Mollie. “Great dramas on Netflix, like Squid Game and others...reminded me of what’s important…why we do this”.
As for her future in live theatre?
“I kind of feel like I can take it on (now)…I can take on the rejections and the hard times that are definitely gonna come. It’s just been such a privilege.”
Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery. Directed by Emily O’Brien-Brown. 15 March - 10 April 2022, Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre, St Kilda East.
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