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Goodnight Desdemona
(Good Morning Juliet).
 What
are we to make of this? More importantly, what am I to make
of this? State Theatre are doing a play - two plays - by Shakespeare
which are not Shakespearean. For reasons best known to herself,
back in the 1980s Canadian playwrite Ann-Marie MacDonald wrote
'Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)', a play which drew
upon scenes from two of Shakespeare's best known tragedies,
'Othello' and 'Romeo & Juliet'. The result is a comedy, and
a feminist reappraisal of the works. I'm lost.
"It's a very complicated show to read, and it uses a device in that you'll have a naturalistic setting," says Michael Habib, taking care to make sure I understand what exactly is going on. "Constance Ledbelly is this academic at a university... and she is studying the plays."
Constance Ledbelly is played by Sally Cooper, and is a character interposed into the action plot by playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald. She (Ledbelly) is doing her thesis on a fictitious relationship between 'Othello' and 'Romeo & Juliet', "and suddenly as she's thinking about them those two plays come alive on stage," explains Habib. "And then, really strangely, something magical happens and she finds herself in the world of Othello." It is, as he explains the transitory nature of the story development, a wondrous thing; a sort of 'Alice In The Looking Glass' moment... And to think that I was worried about the play being deep and meaningful in a tedious way!
"What it's about I suppose is her dealing with her life and the shortcomings of her own life," says Habib with a smile, correcting my impression. Habib, who has been something of a regular face on stage for State Theatre over the last few years, plays four different characters, including Othello, Tibault, and a nurse. This latter role, sure enough, requires him to be dressed in 'drag', which he points out, causes him less consternation than anyone else in the company.
"It's interesting that there's this prediliction for... this notion of me playing a female character is a little bit... different. But in reality it's not, and to me also it's not," he laughs openly, and mentions the requirement that men play the female parts on stage in Shakespearean times, in any case.
He is a friendly and open man whose wont is to be constantly 'washing' his hands as he speaks. He uses them for expression as he talks, yet without the flamboyant gestures. "It's a play full of parallels; I think the biggest thing about it is that it contains every bad joke about Shakespeare ever written. It's essentially a spoof," he says, as his hands play out the emotions.
"But it's a very clever play, as you read through the story you realise how clever it is. She [MacDonald] has created a 'what if?' scenario using original text from both those plays... so she's actually kept the original dialogue but adapted it into what would happen if another character entered the play."
There's an aspect of that which was so clearly explained in the movie 'Back To The Future' going on here, because any interaction of her character is going to have an impact upon what happens next...
"I think it's going to be something that Adelaide hasn't seen before," says Habib somewhat dryly. I wonder whether a play which works so intimately with the nuances of text has problems with it's immediate appeal, because it still doesn't strike me as funny, per se. Working with such strong text and such clearly identified characters, suggests Habib, means the cleverness comes from the plot, and the way it's worked together as a whole. Here, the responsibility rests on the shoulders of Director Kim Durban, herself an academic, who has previously directed Howard Barker's 'Scenes From An Execution' for State Theatre. That was another very texty work... "It ['Goodnight Desdemona'] is one of those plays when... in a season ... the natural instinct is to look for some kind of direction or pattern to that season," he says, shifting focus somewhat.
"I think it's good to have a play like this at this time in the season, particularly after everyone was wetting themselves over 'Death Of A Salesman' he says, and manages to sound a touch regretful. I don't for a moment think he was begrudging of that play's success; rather I got the feeling he was looking forward to sinking his teeth into a new work, one which has not been performed here before. As we walk back toward his rehearsal space he muses, "Mind you, it's a pretty quirky and weird play to follow up with."
Alex Wheaton
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'Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)' plays at The Space from Fri 17 Sept.
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