Travels with Rupert

Saturday 8 March

Twenty-four hours after leaving my house in Brunswick I’m standing with Melbourne Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Brett Sheehy in front of the White House in Washington DC. It’s been surreal, exciting and exhausting. What started a year ago as an invitation from the Kennedy Center to participate in its World Stages Festivals is now a reality.

Curated by Alicia Adams, Vice President International Programming at the Kennedy Center, World Stages features companies and artists from over 20 countries; every continent except Antarctica is represented and Melbourne Theatre Company is the only company from Australia. The Festival runs for three weeks with a series of plays examining contemporary issues and universal themes of love, politics, war, crime and society; dynamic stories that resonate globally. MTC’s Rupert, along with Peter Brooks’ The Suit, are opening the Festival.

When I first started discussions with Alicia at the Kennedy Center, Rupert piqued her interest: the Leveson Inquiry was of huge interest in America, Williamson was a well-known Australian playwright and the Murdoch story had yet to be told on the stage.

After many months of working through logistics, contracts, legalling, visas, fundraising, production and re-rehearsals, we embarked on MTC’s first international tour in 30 years. A new Australian work by an Australian playwright, five MTC production staff, eight actors, one director, one lighting designer, one sound designer and a show about one of the world’s most powerful and influential people, Rupert Murdoch. Challenge? What challenge?

Sunday 9 March

The rest of the cast and crew arrived today. Tomorrow the hard work starts with the bump-on. We are all tired, jet lagged and excited.

Brett and I visit the Kennedy Center, a truly breathtaking, beautiful building on the Potomac River. Many of John F. Kennedy’s quotes on the power of building a better society through artists, the arts and culture are inscribed on the side of the building. It is very moving, especially as the news of the Sydney Biennale boycott starts to filter through.   

Mon 10 March

We only have three days to bump in and tech before opening night. The truck with our containers that were shipped out in January is late but our team, working very closely with Kennedy Center, are powering through. Throughout the year the teams have been skyping to ensure it’s done in the quickest possible time. 

Brett, David and Kristen Williamson, Rupert director Lee Lewis and I attend the Kennedy Center’s Welcome Dinner on the Terrace for all of the participating companies, ranging from the Tokyo Theatre Company to the National Theatre of Iceland. David M. Rubenstein, Chairman of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, hosts the evening, which turns out to be a fabulous meeting of minds.

Tuesday 11 March

Bump-in continues and the tech continues while the cast – Sean O’Shea, Guy Edmonds, Marg Downey, Daniela Farinacci, Simon Gleeson, Bert LaBonté, HaiHa Le and Scott Sheridan – have a rest day. Our hotel is minutes’ walk from the Kennedy Center and just down the road from the Lincoln Memorial. Washington has a feel of Canberra – just with better monuments and collections.

Tonight we are all guests of the Australian Ambassador to the United States of America, The Hon Kim Beazley AC, at his Washington residence.  Guests include Alicia Adams from the Kennedy Center, Adrian Ballintine, Founder and CEO of Tour Sponsors NewSat, and some of the key patrons who helped support the tour, Caroline and Derek Young AM, Jane Hemstritch and Sidney Lawrence.

Ambassador Beazley speaks of David Williamson’s position in the canon of Australian playwriting and says he is honoured to host him. He speaks of how important it is to bring Australian stories and creatives to the global stage and how thrilled he is that MTC is doing this. He says how excited he was when he learnt that MTC was bringing a new show to the Kennedy Center. But when he found out it was David Williamson’s take on Rupert Murdoch, he recalls thinking, ‘Ah shit. Nobody in Washington is Republican unless they work for Fox or a think tank.’ It’s a terrific night and everyone is buoyant and excited.

Wednesday 12 March

I still cannot shake jet lag and now I have the onset of opening night jitters too. I sit in on the first tech rehearsal. Lee Lewis is making last-minute notes and some technical glitches are being ironed out but the company is ready. 

Brett and I walk to the theatre. This Washington night is freezing but clear. I cannot keep up with him as I am in heels and he is literally bounding ahead of me. We go backstage to wish everyone well. Everyone is calm and we are set. I now just want to fast forward to the end of the night to see and hear the audience’s response.

As I take my seat in the Eisenhower Theater, I feel a strange sense of familiarity wash over me. The Eishenhower is very much like the Playhouse at the Arts Centre and being in this familiar environment lowers my blood pressure. It is a full house.

Finally we are under way. The crowd are attentive and they are enjoying themselves. Bert’s seagull gets a big laugh, the crowd is not sure about the Packers, the Australian-ness of the language is challenging, but by curtain half the house are on their feet for a standing ovation. It has been a great show.

I take David Williamson backstage. We do media interviews with Australian press and I call MTC staff who have congregated in the board room to hear how it went. Job’s done and done well, I tell them. MTC’s first international tour in 30 years has made it to the stage. We’re all on a high when we head upstairs for the Australian Embassy’s post-performance function. 

Thursday 13 March

My first full sleep since I left home. I make the most of it while Australia sleeps. I dream of reviewers’ fingers tapping on keyboards.

Brett and I have dinner with some producers who have flown in from the UK and then we go and see The Suit directed by Peter Brook – stunning theatre. Afterwards I sit backstage for final curtain of Rupert. About 80 people stay to hear David, Lee, Guy and Sean talk about the production and its inception at the post-show forum.

The first review – from The Washington Post – appears online. It is so so and we wait for more to come through. 

Meanwhile, the Australian media are awake and some are quick to pass judgement from the Post review. Then more arrive: Broadway World calls it ‘thoroughly entertaining’; for The Georgetowner ‘it stung and fascinated’; Poynter sums it up as ‘a lot of fun. It’s a rough approximation of a life — and if it’s more entertaining than the truth, well, that kind of makes it more authentic’.

Like the premiere season in Melbourne the reviews vary but the audiences love the show. We’re having a similar response here and the audiences keep standing.  

Brett and I ponder the reaction back home. Sports people can train for years with many millions of dollars backing them. They may fail but they seem to be always supported. MTC took a calculated risk by accepting an invitation to come overseas for the first time in 30 years with a new Australian work and nearly 20 creative and production staff. It cost much less money than Sochi but the arts media blood sport makes them want our peak performers to either fail or succeed. It’s pure gold or nothing. We note the difference between The Age and Sydney Morning Herald websites. The Age headlines their Washington correspondent’s report with ‘David Williamson’s Rupert gets standing ovation in Washington, but not all approve’, while the SMH runs the exact same story with ‘US reviewer pans Washington premiere of ‘one-dimensional’ MTC show on Rupert Murdoch’.

In Washington on opening night there were members of Congress, Ambassador’s guests, Kennedy Center guests, international business people, other media and a raft of Washington theatre-lovers – all of whom had a terrific night in the theatre and were very much talking about Melbourne Theatre Company the next day. This is actually the true benefit of touring – getting people talking and thinking about us and our artists – along with invaluable professional development for our staff. The benefits are on so many levels.

Saturday 15 March

Last function and closing night. The University of Melbourne has organised an evening for alumni based in Washington and New York and they all have a brilliant night. The audience was the best so far. Huge laughs and a great final curtain call. Brett and I take the cast to dinner – but sorry dear readers, what happens on tour, stays on tour!

Sunday 16 March

We leave for NYC to talk to producers and companies and see some shows. I’ll leave the last word on Washington to our esteemed host: 

Melbourne Theatre Co performances of David Williamson’s “Rupert” have been dazzling in #DC. Americans fascinated by the subject. KB #theater

— Kim Beazley (@AusAmbUSA) March 16, 2014