After a two-year hiatus, drama luminary Jay James-Moody is bringing his much-loved indie theatre back in 2019 with a flurry of fresh, challenging productions.
For those that have been with Sydney’s theatre scene for some time, the news that Squabbalogic is back in action is more than welcome, with a reputation for showing both obscure Off-Broadway and more well-known mainstream works with equal amounts of flair and passion. To Artistic Director Jay James-Moody, it’s all about the narratives.
“I love sharing unique stories with an audience,” he tells us.
And unique is just the word to describe ‘Herringbone’, Squabbalogic’s comeback show.
Presented in association with Kings Cross Theatre and bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company, it tells the story of Hollywood hopeful and eight-year-old George, who is taken under the wing of vaudeville veteran Chicken. However, when the spirit of Liu, Chicken’s former partner, inhabits George’s body, mayhem ensues.
“I’ve wanted to do ['Herringbone'] for a really long time. We’ve tried to find the right space for a while since it’s so immersive in its vaudevillian nature, and this collaboration [with Kings Cross Theatre] just happened to line up.”
Co-Directed by Jay and Michael Ralph, Jay also plays all the production’s 11 roles.
“We have a very short rehearsal period – about two and a half weeks. Unlike a lot of one-man shows, monologues one after the other, this is more like two or more characters in conversation with one another like a regular play…[it] requires a lot of advance homework,” he says about his preparations.
However, ‘Herringbone’ is not only Squabbalogic’s return to Sydney’s indie theatre scene, but also Jay’s, who is coming off the professional circuit from roles in Hayes Theatre Company’s ‘She Loves Me’ and the original Australian cast of ‘The Book Of Mormon’.
“It’s a big challenge, but it’s where my heart and passion lies,” he says about his homecoming.
“'The Book of Mormon' was an incredible experience, seeing how a big machine operates, but it’s called commercial theatre for a reason – the actors don’t have to make significant contributions on replica shows. Going back to independent theatre allows me to use a lot of muscles that I couldn’t use there in a creative sense; working with a group of artists who can express themselves with complete freedom.
“Having sat in a dressing room for the better part of a year and a half allows me to be ready to tackle that as best I can.”
And tackle it he has; in ‘Herringbone’, his Co-Director Michael Ralph has won a Green Room award and Music Director Benjamin Kiehne has worked on 'Australia’s Got Talent' and 'The X-Factor' as an Associate Music Producer.
“The show really is the whole package; the designs for the sets and costumes are extraordinary for such a small [performance] space and the conversations I’m having about immersive sound designs should be fairly different to what most people get to see at the theatre.”
Jay also has two further shows to complement his ‘accidental’ 2019 season – “[to have a season] absolutely wasn’t the plan” – an adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s novel ‘Good Omens’ and ‘The Dismissal’, developed in association with the Seymour Centre concerning the last days of the Whitlam Government. In ‘Herringbone’ though, he hopes to take his audience somewhere completely different.
“It revisits vaudeville so effectively it’s going to be an unusual night for anyone that comes along. And I mean that in the best way.”
