Have you ever said something you wish you could take back?
'Minneapolis' by Will O'Mahony takes a look at – and aims to make sense of – callout culture, broken masculinity, #MeToo and the normalisation of hate speech. It's making its world premiere in Perth.
Boy, an internationally-renowned musician, is in hiding after a comment he made sparked chaos in the Twitterverse. Now, the internet’s after him. 'Minneapolis' issues a challenge to anyone viewing gendered violence as a women's issue, demanding men take initiative, responsibility and ownership for the crisis.
It's Will O'Mahony's most mature and daring work to date.
Here, we have a chat to Will about the show, produced by Performing Lines WA.
What made you decide to write this story?
Ten years ago I was having dinner with some friends and a hypothetical was being tossed about by the group. It was all fun and games until someone said something so shocking that it threatened to end a few friendships. Some days later I had the thought: what if that moment was caught on tape? I was reminded of that moment when I read the Jon Ronson book, 'So You've Been Publicly Shamed', and it inspired what is now 'Minneapolis'.
Where did you begin in terms of ideas/plot/themes when pen hit paper?
When pen hits paper, I'm really just waiting for the characters to reveal themselves. In this case, we had a boy desperately asking a girl to remove a video she had taken of him and posted online. So in that sense I guess I was curious about whether two people, whose relationship is built on distrust and destruction, can ever find connection. Other ideas to emerge included masculinity, whether privacy is a right or a privilege, and the power and responsibility of language and speech.
Who is this show written for?
Sounds bad but every play I write for myself because that’s the only way I can properly work out what I’m thinking. Beyond that, the show is for anyone who’s a little unsure about the way social justice can unfold in our online courts. Which isn’t to say that ‘cancel culture’ is necessarily bad. Not at all. Accountability can only be a good thing. But the way our lives are organised and designed online – and how that conditions us to behave – is something I have questions about. And I’d hope the play articulates some of those questions.
What do you love about theatre when it comes to communicating things like this?
Theatre unfolds in real time and when part of an audience, your identity, your understanding of who you are, can sometimes dissolve. It has the potential to take us into a higher space, a space where we think not as an individual but as a community. It's a place where our soul gets a real work-out and we leave the experience slightly less sure about our attitudes going in. For that reason, it can be a place of growth, revision, release and joy.
Why do you think the show will resonate with audiences?
We've all said something stupid. We've all done something careless. We've all lived through moments where we've been callous, even vicious. None of us are saints 24/7. But most of us are lucky enough to have never been exposed at our not-so-finest hour. 'Minneapolis' imagines what would happen if you got broadcast at your worst. You can't tell me that I'm the only one who's had that nightmare.
Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind the name of the play.
This play was written in 2017 and is set in a drummer's attempted sound proof room. At the time, the quietest room in the world was in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the US. I remember watching a short online video about it and supposedly, a lot of people who have sat inside of it have found it deeply unsettling.
An audience member is just leaving your show, feeling exactly how you wanted them to feel. How are they feeling?
That probably depends on who the audience member is. So I'm not sure I know exactly. But speaking generally, I’d probably want them to feel confused. In the best way confused. Not about the plot or 'why did they do that with the set?' but confused and curious and slightly less sure about who they are and how we live. As I said earlier, I love theatre that gives my mind and soul a bit of a work-out and it’s that kind of show that I aspire to make.
’Minneapolis' plays Subiaco Arts Centre 27-31 July.
