'Solpadeine Is My Boyfriend' is about a new Irish generation and told completely in rhyme by writer, performer and consummate story-teller Stefanie Preissner.
Follow her on a clever, dark and funny journey through tumultuous relationships, painkiller addictions and the unending parade of her compatriots leaving Ireland for greener pastures.
What is your role?
I play myself. It's a role I've been rehearsing for years :) The show is autobiographical. It's a story about losing friends and a boyfriend to Australia because of emigration and what happens when the most important relationship in your life becomes one with a codeine-based pain killer. It's funny and dark, in the way that I am, I suppose.
How much of this is based on personal experiences?
Well the show is written in rhyme and so I would say the show is 90% uutobiographical and that 10% is fiction for the rhyme. For example I've changed people’s names to rhyme with things and in order to get some humour and drama, little facts have been changed. Also so as not to get arrested :)
Was it difficult writing it all in rhyme? Did you start talking in rhymes afterwards?
Ha. I find writing in rhyme really helpful in terms of performative text and it stops me from getting too sentimental. I think in rhyme a lot so I think it's a chicken/ egg question. I think in rhyme therefore I write in rhyme. Not all the time though.
Do you think audiences in Australia will be able to relate to the show?
Christ, I hope so. I'll be in big trouble if they don't won't I? :) Yeah, I mean, we have toured internationally before; to the UK, Romania and all over Ireland and we've never been told 'I don't relate to this' or 'I don't understand this'. The show is about coping mechanisms and loss — who doesn't relate to those things? Also RTE, the national broadcaster in Ireland, recorded the show as a radio play and it's available to download from their website. This means a lot of people internationally have listened to it and then they get in touch on twitter (@stefpreissner) so I already know that people in Australia can relate. Phew. I reckon if you've ever had or lost a boyfriend, used alcohol or drugs to cope with sadness, moved from one city to another or felt overwhelmed in any way, you will relate to the show.
Funniest moment on stage?
In this play? I'm not sure. In another show a few years ago, another one-woman play, I forgot my lines and with no one on stage to help or prompt in any way, I did this really weird thing where I started hyperventilating, but not ACTUALLY hyperventilating, as in I was doing it in character. It made absolutely no sense and everyone was probably thinking, 'Is that girl going to faint?' but I bought myself enough time to make up a line. In this show that won't happen though — writing a play makes it harder to forget your lines. Oh I did actually fall flat on my face in the first week of 'Solpadeine is My Boyfriend' in Dublin in 2012. I tried to make it seem like it was meant to happen but everyone knew. It's probably the reason the show got a standing ovation that night :)
Behind-the-scenes goss?
Eh, well I wish I could tell you some steamy secrets about inter-cast romances but it's just me so there's nothing to be mined there. I do actually struggle with codeine addiction if you can call that goss. I deal with it on a day-to-day basis though so it's not as dramatic a story as you might like.
If we went to Ireland, what are two things we should definitely do (or not do)?
1: Bring a coat! - It's actually BALTIC most of the time. I can't cope with the cold and wet here anymore. I actually think the island might be waterlogged and sinking because the flooding at the moment is unreal. I am attaching a picture of the view from my window as I type this. Grim eh? Come in summer, but don't expect too much sun, go to the towns as well as the cities and if you got a chance to stay with an Irish family for a few nights, the hospitality and experience of an Irish Home is second to none. 2: Find an Irish mammy and ask her to cook you breakfast.
Anything else readers should know?
It’s scary touring to Australia with a one-woman show. Get in touch with me on twitter and let's hang out after the show. Will someone bring me to Steve Irwin zoo?
