Brisbane Arts Theatre is to play host to a stage adaptation of Sir Terry Pratchett's Novel, ‘Wyrd Sisters’.
Based on the scripts adapted for the stage by Stephen Briggs, the offbeat fantasy story is a tale of witches and kings, fools and jesters, murders and villains. Although sounding to some a little close to the formula of the vilified pantomime, those familiar with Sir Pratchett's work will know better.
Borrowing themes from Shakespeare's work such as ‘Macbeth’, ‘King Lear’ and ‘Hamlet’ and brewing them up in a boiling pot of absurdly funny, deviant content the story passes above and beyond the slapstick whimsy of the “he's behind you!” routine.
“Sometimes you'll use a bit of the odd panto gag in it, but the stories are so much better than that and so much more clever.” Actor John Grey says. “Pratchett's writing is so smart and crisp that you don't really need that.”
Set in the mystical land of Discworld the story centres around the murder of a king and three witches beset with the task of preserving the realm – the eldest and most powerful of which is played by John.“’Wyrd Sisters’ is a reference to three powerful witches. They represent an archetype: there's the maiden, the mother and the crone, but you wouldn't call her a crone to her face because she's pretty scary. Her name's Granny Weatherwax, which is the role I'm playing.
“[She's] the most powerful witch of Discworld … their interaction in all this is very funny, the whole cast is. They're milking this for laughs and it's coming along very nicely. It's gonna be a funny show.”
With Briggs’ stage adaptation published in 1996, there have of course been more than a few incarnations hitting the stage around the world over the years, so what sets this one apart?
“It’s always going to be different with the different approaches people take to it.” John explains. “The big difference in this one is that Granny Weatherwax is being played by a man. There was a little bit of nervousness about that, but it's working very well at the moment. It adds another level of comedy without going foolishly pantomime and certainly not camping it up. Granny Weatherwax is a far too powerful character to do that with.”
The Brisbane Arts Theatre sees John reprising his role as Granny Weatherwax. He began his relationship with the formidable crone on a radio show adaptation of a short story involving herself and the ‘mother’ in the trio, Nanny Ogg.“We performed that in a park just standing there with microphones and scripts … it was so funny, so clever, and because Pratchett is all about wordplay and fun with words a radio play is a really good way to approach it.”
The role secured his position on the stage with director, Shaun King. “Shaun was there and I knew he was doing ‘Wyrd Sister’s so I said “Shaun, that was my audition, what do you reckon?” He seemed to like it.”
Although in his element working with Pratchett’s quirky characters, acting is not John’s first calling. A journalist by trade, he has worked as an online editor for The Courier Mail’s website, as well as with a range of other local and national papers.
“I’ve been a journalist for many decades now … the only thing I have any academic qualifications in is in fact acting.”
Although reluctant to speak about himself over the play, he says “If I could turn a decent income as an actor I would do that straight away and my boss knows that. The fact is, life goes on. You make certain choices in your career and I don't want to talk too much about that because that's about me and not the show.”
The Brisbane Arts Theatre boasts a strong history, a sizable chunk of which has been devoted to producing Sir Terry Pratchett’s work, and, as director Shaun King puts it, is quite at home there. John also has a strong connection to the venue himself.“I really love that theatre. The old Brisbane Arts Theatre has, I think it might be the smell, there's something about it that I get really emotionally attached to, and opening night and all the fears and joy in that. It's a wonderful thing.”
As an iconic, independent performing arts community it has been contributing to the scene since 1936. “Hopefully [it has] a great future as well. It's important. Brisbane is so short of venues for small, independent shows and it's so important that some places like that building, an institution, continues and grows.”
‘Wyrd Sisters’ plays at the Brisbane Arts Theatre from the 8th November until the 13th December.
Written by Luke Ward
