Angela Betzien - interview

Angela's short play, Playboy of the Working Class, is presented as part of Dirt by the Queensland Theatre Company from May 21 to June 23

Down and Dirty

Angela Betzien is only 23 years old, but is already an award-winning playwright. As part of the Queensland Theatre Company's new production Dirt, Angela's latest short play (entitled Playboy of the Working Class) will be performed. We spoke to her about her work.

The Blurb: Can you tell us a little about Playboy of the Working Class?

Angela Betzien: Basically, it's about gambling. It focuses on a guy loses everything - family, house, car. But (without wanting to give too much away) the narrative drive of the play deals with how he hits on a solution to his problems.

TB: What was the genesis of the story?

AB: As part of the commission, I was given this line or image - "a wet newspaper". While some of the others [other plays in Dirt] used it quite imaginatively, it was fundamental to my play. But in general, I was already thinking about issues involving gambling. I saw a story about people at Star City casino who would urinate on the carpet rather than lose their spot at the table; and that intrigued me. There were other media reports too, and I pulled all these ideas together.

TB: Is there any influence from Oscar Wilde's Playboy of the Western World?

AB: No. [laughs] Someone said that to me; but it really is just coincidence.

TB: You're only 23 now - how did you start in the writing field?

AB: I guess it really started when I won a QTC young playwrights award in school. Although I'd been interested in writing before then, that really strengthened my interest. I've been involved with QTC ever since. I had one play produced by QTC in 1997 called Dog Wins Lotto.

TB: You also won the George Landen Dann Award [for Queensland playwrights].

AB: Yeah. I won that award for a play called The Postcard.

TB: What happened to that?

AB: Oh, that's in the bottom drawer at the moment. [laughs] >>>

TB: How involved were you in the production of Dirt?

AB I was involved in the initial casting and reading of the play. But since then, I've left it very much to [director] Michael Gow. I find actors tend to be very self-conscious when the writer is in the room. So it's probably a good idea to step back.

TB: What about the casting? Did you have a lot of say?

AB: Playboy... is the only play in Dirt that uses the whole ensemble; but the main character is played by Paul Denny. I had Paul in mind when I wrote the piece. In fact, I didn't even have to tell Michael I was thinking about Paul. It was just like, yep; that's Paul.

TB: You're going overseas soon?

AB: Yeah, I'm going to London at the end of May on a Lord Mayor's scholarship to the Royal Court Theatre in London. They have an excellent young writers' program. People like Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill have been there and it's a very exciting place to be.

TB: Who are your main influences?

AB: Well, Sarah Kane is someone I admire a lot. But I'm into those kind of hard-hitting, dark, political young British writers. Other than them, I guess Edward Bond, Harold Pinter, David Mamet...

TB: What do you hope to do when you come back from London?

AB: I'm working at the moment with some friends on a project. I guess when I come back, I'd like to form a company to create our own work. I think we need to give our work a national and even international focus; to take it from being a Queensland work to being more universal.

TB: What's your view of theatre in Queensland at the moment.

AB: It's pretty exciting. QTC doesn't seem to be a conservative company. I mean, they're embracing experiments and collaborating with local theatre people. La Boite seems to have had a policy shift and they're on the lookout for new and innovative work. So, yeah, it's really exciting here at the moment.

David Edwards

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