F E AT U R E
Play on words W R I TT E N BY SA R A H CAT H E R A L L P H OTO G R A P H BY A N N A B R I G G S
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ellington thespians James Cain and Cassandra Tse met on a playwriting workshop, and they share a love of writing for theatre. ‘We’re always reminded of our anniversary because our first date was at the French Film festival,’ laughs James. Now James and Cassandra, both 25, live together in Mount Cook, where they try not to talk about work too much. When they’re not planning a new production, one of them is typically writing a new work. Over four years, they have worked together on several plays. They co-wrote a musical, M’Lady, a feminist satire on pickup artists. Cassandra directed James in David Henry Whang’s musical, Yellow Face. She has also written four original musicals and two plays. Jointly running a theatre company, Red Scare (nominated for Most Promising Newcomer at the Wellington Theatre Awards in 2017), they approach writing plays very differently. Cassandra works slowly and carefully, while James drafts prolifically then throws half of it out. They are the first to read each other’s plays and say they are one another’s best critics. They jointly took James’ play, Movers, about furniture removal workers, on tour to Auckland recently. The script was shortlisted for the Adam NZ Play Award last year. Besides being each other’s first readers and often working on the same productions, they inhabit the same theatre world. They both have to bolster their theatre earnings with part-time jobs: Cassandra works part-time at Bats Theatre, while James works as a drama teacher and publicist and does advertising voice-overs. They both love the intimacy and liveliness of theatre. Cassandra prefers it to film or television. ‘Live performance offers a chance for humans to connect with each other in real time and share the same space, which is becoming increasingly necessary for our wellbeing as the world moves further and further away from live contact into the digital space.’ ‘Red Scare’ was used to describe the climate of
anti-communism during the Cold War. While both Cassandra and James had middle class upbringings, they describe themselves as ‘Green voting socialists’. The plays they write or stage typically have a political tone. And their productions are run on communist principles: everyone is paid the same, so the director and the lighting designer get the same base rate. Says James: ‘We believe that everyone’s work is equally worthy.’ Cassandra grew up in Wellington, studying at Queen Margaret College. Aged four, she watched the Sound of Music musical, and cried when Julie Andrews didn’t appear on stage. In Year 13, she made her stage debut with Wellington Musical Theatre, in Miss Saigon. While studying a BA (hons) in theatre at Victoria University, she focused on playwriting and directing. Now artistic director of Red Scare, her forte is musical theatre, and all her plays feature music. ‘Musical theatre is the most cathartic to watch. You feel these extremes,’ says Cassandra. ‘You get complex shades of emotion expressed through a musical.’ James grew up in Hamilton, and began acting at school. He moved into playwriting at university, and Movers, which highlights age, class and race tensions, was his first production. He says: ‘With Movers, I wanted to show there is potential for connection if we allow it. Not in a neat, tidy way though.’ Last year, Cassandra spoke out about the lack of Asian actors in a Wellington production of Madame Butterfly. Of Asian descent, she doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as an Asian actor or playwright, however. ‘That’s just limiting. You can end up having your work framed through a lens that is not necessary.’ With three plays confirmed for 2019 and a trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for inspiration, Cassandra says: ‘We don’t want to be making plays that feel like the same.’ Adds James: ‘We want to surprise ourselves too. We like to champion great, modern writing.’
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