we’ve seen Hedwig and the Angry Inch has hit the Mother City! Staged at the new prestigious Gate69 Theatre on Bree Street, the genrebender, created by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask, tells the story of a fictional rock band, fronted by an East German transgender singer named Hedwig. As they tour the United States in a quest for love and glory, Hedwig regales the audience with tales of her escape from oppressive East Berlin, and her life since as a German emigrant in the States. Hello Cape Town grabs a cuppa with the stars: Paul du Toit (The Rocky Horror Show, Same Time Next Year, Binnelanders, Backstage) and Genna Galloway (Grease, Showboat, Noah of Cape Town) to discuss their roles in the performance.
Genna Galloway
Describe yourselves in 3 sentences? G: I am a passionate actress and I love teaching my students at the Waterfront Theatre School. I love Cape Town. I love wine and food - I’m totally a foodie! *giggles* P: I still have my appendix. I love food – especially when I have grown it myself. I like the outdoors - and the indoors – but that’s usually when I’m in a theatre. Paul, talk to us about Hedwig as a character and the challenges you personally face playing the role? I’ve been in love with the character Hedwig for about 16 years now. It was one of the CDs I’ve owned for many years and had played in isolation - only seeing the film later when it came out on circuit. When I watched the film, it was as if suddenly the puzzle pieces fit together. The performance blew me away. Honestly, it was never a dream of mine to play the part, because for me I might as well have dreamt to fly. I never thought It could be done. In playing Hedwig, many people comment on the sexuality and the drag side – I’ve been asked my sexual preference and whether drag is my choice – which to me doesn’t ‘make’ the character. I happen to be straight and dress in drag for the production. For me as an actor, I focus on the idiosyncrasies of the character. The internal. I try find Hedwig’s humanity. The external is just as mask like the mask we all wear. The fact he dresses the way he does on the outside is merely an external factor as part of his circumstance. We all have our ways we shift our external characteristics to suit situations. Hedwig is just deeply damaged goods – physically abused and then abandoned by his father and a loveless & emotionally abusive relationship with his mother. He spent his life looking for love. The truth is, the more you look, the harder it is to find, the more you push it away. It becomes a vicious circle of pain. We can see this in his relationship with his partner Yitzhak – there is this consistent emotional abuse. What is difficult about playing this piece is trying to hold an audience for 1.5 hours with this character who really only redeeming feature is acerbic wit. On the surface, Hedwig is a pretty offensive human being! She is anti-Semitic, she’s abusive, she mocks anyone with any kind of disability - be it mental or physical. I need to work within that framework and still have an audience that is sympathetic towards her by the end of the play. I also need to maintain the audience throughout, keep their attention – that’s the real challenge. Genna, Talk to us about Yitzhak? How did you get into being a male character and the relationship you have with Hedwig? I didn’t know it would be a role I’d be so passionate to play, not being as familiar as Paul was, I was learning as I was growing into Yitzhak, truly getting a feel throughout the rehearsal process. It only really clicked when I had my costume on - the wig, the make-up and yes, the fake penis! *laughs* It gave me a different centre of gravity. I was then able to characterise him and I could feel the transformation. I spent a lot of time observing men and how they sit and walk. They are a lot more ‘grounded’ in stance and seating than women are. In regards to accent, I worked with a friend of mine who is an accent coach and I also looked up actors on YouTube. Yitzhak as a character is fundamentally like Hedwig - both come from a lot of pain and synonymously is searching for love. He is
Paul Du Toit
Gate69 Cape Town
Tel: 021 - 035 1627 or 071 589 2915 87 Bree Street, Cape Town, 8001
@Gate69CapeTown #Gate69CT
Email: info@gate69.co.za www.gate69.co.za
totally in love with Hedwig knowing that she will never reciprocate it in the way he would want, yet he stays in this toxic relationship in the hope she will change. The same vicious cycle Paul described. Hedwig was his escape but he is now emotionally and physically stuck – it is also true that Hedwig has somewhat kidnapped him by withholding his passport. When it comes down to it, the musical recognises the humanity of 2 damaged people searching for the same thing within each other, but needing to first find it is within themselves. What do you both understand by the term “Angry Inch”? G: Literally, Hedwig is a reluctant transgender and suffers botched sex-change, thus an ‘inch’ P: Metaphorically & metaphysically it says a lot about Hedwig in the juxtaposition of the 2 terms. Where he is angry, but it is an inch. A little bit. He isn’t man, he isn’t woman. He isn’t happy, he isn’t sad. He says a couple of times in the play, “I laugh, ‘coz I cry if I don’t” He is in a constant limbo of being almost something, but still an echo of what he was before. If not an actor/actress, what profession would choose to occupy? G: A Psychologist. Psychology has always been a passion of mine. P: I actually went for an aptitude test once in which the results that were ‘inconclusive’. They gave me this book and asked me to page through it to pick a career? I settled on a Life Saver because it sounded cool. The women simply responded that my academic results were promising and why not consider the Priesthood? The meeting ended shortly after with the results still being inconclusive… *laughs* Give us a fun fact people might not be aware of? G: I hate coriander and I can do handstand push ups. P: I’m a brand ambassador for Nic Harry Socks! - TLR Hello Cape Town December 2016 l
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