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Why I Wrote the Play I Wrote ALBERT BELZ on Astroman
Countdown to Astroman… Ten… Astroman was conceived sometime late 2011. I was a bit tired of theatre. I felt I'd had a few good years, but the stuff I was writing didn’t feel fresh to me. I was 'turging reading and going to theatre where a lot of material, and the voices coming through, were a lot angrier than I was feeling about the world. I can’t quite put my finger on it – but my best attempt is to say, as I have in the past, it all felt a little ‘victim-driven-heavy-drama-ry.’ And why not? Key was into his second administration, and National’s ‘protect the economy, protect the babyboomers, cut, slash, rinse, wash, repeat’ policies, were hurting generations… a lot of the vulnerable were becoming victims and these were the stories many of us wanted to tell or in many a case – yell. Nine… With my own lack of desire to tell such stories at this point in my career, I was questioning my voice, and indeed my relevance as a playwright, hell at one point I even wondered if I was too old for this gig. Eight… At this point Astroman was little more than a very brief outline on a refill pad.
Seven… Then my partner was head-hunted by an Australian pharmacy, and she moved to Geelong (down the road from Melbourne). I figured then that it might be a good time to follow my partner over to Oz and take a break from writing altogether. I’d convinced myself I’d take a two-year break and if I was ready to write again after that, then ka pai. Six… Once in Australia I was able to find the most mind-numbing 9 to 5 kind of job possible. I was working a contract for a trucking company, it was great. Five… While doing this I was travelling to Melbourne in the evenings and visiting comedy clubs. I was watching some of the best acts in Australia while returning to standup gigging myself. I was reminded how much I enjoyed making others laugh. I realigned my voice with this. I wanted to entertain smart audiences. I read somewhere: “Tell your story with triumphant humour.” This very much appealed to me. Four… This was all just what the doctor ordered… for a little bit. My fingers got itchy for the keyboard again, and the deal was sealed when I saw an advertisement from Playwriting Australia about a competition. The best six scripts would win a week’s workshop in Sydney.