So unique and powerful: The Lead Wait

The sole female in The Lead Wait, actor Heather O’Carroll tells drama on the waterfront about how it was to see this landmark play at BATS in 1997 and then take up the mantle 14 years later.

DOTW: What can you tell us about Juliet, your character in The Lead Wait?

HOC: She’s a bit of a bogan. Tight black jeans, leather jacket. She’s grown up in a small rural area so there have been very few city influences and she’s been surrounded by men so she’s definitely quite tough. The event that happened 14 years before the play starts when she was a teenager has really shaped the person she is now and has made her very guarded and protective of herself and others. When Jason’s character (Man) returns he opens up a lot of old wounds that haven’t healed properly and so we see her start to become more vulnerable and have to deal with the pain that she’s been repressing for so long so the play is a very emotional journey for her and one that she fights every step of the way.

Heather O'Carroll and Jason Whyte in The Lead Wait. Photo by Matt Grace.

DOTW: You saw the original production at BATS as part of the STAB season in 1997, what were your impressions of the play at that time?

HOC: It was one of the last plays I saw before I went to Drama School the following year so it really had an enormous impact on me at the time because I was about to throw myself headlong into the acting profession and was starting to form all the ideas of why I loved theatre and what it meant to me. A lot of The Lead Wait experience for me is stored in my sense memory I think because it is such a visceral play. So I remember coming into the theatre and thinking wow I’ve just stepped into this real old house and I’m like a fly on the wall because BATS was so utterly transformed. It was so exciting to see a working set like that as well with the running water, and actors taking baths and the roof leaking and a live bird (!) and of course I remember feeling very hungry as the fish was being cooked.  But I also just had the most amazing feeling of awe and being overwhelmed at the end because I had witnessed something so unique and powerful.

DOTW: How has the earlier production influenced your portrayal of Juliet?

HOC: I didn’t remember Jo Smith’s performance at all and that has nothing to do with her as an actor it’s just because The Lead Wait is such an ensemble piece so you almost can’t separate the performances from one another.  I know that when Andrew told me I had the part I was very excited but then the terror set in almost immediately because I knew how challenging it would be and that I would have to live up to the legend that The Lead Wait has become since it was first performed.

DOTW: What has been the biggest challenge of acting in a play that has had such an influence on you?

HOC: I think you question yourself a lot more and expect a lot more from yourself because you want the audience to feel as great as you did when you saw the show. I had more than a few doubts that I would be able to pull it off because Juliet is such a strong character and unlike anything I’ve ever played before and because Jason, Scott and Andrew had been part of the original production you worry that comparisons are being made but that wasn’t an issue at all. Andrew’s approach to this production of the play was very fresh in all aspects and no-one was looking to recreate something that had gone before but to re-interpret and explore the relationships and characters in a new way. Also Jo [Randerson] was fully involved in answering questions we had about the play and to make changes to the original script where necessary. But it’s a really challenging piece to perform. The show runs in real time so it’s almost like there are no marks you can hit.  You really have to listen to each other as a cast and the rhythms can be different every night because of that.

Heather O'Carroll in The Lead Wait. Photo by Matt Grace.

DOTW: What can you tell us about the rest of the cast and crew?

HOC: I’ve worked with Jo, Andrew and Jason many times before so that was great to have that opportunity again and I just think what they do is awesome. I love Jo’s writing style and sense of humour, Andrew’s direction and his design for this show is just so original and amazing and Jason is a fantastic actor who is not afraid to mix things up on stage and improvise. I’d never worked with Scott or Richard before but they have been great and Miriam Sobey, our stage manager, has been incredible. Someone described the show as a stage manager’s nightmare but she has made it into a dream for us.  There is so much work involved before, after and during the show but she has carried it off with aplomb.  It has definitely been a challenge for her, as a vegetarian, to deal with fish guts every night!

DOTW: Finally, what do you think audiences should know about The Lead Wait?

HOC: It’s so hard to describe this show to people without massive spoiler alerts but I think if you think of The Lead Wait experience then I would say it is intense, it’s provocative, it’s funny, it’s engaging and it’s beautiful. I love looking out into the audience during the curtain call and seeing their reaction to this play; I’ve seen a myriad of emotions played out on people’s faces, but I’ve never seen anyone who looks bored.


The Lead Wait is on at Circa until 11 June. Tickets are available online at www.circa.co.nz or by calling the Circa Box Office at 801-7992. 

Go and see it: The Lead Wait

A sound editor on many major films, including The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Chris Ward returns to take the reigns on the sound design for The Lead Wait, after revolutionizing surround sound for the original production at BATS 14 years ago.

DOTW: What is your role in The Lead Wait?

CW: I created the Sound Design for The Lead Wait and was very lucky to be assisted by Gillian Craig, who took care of the installation for me. This was the first time our paths have crossed and I’m looking forward to collaborating in the future.

DOTW: What can you tell us about the sound design for this show?

CW: The house is a character in this play. I went to a friend’s place in Central Hawkes Bay, set up my equipment and left it recording in their empty house for 24 hours. Then I chose the bits that best suited the moods I wanted to create and edited it all together. It was magic to listen back to all the creaks and groans of the house settling at the end of a day baking in the sun. I loved the wind in the chimney flue and the angry fridge motor. Even the birds on the tin roof at the beginning are aggressively fighting for their places.

DOTW: You were involved in the original production at BATS as part of the 1997 STAB festival, for which the sound design was recognized as innovative. How have things changed since then? What is different about the sound design for the current production?

CW: I restored the original design, from old computer backups, as a point of reference before starting the new one. Lots of “library” style sound FX with some original recordings. Looking back at what I achieved then I was pretty happy but also it made me realise how much I’ve learned in the interim. It was the first time I’d ever done a surround sound theatre project, and operated a show on a computer.

The new design is in surround and also computerised but the content is vastly different. This place is a real snapshot of a real place where the closest neighbour is kilometers away and, as Juliet says in the play, no one ever goes there.

DOTW: What challenges were involved in the Circa production in terms of sound design?

CW: The biggest challenge for me was choosing what to leave out. Listening through the recordings there was so much great content to play with. The choice of working in traverse also meant we had to double up the equipment requirements to serve both sides of the auditorium. This also meant we had to play the sounds a lot lower than I intended as the actors dialogue was easily lost if they had their backs to the audience.

DOTW: What is it like for you to return to this show after 14 years? Has your approach changed?

CW: Looking back I had to laugh at some of my efforts from the original design. My approach now is that if I need a sound I go to where that sound is and record it. Where possible I want to present something that people haven’t heard before. These days I also prefer to record in surround formats rather than make up surround content from lots of different stereo or mono elements.

I had a real sense of déjà vu returning to this play. There was a lot more clarity for me in terms of interpreting the writing and how I was going to support that. 

DOTW: Finally, what should audiences know about The Lead Wait?

CW: The Lead Wait is an experience. I wouldn’t call it entertainment. It will stick in your memory and linger there longer than you would like it to. The actors do an amazing job of unfolding this story to the audience every night. This is one of those dark tales that seems to resonate all too easily with us as New Zealanders and wouldn’t be out of place on the big screen. Go and see it. 

The Lead Wait is on in Circa One until 11 June. Tickets are available at the Circa Box Office, 801-7992, or online at www.circa.co.nz. $25 ticket specials on 1 June, 2 June and 5 June - just quote 'Web Promo' when making a telephone or internet booking.

The Lead Wait: A show that comes out of the heart of New Zealand

By Jo Randerson

It is a strange experience to have a play re-mounted from 14 years ago. The Lead Wait played at BATS for one season as part of the STAB festival in 1997. Since then the only other performance that I am aware of was at Toi Whakaari (directed by one of the MTA Directing students, Harriette Cowan). Over the years there has been talk of making a film version of this script, so there’s always been the sense that the production is still alive in some way. All of us involved in the show also continue to receive compliments on this piece that we made so long ago, so I am excited to see this re-mount at Circa, as well as slightly nervous. How will audiences respond this time?

This sense of The Lead Wait not being finished was palpable last year when Playmarket decided to publish the text as part of their NZ play series (see www.playmarket.org.nz) so I got to re-visit the script not so long ago. Editing the text for publication involved a general prune and honing of the work, as well as trying to re-sculpt some of the dialogue which worked well with the particular actors who had devised them, but didn’t stand so well on their own in printed form. This script was devised by the company Trouble – Jo Smith, Jason Whyte, Andrew Foster, Scott Wills and Tim Spite with myself sitting out as ‘the writer’. It will always remain a piece that was created by the company, coming out of the particular synergy and history we had created together.

In 1997 I had a real interest with Martin McDonagh’s writing (I had just seen The Leenane Trilogy in Galway). Director Andrew Foster and I had a real desire to make something very naturalistic, very domestic, and most importantly, something very much of New Zealand, the way McDonagh’s plays were so deeply of Ireland. We were very interested in the telling of stories in theatre as well.

While all of our work has since gone in different directions, and my writing has of course changed and developed significantly in the 14 years which have elapsed since the writing of this text, what hasn’t changed is the political motivation in my work. We made this theatre work in the wake of Rogernomics, we were the user-pays generation – angry that we suddenly had to pay through the nose for our educations and health and that the generation ahead of us who had been supported by the state were now efficating policies which meant that their children had to provide for themselves. So the story is one of abandonment, of a small group of children left alone and how they became bitter, selfish, made their own terrible mistakes yet yearned inarticulately for another way of life where people actually cared about each other.

For those who saw the 1997 version, this production will be leaner, more focused and clearer in its thrust, hopefully without losing the intrigue and vitality of that original show. With hindsight, we are more aware of what the piece was striking at with its content, and surprisingly the themes are no less relevant today. For those who did not see the 1997 season, this is a chance to see a show that comes out of the heart of New Zealand and lays bare some serious questions about the way we live together. The piece is surprising, funny and still very fresh and raw. I look forward to audiences’ responses.

The Lead Wait opens Saturday, 14 May and runs until Saturday 11 June, with a $25 preview on Friday 13 May and $25 special on Sunday, 15 May. Tickets are available at the Circa Box Office, 801-7992, or online at www.circa.co.nz.