INTERVIEW: ‘The Wetsuitman’ has English-language premiere in Ithaca, NY
Photo: The Wetsuitman features Sylvie Yntema, Karl Gregory, Eric Brooks, Amoreena Wade and Marc Gomes. Photo courtesy of the Cherry Artists’ Collective / Provided by Emily Owens PR with permission.
The Wetsuitman, a new play by Freek Mariën, was originally presented in Belgium for its word premiere, and now the Cherry Artists’ Collective in Ithaca, New York, is presenting the English-language premiere of the show. Thanks to translator David McKay and director Samuel Buggeln, the show is being presented through April 3 in upstate New York (at-home audience members can also enjoy the play virtually).
The play has an intriguing plot, according to press notes. One day a man in Norway is walking his dog along the coast, and he sees what appears to be an oil slick in the water. Upon closer inspection, the oil slick turns out to be a dead body, and what ensues is a “Scandinavian crime thriller” for the stage. The cast features Eric Brooks, Marc Gomes, Karl Gregory, Amoreena Wade and Sylvie Yntema.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Buggeln about the new show and its English-language premiere. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
When you first read The Wetsuitman, what did you like about the story and the writing?
The Cherry is an artists’ collective, and we choose plays by reading them aloud in salon sessions. (We focus on important new plays in translation from other countries.) Often we can tell that a play is really good in the country it comes from, but for a variety of possible reasons, it won’t work super well here. And sometimes, as in this case, the play just sings. The story is absolutely gripping, and the issues it grapples with are hugely important in our world today. The way Freek (Mariën, the playwright) structures the play is very unusual and engaging. It has a lot of humor as well as being ultimately very moving, and hopefully does all that on the way to making us really think about some big questions we’re wrestling with as a society right now.
Was the play already translated, or did you need to commission the translation?
The play was already translated. It had won a big award in Belgium, where Freek is from, and the Flemish literary society partnered with a theater company in London to fund the translation. So that was very helpful. We’re actually doing this production as a joint English-language premiere with that London theater company (Foreign Affairs), who are creating their own production of the play in the fall. Their team will watch our production live from London!
Would you classify the play as a crime thriller? Or something different?
The play definitely begins as a crime thriller, and then it reinvents itself three times, becoming a different kind of play each time as the story reveals itself. It’s a remarkable way of making a play and has been really exciting to work on. I think the structure goes to the idea that our usual storytelling forms might not be up to the tasks that we want them to achieve. And, what tasks are these? Trying to deeply understand another person is the basis of all of it, I think, especially if that person in some way seems to be not like the viewer. So it is a crime thriller, and it is thrilling, but it is also a number of different things.
What do you feel the play says about identity?
Oh, that’s a hard question to answer without sounding pretentious! [laughter] I guess the play is to a great extent about representation, both in the world we live in and in the play itself (if that makes sense). And so in terms of identity, there’s a thing where you may identify as one thing, and then someone else, maybe a person in power, or, let’s say “society,” can say, “No, you’re not that. I can see what you are. You’re this.” And so in that way, identity is malleable. This can be true in good ways, where let’s say if you’re in an empowered position in whatever way, you may be able to redefine yourself in a way that makes you happy. But it can happen in bad ways, where you might get told what or who you are. And that identity can be hard to get out from under. And as you can imagine, the theater is really a perfect form in which to wrestle with these kinds of ideas. And these questions are all super timely right now. So it’s been a very cool journey.
Presenting the play both in person and remotely is unique. What do you like about these dual formats? What don’t you like?
We’re really excited by this new form of hybrid theater, where the production is created from the ground up to be equally effective in person and streaming. For the Cherry, it grew out of our fully-online productions during the height of the pandemic. We love to work in fresh new forms, so we worked to make our online productions feel really intentional. And we got great press and feedback for them.
So when it came time to go back to in-person, we had a streaming audience we wanted to keep serving. And I have to say, the hybrid form is very creatively stimulating and also a ton of work! The actors have to keep in mind the relationship to the in-person audience as well as their position in the camera frame. And from time to time they have to move the cameras (it’s all very integrated into the in-person show) along with all the other things we have in mind. (Our cast is truly amazing!)
So if there’s anything I don’t love, it’s how many more balls hybrid requires us to juggle! But mainly we love it. It’s so interesting to kind of be a film director, at the same time as a theater director. It’s fun to figure out whether there are bells and whistles we can add to the online version so the folks who are not here in person get a little something special. And mainly we love being able to show the work to all kinds of people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to see it. On our last hybrid show, a full third of our tickets were to the stream, and we expect that to potentially grow with this one. So it’s been excitingly worth the investment!
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Wetsuitman continues through Sunday, April 3 at the Cherry Artspace in Ithaca, New York. Click here for more information and tickets.
