In Conversation with Speaking in Tongues

Andrew Bovell’s electrifying Speaking in Tongues is an ingeniously constructed drama where four actors play nine interconnected roles, whose lived unfold with suspenseful intrigue. This haunting story unravels a web of secrets, betrayals, and chance encounters sparked by the choices made one fateful night.

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We sat down with the Director and Assistant Director to learn more about this exciting new production.

What have been some of your biggest inspirations for this new production of Speaking In Tongues?

"My biggest inspiration is Andrew Bovell. We’ve been friends and colleagues for 40 years, since we began our careers in Melbourne in the mid-80s; one of Andrew’s first plays was Ship Of Fools, which he wrote for an ensemble I was in called Whistling In The Theatre. Another inspiration for this production is David Lynch, whose film and TV work – especially Twin Peaks and Lost Highway – was hitting the screens in the 90s, when the play was written and first produced. In a way, this production is like a Lynchean dream-memory of that decade, just before the internet, social media and the smart phone changed everything."

How do you feel about making your directorial debut at Black Swan?

"Actually the first (and last) play I directed for Black Swan was Educating Rita in the early 2000s, not long after I moved to Perth; and I’ve acted in a bunch of shows with the company since then; but this is the first play I’ve directed in the Heath Ledger. It’s a huge thrill to be able to create something on this scale with a company I’ve had such a long association with, and with their incredible production staff helping us to make it happen. "

Speaking In Tongues is a modern Australian classic and inspired an award-film, Lantana. How does this affect your approach to directing the play?

"I saw the first Playbox/Griffin Theatre co-production of the play at The Malthouse in Melbourne in 1998, as well as the film when it came out in 2001. They both made a big impression on me, but twenty years is a long time; we live in a different era, and this is a very different approach from either of them. One of the measures that defines a classic is that it can be endlessly re-interpreted and always has something new to reveal to us."

What will surprise audiences most about this new production?

"I hope it’ll be one surprise revelation after another!"

What would you like audiences to take away from this new production?

"That nothing is what it seems; that the truth is never what we think; that we never know the whole story; and that the ground can suddenly shift under our feet."

Please tell us a little about yourself/ introduce yourself to Black Swan Audiences.

"Hello! My name is Yvan and I’m a Director specialised in Physical & Visual Theatre from Boorloo/Perth originally, but have been recently working in Germany & Singapore too."

What are you most excited to learn during this process?

"As a Director who came through an alternative route to text-based work. It is such an exciting opportunity to work with masters of the written word both on stage and off. I look forward to being a sponge and soaking up as much as I can to take into my own upcoming text-based productions."

What was the most surprising thing you found when you first read the play?

"How well written the overlapping dialogue is, it balances its emotionality and its clarity superbly. The work as a whole has very little fat, It is sleek, sharp, seamless, ridiculously funny and tremendously haunting."