20
A THEATRE COMEDY
LOCKDOWN Mark Amery zooms with Kura Forrester, Chris Parker, Tom Sainsbury and Hayley Sproull about being both theatre and comedy writers.
Chris: Hayley! Tom: Hayley! Kura: Hayley! Chris: You’re supposed to be on the TV right now! Kura: Hang on! It mustn't be live! Tom: Why are you looking so good Hayley? Hayley: You’re fucking kidding me, I’m wearing a Jono and Ben hoodie that’s got cream down the front. You’re full of shit Tom. Hi Mark! Mark: This conversation is so made for print. Chris: “I’ve got cream all over, I’m a fucking wreck, Hi Mark!” Mark: Alright, I’m going to take off my video and let you guys talk. Hayley: Honestly, it's going to make me laugh knowing you are secretly there. Mark: Well, I’ll keep my microphone on… Tom: OK. We’ve got this statement here... Chris: Beautiful. I love it when Tom takes leadership. He’s going to do his classic “Let’s run this scene five times from the top really fast.”
Hayley: We’re going to keep it concise because that’s what we’re all known for… real tight. Chris: We’re not going to wander. Tom: Good luck with that guys. Let’s begin. What is the relationship between playwriting, theatre and comedy for you from your beginnings to now? Who was the first one here to do a comedy festival show? Chris: Hayley was first. 2012 with Miss Fletcher Sings the Blues. Kura: Damn, girl! Hayley: Straight out of drama school. It was like, ‘well I guess I won’t be doing anything else anymore, so here’s an idea I’d already been developing in drama school.’ And the people at BATS were like, “Put it on in May for Comedy Fest”. So it was accidental. Tom: What I really like about you Hayley is that there was a stage where every single year you were doing a solo show, usually with a musical and a theatrical bent. Where are you at with that kind of high output?! Hayley: Two years no-show!
