Shane Bosher took some time to answer a few questions about Top Girls over a coffee...

How do you drink your coffee?

I’m not actually a coffee fan. Have avoided coffee since my first taste of a coffee flavoured Roses chocolate as a kid. Tea is not high up on my list either. Get me a sugar free V and I’ll be happy as.

What’s Top Girls all about?

It’s all about what it means to be a woman in the modern world. We follow Marlene, who is played by the wonderful Danielle Cormack – a high-flying businesswoman who’s just been promoted to Managing Director. Over the course over the play we see her celebration and her sacrifices. It asks whether a woman’s climb up the corporate ladder can go hand in hand with domestic bliss. It’s a dazzling piece of theatre, one of the twentieth centuries greatest in fact, and I’m thrilled to be working on it.

Top Girls was written a few decades ago, should we expect a modern take on an old story or ..?

A classic is something which endures, where every time you pick it up, it says something new. Top Girls is a period piece, written as a response to the rise of Margaret Thatcher in the early 80s. But I think it’s more relevant today than ever before. When we started the rehearsal period, we discussed what had changed for women. I think now, women are expected to have the extraordinary career AND be brilliant parents AND look amazing too. We’ve got three parents in the cast and their lives are beyond full, they’ve hardly got time for a minute and a half off in the evening. It’s interesting looking at the play through a historical lens. Whilst we see women clad in power dressing, shoulder pads and stiletto heels, their sacrifices and struggles feel the same. My hope is that people will leave arguing into the night about how far we’ve come… Or haven’t.

Elizabeth Whiting is an incredible costume designer, what creations should we expect?

Elizabeth is having a field day. The first scene has 5 women from different periods of history, so alongside the 80s nostalgia, she’s creating robes for a 13th Century Japanese courtesan, corsets for a Victorian traveller and armour for a Flemish peasant. It really is a visual

With an all-female cast, what will be an average day in rehearsals..

There’s a lot of chat. A lot of hilarity. The play is full of wonderful challenges for actors - they play about 16 different women between them and the dialogue is not only crisp and rhythmic, but written in the form of everyday speech (with lots of talking over the top of each other) – so everyone’s working very hard to make the play bounce off the walls. I haven’t directed any of these women before, so of course, we’ve had to learn what makes each other tick, which is always really exciting.

To those that are unfamiliar, describe the role of a ‘Theatre Director’....

I sit in a privileged position really. I have the opportunity to provoke divergent conversations with audiences and artists. I get to choose the plays, the conversations that we will end up having. But it’s more than just picking plays – behind the scenes, there is a lot of critical thinking, fundraising, relationship management, budgeting and marketing to do. The work doesn’t ever stop really. But it is most certainly rewarding and I couldn’t do anything else. I’d be a dreadful plumber.

When selecting a new show, what do you look for?

I look at a piece of work that is going to force some sort of conversation with an audience. If the audience leaves asking who’s got the car keys, I’ve buggered it all up.

What’s your opinion on the New Zealand theatre scene at the moment?

I think there is a lot of amazing new talent around. People who are theatremakers rather than being exclusively actors or writers. I love what’s happening at The Basement at the moment. My only regrets are that there isn’t enough funding to go around to ensure that we keep all this talent in the industry and that there’s no so much to see, I can’t get to it all!

Words of wisdom for those keen to follow in your footsteps?

Tenacity. Talent. Think about what you can give, rather than what you can take. It’s not all about being a star!

What shows are you working on this year?

I’m directing two wonderful but completely different works. Tribes is from the writer of Rabbit, which was a massive hit for us a couple of years back. It’s on at the Maidment in June and is a beautiful story of family and the limits of communication. Matt Whelan from Go Girls is taking time out from his hectic shooting schedule to come and play with us. Then later in the year, I’m tinkering around with Noel Coward’s Private Lives with two of my favourite actors, Mia Blake and Sophie Henderson. It’s a play from the 1920s, but we’re giving it a modern day rejig. It’s wildly funny, rambunctious stuff – it really is the original rom-com.

Lastly, if you were an animal.. introduce yourself...

Not a bunny. Not a seal. Perhaps a lion. Or a bear.

By Olivia Young

Check out http://silotheatre.co.nz/top-girls for more info!
23/02 - 17/03

Q Theatre
305 Queen Street
(09) 309 9771