Nancye and I have long been after this chance to work together again, unhappily our paths have crossed only rarely during the course of both our long careers. Following a richly enjoyable stint as the curmudgeonly Henry Higgins and his worldly wise mother Mrs Higgins in Opera Australia's 2008 production of My Fair Lady we have spurred ourselves to embark on a similarly pleasurable happening, and sooner rather than later.
Almost two years ago I began to write a show that is now called Turns, at a certain stage in its development we approached the respected producer Christine Dunstan to sound out her interest – or not – in presenting it and us. She was enthusiastic from the outset and immediately constructive; she is a rare breed a producer in this country who will initiate, encourage and develop a show from scratch, one whose love of the theatre has always emboldened her to take risks. Her commitment has led to script and concept discussions aplenty, there has been an extensive workshop period with keen input from all those creative people who will be responsible for getting us on – the director Tom Healey, the music supervisor Michael Tyack, our choreographer Karen Johnson Mortimer, the designers Cliff Simcox, James Browne and Matthew Aberline, and the Lighting Designer Trudy Dalgleish – their contribution has been invaluable. Nancye and I will do our utmost to justify so much faith and generosity. And to please our audiences.
When you're writing something for the pair of us the prime consideration must be 'what is it we like to do on stage', and 'what do we think we do best'? Well, we like to sing and dance – that's certainly part of it; we like our comedy – there's plenty of that; and we like our drama – we're drama queens the pair of us! More than that we're both the fruits of times and traditions in the theatre that have pretty much gone away these days, we are important links to what has gone before, what we've done in show business for fifty years or more informs the nature and essence of our performances.
Do try and get along. You should have a laugh.
Reg Livermore
