STALKER: THE MUSICAL

Theatre-goers may be intrigued by the title of this musical which took three Australian writers several years to complete, but actress Emma Taviani explains that the show is not technically about stalking as the title suggests.

“It’s a satirical approach to love and all the ups and downs associated with falling in and out of love.”

The concept of this musical is similar to Foot Loose, but instead of dancing being taboo in the town it’s love that is banned.

“This town is in a parallel universe where people aren’t allowed to love and that concept started from a person who had a really horrible experience in her own love life. She decided that love was too painful for anyone else to experience, so she created this world for people to live in without love – but inevitably as everyone is human people start to fall in love.”

The concept of stalking is an attempt to keep people away from each other, “to satisfy that need to be close to someone but from a distance.”

This is not a completely sung through musical and there are many scenes that are straight dialogue. Taviani described this as a comedy/drama and said it’s tongue-in-cheek.

“It’s dramatic but part of the comedy is the drama. It pokes fun at itself that’s for sure.”

The resonating theme is that love is painful and difficult, but always worth fighting for.

“It’s definitely for adult audiences. The humour itself is so clever that it does need a mature understanding of what’s been told.”

And what would it be like living in a world devoid of love? “I’m sure it would be blissfully ignorant!” laughed Taviani. “But as the show tells us it’s impossible. I think it’s human nature to eventually fall into something whether you understand what it is or not. If you didn’t know what it was you could go about your life, but you’d always feel like something was missing. Love is the meaning of life.” (MMo)

Sept 19–Oct 6. The Depot Theatre, 142 Addison Rd, Marrickville. $38-$45+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.thedepottheatre.com