In conversation with Josh Azouz, creator of Gigi & Dar, on at Arcola Theatre from 3rd Oct – 2nd Nov.
Who are Gigi & Dar and what can you tell us about the story and style of the play?
Gigi & Dar are two young soldiers (aged 19 & 20) covering a roadblock and dreaming of their time in the army to finish so they can go travelling. The combination of a personal secret intersecting with the arrival of two civilians sets in motion a chain of tragic events. All the characters speak to the audience, and the play at times veers between a clown show and a Greek Tragedy. At its core, the play is about funny, humane characters, participating in a crisis.
What inspired you to write the play?
In my late teens I was in a bus station in Jerusalem and I was struck by the incongruity of a young female soldier applying eye-liner whilst a gun hung off her shoulder. That was the initial spark but many years later, when I came to write it, the play developed away from that specific geographical context. If I’ve done my job, GIGI and DAR will speak more universally to what ordinary people are capable of doing when faced with a terrifying political situation.
Why is this play important to you?
When people you care for do bad things you can cut them off, or you can try and understand them. This play is a way of trying to understand them.
How did Kathryn Hunter get involved with the production and what has it been like working with her so far?
I wrote a short BBC 4 film for Kathryn and her late husband Marcello during Covid, so we’d been in contact for a while. I greatly admired her as an actor, but when I was thinking of directors for this play I remembered Kathryn’s fantastic production of My Perfect Mind for Told by an Idiot at the Young Vic. I sent her GIGI & DAR. We then read the play aloud around her table, with us taking all the parts. It’s been great to work with her because she’s brimming with ideas but has the ability to remain very open. I think her experience both in text-based work and in Complicte rehearsal rooms means she is able to serve the play as well as the production.
How are rehearsals going?
Kathryn likes to work with actors on their feet, so by day two, the company were trying out sequences. Kathryn calls ideas drafts, so things are being explored rather than set down.
We have a movement director, Adi Gortler, who is instructing the company on how to use all the weaponry, and because the form is playful is not unusual to walk into the room and see someone balancing a grenade on their head.
From what I’ve seen, my response has been a mixture of ‘oh this is great’ to ‘oh, what have I written?!’ But I’m doing a little bit of rewriting as we go along. I’m also trying not to go into rehearsals all the time – this is hard for me because I like rehearsals/I’m a control freak. The problem is that I keep piping up, and sometimes the actors and director need to be free to invent different ideas.
Who would you like to see this play? And what would you like them to come away with?
I think the play strikes a good balance between being confrontational and accessible and I’d love all people (aged 14 and up) to see it. The themes of friendship & betrayal plus the question of how we repress harmful truths are universal. You don’t need to have been in the military or have family that have been touched by war to get something from this play. I also think it will appeal to people who like theatre that doesn’t have a clear message. With that in mind, I wouldn’t be able to tell you what I’d like you to come away with.
Kathryn Hunter is an exceptional director and she is leading four wonderful actors, Roman Asde, Chipo Chung, Lola Shalam and Tanvi Virmani. They’re a complete delight to watch, and you’d be mad to miss them!