Blog
Artists in Residence, Michelle Law and Paul Hodge, deep-dive into their latest project: RIOT
Ever created theatre over Zoom? Yeah, neither had we...
In April, before the closure of international and state borders, Michelle Law and Paul Hodge were set to meet in Brisbane and begin the next stage of creative development on RIOT, a new Australian work about the 1888 Brisbane race riots. Instead, the creative team, with the support of La Boite and Opera Queensland, gathered in bedrooms, living rooms and at kitchen tables across Sydney, Brisbane and New York, for a week of theatre-making outside a traditional rehearsal room or shared time zone.
Developed through La Boite's 2020 Artists in Residence Program, RIOT is a compelling, new Australian music theatre work about Queensland's infamous Gold Rush period and the resulting racial tensions and violence against Brisbane’s Chinese population at the time.
Today, we speak to the Queensland expats and creatives behind the project — Sydney-based writer Michelle Law and New York-based writer-composer Paul Hodge — about making art during a pandemic, responding to racism and anti-Chinese sentiment in the wake of COVID-19, pop-culture inspirations and Brisbane's forgotten history.
#ARTIST INSIGHTS
How are you feeling as an artist making art during a pandemic?
Michelle: Very unmoored … as an artist there’s already a level of uncertainty that comes with the profession, but a pandemic on top of that completely threw me.
Paul: What Michelle said. You always feel a bit like you're pedalling uphill as an artist. However, the pandemic makes it feel like you're furiously pedalling but just spinning your wheels.
Human interaction in a rehearsal room is a significant part of making theatre. What’s it like collaborating and creating art in a ‘digital rehearsal space’?
Michelle: It’s difficult because you can’t read people’s energies and body language, but in some ways Paul and I have been accustomed to working in this way as he’s based in New York.
Paul: I felt I was pretty used to video meetings/collaboration, but I don't think I was ever doing such long stints as now in the pandemic. Looking at a screen definitely takes it out of you, but working with Michelle makes the experience a lot of fun!
How has your creative process/average working day changed since COVID-19?
Michelle: I work best when I’m accountable to other people and deadlines, so when companies got thrown into disarray, as an artist I feel lost. Now that we’re finding a new normal on Zoom and FaceTime, I’m settling back into a semblance of what my routine was before.
Paul: I've tried to keep a regular schedule that revolves around food and tea (I've introduced Michelle to the glory of 3pm apple and peanut butter). I think I also need to remind myself more than ever to take some time out from working.
"I think that communal connection and that spark from a live performance will be really important after these restrictions"
- Paul Hodge
When theatres, cinemas, festivals and art venues reopen, where are you looking forward to going the most?
Michelle: EVERYWHERE. I’m looking forward to taking my newborn nephew (who I still haven’t met because he’s in Brisbane and I’m in Sydney) to kid’s shows and exhibitions.
Paul: When things open up, I think I am most looking forward to going to the theatre. I think that communal connection and that spark from a live performance will be really important after these restrictions. I think in particular I'm looking forward to seeing a really terrible musical, because even the worst musical will be cathartic after this (and also because I love musicals).
What do you think the theatre industry will look like in 12 months’ time? Will we work differently? Engage, create, or appreciate art in different ways?
Michelle: I don’t think things will ever truly feel ‘normal’ again until there is a vaccine. If it takes longer than 12 months for one to be developed, I imagine that we’ll continue collaborating in digital spaces or, in small teams working across very large tables! We might work in isolated pods of people, too. And I know companies around the world are talking about the possibility of things like social distancing and masks in theatres.
Paul: I expect there will be an enormous change in the type of works starting to be produced, both in content and form. Art reflects the world we live in and the world has certainly been turned on its head. So I can't imagine it not having an impact on the art we produce. In terms of the industry, I think it will not be an easy road to recovery and we should use this moment of crisis not to perpetuate the existing model but to fix the systemic problems that existed before the pandemic.
#ABOUT THE WORK-IN-DEVELOPMENT
RIOT IS A WORK ABOUT BRISBANE’S COMPLEX AND SOMETIMES UNCOMFORTABLE HISTORY. WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO CREATE A SHOW ABOUT IT?
Michelle: Paul approached me with an idea to make a show about Chinese Australians during the Gold Rush, and when we started doing research, I stumbled across this race riot that happened in Brisbane in 1888. Neither of us had heard about it! And when we spoke to other people, they hadn’t either. That felt significant and shocking.
Paul: I had been interested in the racism that had been experienced by Chinese Australians during the Gold Rush in Northern Queensland and approached Michelle about an opera focusing on that. When Michelle found out about the riot that happened on election day in 1888 we were astounded that no one knew about it. It felt like a story that shouldn't be swept under the rug and was important to tell.
How long have you been working on the project?
Michelle: Several years now. We’ve done a number of developments and industry showings of it.
Paul: I think we started discussing it in late 2016 or early 2017? It's been through a lot of change since then. Sondheim does say that pieces of music theatre aren't written, they're rewritten.
"COVID has changed Riot because we're now focused on how cyclical anti Chinese racism is in Australia, and how many eerie parallels exist between the first arrives of Chinese people in Australia...to now."
- Michelle Law
You have been working on RIOT as Artists in Residence with La Boite and Opera Queensland, how has the work changed (thematically, personally, etc.) since starting this residency?
Michelle: The heart of the story (the riot) has remain largely unchanged, but the characters that inhabit the world and their stories within the riot have shifted significantly over the years. On a personal level, COVID has changed RIOT because we’re now focused on how cyclical anti-Chinese racism is in Australia, and how many eerie parallels exist between the first arrivals of Chinese people in Australia (predating the Gold Rush, as indentured labourers for White Australians) to now. It’s scary to see how little has changed. And on a professional level, welcoming director Darren Yap into the team. Darren brings such an amazing story brain and energy into the room.
Paul: The riot as the background has always stayed the same, but we've been trying to create a personal story within that event and the personal story has changed over time. In this latest creative development it feels like the piece is crystallising around a personal story that reflects the larger story of the riot in microcosm. As Michelle said, the piece couldn't feel more relevant right now and we're drawing inspiration from real world events such as the attacks on Chinese Australians that have been happening in the wake of the pandemic.
Why is this a work that local, Brisbane and South-East Queensland audiences should see?
Michelle: Because Paul and I are from South-East Queensland and we knew nothing about this history! There’s a small sign about it in Chinatown, but besides that, ZILCH about the riot! Brisbane folk tend to think that a lot of the discrimination happened further north, but it’s been right under our noses and swept under the carpet, like many race related crimes in this country.
Paul: I think it's important story not just for South-East Queensland, but nationally. The anti-Chinese sentiment of this period was one of the factors that contributed to the drive for federation. The piece asks important questions about who we are as a nation. It's also got wonderful words and marvellous music!
What makes opera and race riots a winning combination?
Michelle: Oh, the drama of it all. There’s nothing like a singing mob. Opera gives me goosebumps and the combination of this story and the medium feels epic.
Paul: There's an old adage that characters sing when the emotion hits too high a level to be expressed through speech. I think a riot of two thousand people feels like a lot of emotion!
What’s the audience experience you’re hoping to provoke with RIOT?
Michelle: Empathy, anger, and action.
Paul: Couldn't have put it better.
What’s it like working with Michelle/Paul to create this new work? Tell us about your collaboration and learnings from working together as Artists in Residence.
Michelle: Paul and I have had some key, go-to references for this work: Beauty and the Beast, Miss Saigon, Les Misérables, and Harry Potter. It’s so lovely to work with someone I can have a shorthand with, and I’ve loved getting to know Paul as a collaborator and a friend. I’m convinced he’s a genius.
Paul: We do share a love of many of the same pieces of pop culture so we have excellent shorthand (Michelle, you forgot The Simpsons references). Michelle is such a fantastic, hard-working, open and hilarious collaborator. It's always great to work on a piece of art with your friends and Michelle makes even the least fun parts of work a joy!
If you had to provide one piece of parting wisdom to aspiring artists or theatre-makers, what would it be?
Michelle: Persistence, and putting in the hours. Yes, talent is involved, but it’s mostly hard work.
Paul: Claude-Michel Schoenberg (who wrote the Les Misérables musical) was asked this by a student in a residency I was at and I always think about his answer - "If you can wake up in the morning and think of doing anyting else. Do it. You will face so much rejection. It will be so hard. And you have to think 'I can do nothing but this." The French aren't known for beating around the bush and that's good advice!
"An Asian, bogan Hamilton?!"
- Michelle Law
In your own words, please provide a description of your new work in development:
Michelle: An Asian, bogan Hamilton?!
Paul: I think on the music side I would say my aim is for country/folk music meets Les Misérables. And Michelle's answer should be on the poster!
Rehearsal Gallery
(Clockwise) Sanja Simić, Creative Producer (La Boite); Paul Hodge, Writer-Composer; Michelle Law (and Bean), Writer (and Cat); Darren Yap, Director; & Todd MacDonald (and a baby chick), Artistic Director (La Boite).
(Clockwise) Sanja Simić, Creative Producer (La Boite); Paul Hodge, Writer-Composer; Patrick Nolan, Artistic Director (Opera Queensland); Michelle Law, Writer; Darren Yap, Director; & Todd MacDonald, Artistic Director (La Boite).
Michelle Law and Paul Hodge Compare Harry Potter Merch
Michelle Law's Cat, Bean, Crashes Rehearsal
