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Ross Mueller talks about The Ghost Writer
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(1) This play came about as a commission for the MTC and was a number of years in the making – can you tell us how this works?
I was an affiliate writer at MTC in 2001 - under Peter Matheson. I wrote a play called Cold Light of Day. I had a workshop and a reading at MTC and then – at the suggestion of Simon Phillips – I applied for a residency at the Royal Court in London. I was successful and got picked by the RC. In 2002 I went over and spent five weeks working on Cold Light of Day – we did workshops with Joe Penhall, David Hare, Caryl Churchill etc – I learned a lot and discovered I was doing the right thing – I came home renewed and committed. I wrote a play called Domestic Animals and did it in the Fringe and made 15 dollars. Julian Meyrick saw it and invited me to submit an idea. I wrote an outline for The Ghost Writer - it was massaged and rejected – I wrote another and another and the company commissioned the idea. I worked on the play for two years - it was rejected by the company. I continued to work on it - we took it to the ANPC conference in Perth and work shopped it there in July 06 – upon return - the company programmed it.
(2) David Williamson has described The Ghost Writer as a play he wished he had written himself – have you felt that way about any plays and if so which ones?
Absolutely - you get inspired by work all the time. I feel that way about All My Son’s, The Dolls House, Serious Money, The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, The Club - you name it - if it’s good - you feel it. I remember seeing a play by Aidan Fennessey called The Gap – it struck me at the time as something I could only aspire to. When you go and see something or read it and it moves you - it’s a great feeling. It keeps the engine going.
(3) Can you tell us something about your inspiration for the play?
To be honest - I wanted to tell the story of Cold Light of Day in an environment that Australian theatre would allow.
(4) Would you describe the play as a whodunit?
No. There is a thriller element but - the play is about stories. The concept of a “who dunnit” if you like - is a story we are all familiar with – this involves judgement and bias. It was always going to be about stories and so… yes it was always there. Why do we want to judge someone so quickly? – Is it to protect our selves from truth? Is it to make ourselves feel better about something that is wrong with us. Lindy Chamberlain was convicted in some minds long before she was ever put on trial. The idea of who dunnit didn’t enter our heads - we decided early and just waited for the judgement. So often now – sections of society ignore the detective work in favour of the punishment – I think that’s the more disturbing thing - we live in a society that has people who want to see other people punished - more than they want to see justice served. Why?
A complete stranger is employed to the most personal expression of another. There is a need for trust to be established in a very short amount of time. I think in real life - there are times when we have been more honest with strangers than with our loved ones. There is something freeing about the fact that this person does not hold the emotional baggage over the account of an event - they just wanna know what happened – they don’t judge you - they listen and they compile and they try to understand your point of view. There are rules and a limited time span for the engagement - there is a ritual to be observed – through q and a. These are the sacred boundaries I was interested in exploring. Claudia needs these qualities from Brihanna, just as much as Brihanna needs them from Claudia. In fact - all the characters in the play make these demands for truth, trust and privacy from each other.
(5) One of the central characters in the play is, unsurprisingly, a ghostwriter – have you ever been one yourself?
No – sorry about that. But I have worked in publishing.
(6) What else are you working on at the moment?
I’m finishing a commission for HotHouse! Hooray! And I am developing an outline with Tee O’Neill. I have a play opening in New York in May (No Man's Island ) and I am working on something with Kage Physical Theatre called Appetite and trying to survive the school holidays.
Ross Mueller
April 2007
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