Cycling as therapy
Formerly a sensitive new age guy/SNAG in the 90s, Mark Hadlow (pictured) is now a little older but his character none the wiser as he returns to the stage as the most polarising of species — a middle aged man in lycra.
Hadlow is Bryan Cook, a property developer who has accumulated a small fortune building leaking homes.
He’s a stressed out, self-medicating, self-loathing and killing himself to increase his bank balance while decreasing his golf score.
When his business and life fall apart thanks to the global financial crisis, he joins a men’s cycling group to relieve stress and get healthy.
Ultimately faced with his own mortality, he makes a few startling discoveries.
Hadlow says it is not only Mamil’s subject matter — the most popular and fastest growing sport in the world, but the layers of society that this connects with.
“Mamil is predominantly a comedy, and although some of the subject matter is very serious, the way it is handled in the script and subsequently how it is performed is to create a first class entertainment that both men and women will enjoy.
“What is important is, first, it is entertainment, but it also needs to be relevant, sensitive, poignant and, in its simplicity, very funny, which is the best medicine.
“When I first discussed the project with the writer and director Greg Cooper my initial instigator was men’s mentoring. Men often don’t talk about personal issues surrounding their marital, sexual or professional problems. Women seem to have more of an ability to open up with other women. Some men are reticent to discuss private things because it’s deemed a weakness.”
Hadlow said fate had him joining a bike group five years ago while filming the Hobbit trilogy in Wellington.
“I was gobsmacked at the candid conversation of the males within the group, not sexist male bravado, sure lots of banter, but enlightening and uplifting, sensitive listening and talking within the group.”
Hadlow says Mamil could be a great place to begin to understand how the male mind functions in our society.
“It present the issues in the open and enables the characters to show an insight into the private men’s room on a bicycle.”
Written and directed by Gregory Cooper (That Bloody Woman, The Streaker), Mamil is at Centrepoint from November 9 — December 14 with tickets available now through Centrepoint Theatre’s website and box office.