BYRNING DOWN THE HOUSE
Five days after David Byrne’s final New Zealand show, Auckland’s Silo Theatre opens its season of live performances of Here Lies Love, his 2010 concept album with Fatboy Slim inspired by the extravagant life of Imelda Marcos, which originally featured 22 guest vocalists. Silo’s singing cast will be a quintet and include Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Ria Hall. Director Sophie Roberts says having Byrne in town was pure coincidence.
What are the chances that Byrne would be in the country so close to your show?
We programmed Here Lies Love more than a year ago so we had no idea he was coming to Auckland back then.
I’m a firm believer that there are no coincidences, though, so I think this is the universe telling us that David is meant to come and hang out with us in rehearsal while he’s here. Our musical director, Robin Kelly, and I have discussed a dream scenario where we all become best friends and he stays for our opening night to have a hoon on guitar. I say dream but I’m actually 100% serious about making this a reality.
Will you and the cast be attending his concert?
Absolutely! It’s a pretty special opportunity for our team while we are in the process of bringing our version of his work to life. He’s a true theatre artist in his approach to live performance so I have no doubt it will be really inspiring for us.
So, given it’s about Imelda Marcos, is most of the show’s production budget being spent on shoes?
We haven’t got to the shoes yet. At the moment the design team and I are dreaming up how to make Q Theatre feel like the inside of a disco ball at the best party ever.