Spotlight on...Assassins

Spotlight on...Assassins

Hey, Pal—feeling blue?  Don’t know what to do? Hey, Pal—I mean you. Yeah.  C’mere and kill a President.”

Assassins, a murderous musical revue style show about a disparate group of men and women who attempted (successfully or not) to assassinate various Presidents of the United States, at first glance seems an unlikely premise for a musical.  Initially set in a carnival fairground a ‘Proprietor’ hands each individual a gun and encourages them to ‘Kill a President’ as he asserts that ‘Everybody’s got the right to their dreams.’  What follows is a journey through time following each of the historical figures…the Assassins…and the circumstances that drove them to believe that killing The President of the United States was their only recourse. Less about the 'act' of assassination itself, and more an examination of the American psyche, who better than John Weidman and Stephen Sondheim to shine a spotlight on what makes us tick and what we all might be capable of given the correct circumstances.

I still remember the first time I heard Assassins.  I was in first year at University at a class mates house when she asked if I had heard the soundtrack, which I hadn't, so she put it on .  I didn't move for an hour.  From the opening refrains of the 'Hail to the Chief' motif I was transfixed.  By the end of the CD...yes it was 1997...I found myself thinking 'Oh no, I understand why Lee Harvey Oswald did it!! What does that say about me?!' 

Managing Director of Music Theatre International Australasia Stuart Hendricks says "this is the first time there will be two professional productions of Assassins running in Australia at the same time.  One is the return season of the hugely successful Hayes Theatre Company production directed by Dean Bryant, which is about to open at The Sydney Opera House, and the other is Black Swan State Theatre Company in Perth, directed by Roger Hodgman who directed the original Australian production for Melbourne Theatre Company back in 1995. We are delighted that such an important, intelligent and relevant piece will have the chance to be seen by theatre goers on opposite sides of the country at the same time."

We reached out to Roger, and also Lisa Campbell, producer of The Hayes Theatre Company production, to ask them about their experiences and perspective on working on the piece, and about its relevance in todays political climate.

Roger Hodgman, Director, Black Swan State Theatre Company

"Stephen Sondheim once asked me which of the several of his shows I had directed was my favourite.  It was a difficult question as I had loved them all but, when I finally chose Assassins, he replied it was the only piece that he would not change or rewrite if given the chance. 

Working on it again, for a production for Black Swan State Theatre Company, I can see why. It is an extraordinarily concentrated 100 minutes of glorious music, high drama, comedy and danger. Although the structure is unusual - it's a revue really, combining imaginative depictions of historical events over a hundred years of American history with wonderful surreal scenes when the various assassins and would be assassins connect with each other - everything in it works brilliantly. The last thirty minutes matches anything I have directed in drama, tension and building momentum.

It all seems even more relevant now than when I did it in the mid 90s.  In the opening scene, it is impossible to watch the Proprietor hand round clearly realistic guns to the odd group of misfits, loners and angry people that went on to attempt assassinations without thinking about the burning issue of guns in contemporary America.  And when towards the end in "Another National Anthem" the disappointed assassins demand "where's my prize" and sing of their right to "be happy" (a telling distortion of the right to the "pursuit of happiness" in The Declaration of Human Rights) the lyrics uncannily echo the words of many of the angry and disappointed voters who elected Donald Trump.

I think it is a masterpiece."

Lisa Campbell, Producer, Hayes Theatre Company

"I remember finding the CD of the original cast recording of Assassins in a library when I was a teenager.  I got it out and read the inlay card that detailed what was going on as I listened to it.  I was spellbound. It was dark and funny and brilliant. As with Into The Woods, audience members come to this piece with the foundations laid - we know some of these characters already.  Our preconceptions can be utilised for humour or twisted to challenge us. I am fascinated in seeing these momentous (or not so momentous) snapshots of history. Then the expansion of this, the interactions of our assassins within the ‘purgatory’ is joyous.  We hear voices of all the would be assassins, their reasons and motivations. When the show was written in the early 90s, it was unusual, a way to hear the voices of the disenfranchised. Nowadays, we can hear those voices by logging on to Reddit or Twitter. We are in a world where everyone’s opinion can be published so somehow the outcasts we see in assassins are much more familiar than they were when I first discovered the piece. 

The fascination with America has not subsided.  If anything, in the last year and a half, it’s grown. The office of The President of the United States has never had such coverage, scrutiny or ridicule. It seemed fitting to investigate those who have sought to disrupt that office and see what we can learn from those that have come before us."