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Stephen Sinclair and Amy Jansen bring the operetta form into the texting age with a new work, cheekily called Love Me Tinder. 

Performed in the surrounds of a wine bar which used to be a butchery, the work hooks in its voyeuristic audience by allowing them to eavesdrop on a couple brought together by dating app Tinder. Renee Liang asked director and co-writer Stephen Sinclair a few questions.

Why do you write?

I write because it’s what I’ve always done, ever since I was a teenager. I write because I can’t do anything else, because I don’t want to do anything else. I write as self-expression: to convey to the world my enthusiasms and ideas and fears and sadness and joys. Sometimes I just write because there’s nothing else to do.

Even though you've had the most incredible and varied career as a film writer, dramatist, poet and novelist, you're still best known for Ladies' Night. Does this bother you?

Actually I seem to be best known nowadays as one of the writers on The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy. But I’m glad you mention the play Ladies Night, which has paid for the groceries for almost 30 years and has an on-going life throughout Europe and North and South America not to mention Australasia. It has given me the artistic freedom and time to go my own sweet way and work on projects like Love Me Tinder.

How long have you been working on Love Me Tinder? What sparked it?

It came together quickly. Mike Howie, who runs the Frieda Margolis bar where it will be performed, rang a couple of months ago to suggest I get together with singer Amy Jansen to work up a musical/operetta about the phenomenon of Tinder dating. I leapt at the opportunity – I love musical theatre and could see the potential of the idea.

Did you do any Tinder 'research' ... any confessions?

I’ve never tried Tinder. Amy downloaded the app in order to publicise the show. I did tell her there were risks in doing this. Things could get interesting if half of the audience are young men expecting to go out on a date with her after the performance!

Is this your first foray into this form?

Many years ago I wrote a stage musical version of our film Braindead – New Zealand’s first and probably only splatter musical! 

Tell me about your cast and musicians:

Amy and tenor Tainui Kuru are my leads. The show also features rap-meister Mel Bailey who acts as narrator and is supported in his grand funkiness by musicians Izak Kennedy, Keegan Tunks and Harry Thompson-Cook. Pianist extraordinaire Liam Wooding provides accompaniment to the songs and libretto.

How did you and Amy Jansen work together?

It was pretty straight-forward, we sat in a room together and worked up a story and characters and then dialogue and libretto. It was fun!

What is the secret to a successful collaboration?

Collaboration is a great way to write. Once things start cooking you come up with ideas and lines – especially comedic ones – that would never occur to you if you were writing on your own. But it can only work if you get on with your co-writer, and you’re both able to leave your egos at the door.

What are you working on next?

I’m close to finishing the first draft of a novel set in late Roman Britain. It has required a lot of research – I spent a year just reading everything I could find about the Roman Empire and in particular Britannia. Accuracy is essential. I can’t have my protagonist paying for an amphora of wine with sestertii – coins which went out of circulation 100 years before he was born! 

Love Me Tinder is at Freida Margolis 1 & 2 October as part of the Auckland Live International Cabaret Season.