Girl In Tan Boots by Australian playwright Tahli Corin makes its NZ debut this week.  Described as a contemporary urban mystery play, the story dances on the line between what is real and what is imagined.

Seduced by the mysterious premise, Renee Liang called on director Janice Finn and actor JJ Fong to explain.

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A girl has disappeared, but no one seems to know much about her – except that she was wearing tan boots. Described as shy, overweight, and lacking in self-confidence, Hannah feels invisible and now she has disappeared completely. Does it have something to do with her mysterious admirer? Or is it something more sinister?  Featuring a strong all-female ensemble, Girl In Tan Boots makes its NZ premiere at The Basement in Auckland this week. 

Director Janice Finn

What's cool about directing for theatre?

Dissecting and interpreting a script. I love working on that discovery process with actors and the fact you usually have four weeks to do this.  

How did you come across The Girl In Tan Boots?

The original production was work shopped for quite a long time in Sydney before putting it on at the Griffin Theatre. A close friend was in it and she sent me the script when I said I was looking for something new to direct. I liked the fact it was for six actresses, was contemporary, intriguing and funny with some sharply, pertinent things to say about loneliness and online dating.  

I understand the playwright, Tahli Corin, revised this for the NZ stage - how closely have you been working with her, and will she be in Auckland for the NZ premiere?

There wasn’t a lot to change in the script. It was originally set in and around Wynyard Station in Sydney. That has changed to Britomart in Auckland, but other than mentions of different stations the play is pretty much the same. A few Ozzie colloquialisms have been kiwified but it has universal themes and characters. I obviously helped with identifying the rail system in Auckland but it is solidly Tahli’s play.  Sadly she can’t make it to Auckland for the premiere.

It's an intriguing idea - a girl whom no one knows about disappears.  Is this play a mystery or a metaphor?

It’s both. It’s primarily a mystery in that a girl has gone missing and a Detective has been assigned to the case but there are themes of identity and illusion in the play. The details of what happened are gradually revealed but the ending will surprise and give people pause for thought.

An all-female cast and creative team - coincidence or intent?

It’s not entirely female! Tahli wrote it for six actresses which appealed to me as a female director. The costume designer, Liz Mitchell, is an old friend and we worked together on the 80’s TV series Gloss so she was a natural choice as most of the characters are city girls about town. The lighting designer, Amber Molloy, came recommended but our fabulous set designer is a chap – Daniel Williams. Also the top production management team is Cherie Moore and her husband Robin Kelly, so there are a couple of blokes in the mix.

You've got an immensely talented cast.  How did you persuade them to join the project?

Not with lots of money, that’s for sure! I expect the six strong and interesting female roles was a key attraction. Casting for me is a mix of talent, experience, looking right for the part and availability. There was some to-ing and fro-ing as always and I hung out for a long time for a couple of people, hoping they’d end up being available. I’m immensely lucky with this bunch – they’re very talented and generous and all of them have been a joy to work with. Rehearsals have been full of laughs and, dare I say it, some delicious home baking.

Actor JJ Fong

You have so many creative strings to your bow - singing, dancing, TV presenting and acting.  What blisses you out and why?

Drinking a lot of coffee and running ;) coffee because it’s relaxing and it’s something for myself each morning, and running because I get to see the beautiful sunrise each day. So corny but I love it!

What do you like about theatre?

Working with different talented people each show I do and also just being in the moment each night and noticing all the different dynamics on stage and how they change every performance.

How did you get involved in this play?

Janice Finn the director asked me to do a reading first and then I got cast from there.

Can you tell us about your character? What kind of research did you do to prepare?

Katie is quite the bossy one, very confident and up front, she’s not afraid to speak her mind, she’s funky and sassy.

We all researched together and found that we all could be different girls working in an insurance company or corporate business. Katie we decided was more the receptionist type, so she was a bit more free-flowing, quite young and catty.

What has been the most challenging part of working on this play?

Working in a team to feed lines off each other; because its written in such a tight way, we have to really listen and know everyone else lines to connect to each other - especially with the three girls, we are always clustered around each other and talking very fast paced so we have to be at the top of our listening game!

What are you working on next?

Flat3 is coming up for its third season in May, so we are shooting that then for nearly a month so I'm looking forward to that as well performing Girl in Tan Boots over March!