Why did you want to be a playwright?
So I can show stories about the sort of people I know.
What are you trying to do when you write a play?
Have an audience empathise with a character in a space who does something with someone that begins and ends leaving the audience relating and feeling that there is someone else like them who has experienced the same thing.
I think we all know in our hearts the same stories. Theatre tells them by showing them on the faces of actors who sweat before your eyes. I want to have others feel, `Ah yes, I know that', and to be comforted that we are not alone. Speak for myself, I am not alone.
What's the great satisfaction in writing plays?
Watching actors and audience get it, as in my vision, to be connected, find reflection and feel stuff.
Is it special seeing them come to life after you've written them?
Very much so. It takes a lot of hard graft for me to write little, write big, imagine the actors doing it, rewrite, kill my babies, be open to others, stick up for what I believe, then with the talent and magic of others, see it work. I love theatre. It's hard to get it right.
How did Things I Hate about Mother come about?
My son asked me to write him a play. I had an image of him standing precariously on a ledge with me jumping behind him saying, `Watch out!', causing him to fall. Then I was asked to be part of the Playmarket Dunedin Playwright Studio 2007, and it grew and grew.
How much of it is autobiographical?
My great-grandparents are from France, so I use that.The feelings are what I want to convey, and they are not made up. It's splattered with mine and others' truth only regurgitated into different characters.
You cast your son, Wilbur, in the play. Was he happy about that?
Caroline Claver cast Wilbur. He's a good actor and yes, I'm sure he is happy about it, as long as I'm not ordering him around. That was Julie Edwards' job.
Has the play opened up your own eyes about mothers and sons?
It's made me look at . . . relationships around the mother, son and how they are affected, the favouritism and sibling rivalry and remaining adult without slipping back into old roles can be hard on both.
What's so special about mother/son relationships?
There is no other person who can do or say things to a son like a mother. They have the background knowledge, and a love no matter what. Sons want to marry their mums when they're 5, but from then on, being bossed around loses its appeal. The son is also a mirror of his father and his mother's own father, and those past love relationships carry forward.
Are you writing one about fathers and daughters next?
Yes, I have started on the next play and it begins with a father and daughter. She rebels and jumps out of the frying pan to find a man in an even bigger fire.
What's your next project?
It's this next play and another big piece of writing . . . plus . . . to complete the Hardwicke Knight film.
