00:00Good morning. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely to speak to Roy Alexander Weiss this morning about Safe Space, a new play coming up in the Minerva from Saturday, the 11th of October to Saturday, November the 8th.
00:16And this is, excitingly, your first time in Chichester. First time ever you've been aware of the work from Chichester. How are you enjoying it so far?
00:24You're having a great, great time. So I've been up for like a few site visits to come and see the theatre. I've come up to see shows here.
00:34As you said, I hadn't before this project come to Chichester to watch a play, but I've been aware of Chichester's work and watched a few of the productions in London.
00:43And it was always really exciting for me as a director to see this company whose work is tremendously accomplished.
00:54As a director, it's really, really attractive to like see producers whose work feels really well resourced and really supported.
01:03And actually, since getting here, I mean, I love the town. I love the experiences that I've had so far and the engagements I've had with people in the local area.
01:16And the theatre is really beautiful. All the staff are really warm and welcoming. So, yeah, it's been great.
01:23And fantastic to work on a new piece.
01:25Yes, it's a new play. I'm a really big fan of new work. I love the classics as well.
01:30I've done my fair share of Shakespeare and a bit of Tennessee Williams, but I'm really excited to be directing a world premiere of a new play by Jamie Boggio.
01:41And it's his first play, too. I'm really, really passionate about the development of writers.
01:47And it feels like being a bit like a midwife, in a way, helping Jamie to give birth to his first child.
01:57Absolutely. And when you read the play, it sounds like you were immediately drawn to it and drawn to the themes and intrigued by it. Why was that?
02:06I was. I was really, you know, it's really interesting because I think throughout my career,
02:13there has sort of been an expectation on me because of my identity to make work that is about oppression, about racism and about those challenges.
02:27And I have felt the need to do that sometimes. I've wanted to do that, but not always.
02:33And it felt really exciting to receive a play written by somebody who is not like me.
02:44Jamie is a white American, like, straight man.
02:50And, yeah, he's writing about this, like, experiences that he can relate to, but also experiences that I can, too.
02:59And there's something really powerful about the endeavour of a playwright trying to reach and imagine another experience.
03:07In some ways, that endeavour really relates to what I believe is necessary if we want to push the world forward,
03:17which is, like, a collective responsibility for the ills that we have to navigate as human beings.
03:23And this isn't a play that's trying to preach at you, so to speak, actually.
03:28It's just, like, holding up all of these points of view and going, well, who knows, you know?
03:33And it's really, really funny, too. So that's also a good reason to come.
03:36But there's something about, like, engaging with, like, how we have these conversations all together that felt so exciting to me.
03:45And, like, off the page, like, reading it, it just, like, flew off the page.
03:51And I found myself, like, laughing through every scene, having, like, these moments of, like, gut punch as well.
03:58And Jamie and I had this really brilliant meeting where I actually kind of came to him and was like,
04:04because I'm quite tough, and I was like, it needs work, man.
04:07This, this, this, this, this, this, this.
04:09And he was like, hmm.
04:11And I didn't know that I would have gotten the job, actually, because I sort of thought that maybe I was a bit too heavy-handed.
04:18And then I got the offer and was like, oh, okay.
04:21And when I met up with Jamie next, I was like, you know, to be honest, I was sort of not sure that you would have given it to me.
04:28And he was like, well, I want to work hard.
04:32I want this to be the best play that it could possibly be.
04:35And that was when I was like.
04:36Now you earn respect, clearly, isn't it?
04:38Yeah, I was like, this is good.
04:42And it has been.
04:43It's been amazing.
04:45Fantastic.
04:45Well, Roy, really lovely to meet you and to speak to you.
04:48You too.
04:48With the whole thing.
04:49It sounds fabulous.
04:51Thank you very much indeed.
04:53See you there.
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