A Horror-fying Role

Brent Hill, currently playing Seymour in the cult musical Little Shop of Horrors, talks to Coral Drouyn before the opening this week on May 4^th at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre.

Musical Theatre can be a strange beast – and no more so than when it is about an actual Strange Beast, albeit with a name “Audrey II”, a man eating plant from another planet.

When the B grade Schlock horror film by Roger Corman was released in 1960, few people could have foreseen a shelf life of more than 50 years; a stage musical which would in turn then spawn another movie, this time the musical (has anyone NOT seen Steve Martin’s sadistic dentist?); and countless productions around the world. Only The Rocky Horror Show can surpass its cult following.

So what is the secret to its success? Brent Hill has a very definite take on the show.

“Well, first of all, it has a fabulous score by Howard Ashman and Alan Mencken, long before their success with Disney films like Beauty and The Beast,” Brent tells me. “ And it’s basically a love song with sixties music, and just about everyone can relate to that.”

But of course there are deeper themes at work – though it’s not necessary to “get” them all to just enjoy the show.

“It’s also about the common man, the loser who becomes a winner - but at what cost?” Brett explains, “and it’s about kindness and compassion, even when the being you are kind to literally bites the hand that feeds it. It’s about the price we pay for love, and grasping opportunities, and persistence, and about things spiralling out of your control - that’s all there in the subtext, but you don’t have to look for it. You can simply enjoy a fun show without looking any further. But it’s much deeper than many people imagine. It’s about LIFE, and we all experience that in different ways.”

Brent Hill would be the first to concede he is a character actor first and foremost, and there are very few leading men roles for character actors.

“When I was at WAAPA I actually took the drama course, not the musical theatre course, and I quickly realised that almost every play has a great male character role in it, so it didn’t bother me that I wasn’t 2 metres tall with blue eyes and abs,” Brent tells me without regret. “I wanted to keep working, and character work leads to longevity in this business.”

Brent won WAAPA’s Outstanding Achievement Award before he graduated in 2008, as well as Actors’ Equity Guild award for Best Newcomer in 2005, and they were just a portent of things to come, including two Green Room Awards and Two Helpmann Nominations.

Both of Brett’s parents loved music, but it was his grandparents who really tapped into what he wanted to do and participated in putting on shows when he was a kid. “Once you’re hooked on performing,” Brent explains, “you’re hooked for good.”

Brent played in bands when he was younger; he’s also a composer and musician, which stood him in good stead for 2014’s production of Once – a musical which which won him his second Helpmann Nnomination and second Green Room Award.

“I’ve been blessed to work a lot with Dean Bryant, and I get a lot of input into my work,” Brent says.

“This time I’m working with a puppet – well, puppets really - since there is a separate puppet for each time Audrey II grows. It’s harder than it might sound, because, as Seymour, I have to believe that the puppet is alive, has thought processes – and an agenda. I have to take the audience with me on that journey. If Seymour and the audience don’t accept Audrey II growing from being a cute little plant to a monster, and believe the threat that imposes, then the whole premise falls in a heap.”

Audrey II - in her various stages - is the work of master puppetry company ERTH, whose work makes it easy for us to suspend disbelief and accept the impossible. But an alien plant is very different to Dinosaurs and Bunyips.

“They are incredible,” Brent tells me. “I know there have been many versions of Audrey II across the years, but ERTH have created something that is mesmerising, horrific and yet beautiful at the same time. Awesome is an overworked word, but their work truly is awesome.”

The human performers fall into the same category, with the super-talented Esther Hannaford playing the real-life Audrey, Seymour’s crush, and Tyler Coppin, always a delight to watch, as the flower shop owner and Seymour’s boss - Mister Mushnik -  amongst a stellar cast.

I always ask artists what role is on their bucket list. It can be a role for any age, even if they’re not right for it, just the role that they dream about most.

“That’s easy,” says Brent. “I’m not just saying this, but Seymour has always been my dream role….always. Right from the moment I saw the 1986 film as a kid, I’ve wanted to play Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors. That’s before I even understood the concept of performing at all. That has to be my role, and I’m actually living it.”

In Melbourne, we get to see that dream come true from this Wednesday (May 4, 2016).

Production image of Brent Hill with Audrey II by Jeff Busby.

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