15 February 2012 (Theatre Interview)

Interview by: Caomhan Keane

Frankie and May are waiting anxiously for May's daughter T-Belle to return from her claim in the Chilkoot pass. But the gold seams are drying up, Frankie isn't well and there are secrets and surprises everywhere; under the floorboards, down on the docks and in their heads. The Goddess of Liberty tells the story of four women on the edge of the world and is by turns hilarious, moving and heart breaking. Karen Ardiff, a renowned actor in her own right, talks here to Caomhan Keane about her debut turn as a playwright.

What is your play Goddess of Liberty about?

The play is set in a log cabin in Alaska in 1898 during the great Gold Rush of that period. It is about a crisis in the lives of two Irish immigrants, May and Frankie – a faded theatre performer who has had a stroke and May's daughter T-belle who has come back from her gold prospecting in the Alaskan mountains to care for the two older women. But May and Frankie have fallen prey to two conmen and the family is effectively trapped in Alaska as the winter closes in and the gold seams dry up.

Did the idea for the play or the desire to write come first?

I've always written since I was quite small so the desire to write has always been there, but I've never dared to write for theatre until Paul Meade from Guna Nua asked me to. The idea for the play is one that has been in my mind for a long, long time. My story telling tends to work like that. I'm extraordinarily slow! I can research a subject and think about it literally for years. There are usually a backlog of about two or three stories in my mind in various stages of development. I'm down to two at the moment!

Was there something about these people, this period that interested you?

I find the period of the Alaskan Gold Rush absolutely fascinating. The towns up there: Dawson City, Skagway etc almost literally grew up overnight. And after the two or three years of the goldrush they disappeared. But within that timeframe they witnessed so many stories and adventures. The women of that time are fascinating because they made the unbelievably arduous journey to get there and then many of them became part of the thriving music hall and prostitution scene. More money was probably made through commerce at that time than through gold. It seemed to me a time when sentiment was absent by necessity and therefore it was ideal for the story I wanted to tell.

Comparable to Ireland post Celtic Tiger or am I stretching it?

You're really not! Although  I have to confess the story germinated well before the – crash – Is that the word? However the parallels are eerie. I suppose the gold seams drying up and people being left stranded, broke and displaced is just one of those weird patterns that recur throughout human history – Greed and corruption recur and so do their consequences. Alaska at that time was an incredibly corrupt place.

Can you tell me about the process of getting from your head to the page to the stage?

Head to page is a solo process. Just me and the word processor and my research of the period. Photos, notes etc. Page to stage is a lot more complex – For me it involved several drafts and work with Fishamble's play clinic which is a wonderful thing! It involved several readings with actors so that I and Paul the director could hear the piece and then go away and work on it based on what we heard and the wisdom of the actors and Gavin Kostic the dramaturg and Jim Culleton, Artistic Director of Fishamble. Then after the play was cast it was more or less handed over to the actors, designers and director. Although Paul and I did chat most evenings about script issues. I was rehearsing and performing myself with Rough Magic in Plaza Suite throughout the rehearsal process for Goddess, so it really was handed away like a baby in a reed basket!

Was your experience as an actor always a help when it came to writing? Was it ever a hindrance?

I'm not sure, is the short answer. It obviously helped to have so much experience of being on stage and seeing how plays are made, but im acutely aware that as regards playwriting I'm as much a rookie as if I had just taken up snorkling. It is just such a completely different discipline. Although perhaps the shift is a little less dramatic on reflection – surfing to snorkling perhaps!

What was the major difference between writing this and writing your book.

Collaboration. I was completely alone writing the book until it came to the editing stage, and that involved very little intervention. In this, as I've been mentioning, there were drafts and readings and meetings and dramaturgy, because a play is a collaboration and a novel is essentially private. I know of course that many playwrights write completely privately until they deliver the script, but I don't know any that write only one draft.

Was it odd writing something knowing several people were going to put their own interpretations on it?

I suppose it was. Although it shouldn't have been as I've been interpreting other people's work since I was little! I was so thrilled by seeing wonderful professionals like the actors, designers (set, costume, lighting and sound) and director working on the piece. It was all new although it shouldn't have been.

Was it difficult to just hand it over to cast and crew and take a step back?

No because I had no choice! I started rehearsals for Plaza Suite the same day as they did for Goddess of Liberty so I had a different job to do from that time. I imagine if I hadn't I would have been clucking around them like a mother hen.

You have a wonderful cast, how much say were you given?

I was extremely lucky that Paul involved me at every stage of the casting process. Which is probably why I never got 'separation anxiety' about giving over the play.

Anything about the casting process surprise you?

How unbelievable different every actor is!
  
The Goddess of Liberty finishes up at The Project on the 18th, it then moves to the Civic Theatre the following Monday until the 25th and finally you can catch it in The Belltable in Limerick from the 29th until the 3rd of March.

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