Alan Brough is on his mobile phone, strolling down a South Melbourne street.
Alan Brough is on his mobile phone, strolling down a South Melbourne street. If you were a passer-by, there might be some words from his conversation that would have grabbed your attention, had they floated your way on the breeze. Phrases like “explicit sex” and “one guy on stage” and, in case you missed the gist of it, “one guy on stage having explicit sex with himself”.
Brough is heading to rehearsals for his Melbourne International Comedy Festival show. The show, his first since 2007, takes its name from perhaps one of the most unintentionally funny lines ever uttered in a film: “What is it you can’t face?”
“For some reason, I took it into my head that there hadn’t been a radical re-working of The Sound Of Music done by one man on stage, with questionable musical talent and I thought, well, obviously I’m the person to do that,” he says of his brand new musical theatre comedy version of the iconic film, which was originally a Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical.
The idea first began by considering what if someone like Hollywood action film directors Michael Bay or Tony Scott remade the film (which is about a young Austrian woman, studying to become a nun, who becomes governess to seven children). “There would be some fun to be had in that,” thought Brough. “It would be probably a lot more violent and a lot more explicitly sexual than the original version.”
Which is where the explicit sex on stage comes into the conversation. “I have to say the explicit sex comes from me – because I play all the characters and I play them at the same time. So it’s me seducing myself on stage and having sex with myself. I think that people should be warned about that quite early on,” he laughs. Is this a lyrical interpretation of sex, perhaps, expressed through the medium of dance, say? (Please god, say yes). “No, no, no,” he says emphatically, and not all that apologetically, it has to be noted. “Though I do express some things through the medium of dance, as befits a musical theatre comedy but no, unfortunately (or fortunately) the sex is expressed through the medium of sex.”
“It’s a hoarey old chestnut,” quips Brough, “and I should say that no hoarey old chestnuts are actually on display!” Directed by Jesse Griffin (of country crooner character Wilson Dixon fame and award winning comedy group The 4 Noels), with original music being written by Tripod’s Steven Gates, Brough says he wants part of the fun of the show to be about how ridiculous it is that he’s attempting to remake a musical action film with a cast of thousands all by himself. “I hope that is going to be part of the fun of it when I say to people ‘and now Maria meets all of the Von Trapp children’ and they’re going to go ‘wellll, let’s see how he does this, eh?’”
Although What Is It You Can’t Face! marks a return to the Comedy Festival stage for Brough, who is regularly seen as team captain on ABC1’s Spicks And Specks and heard on radio 774 on Sundays, he’s been working behind the scenes in the past few years, directing shows such as the Barry Award winning Sammy J and Randy in Ricketts Lane and the Golden Gibbo nominated The Incident with Sam Simmons and David Quirk. “I was very proud of both shows. Most years I’m directing at least one or two shows, so that’s kept me relatively busy.”
Alan Brough performs What Is It You Can’t Face! at Melbourne Town Hall’s Supper Room from March 31 – April 24. It’s at 7pm Tuesday – Saturday and 6pm on Sundays. Tickets are $25 – $34 and available through Ticketmaster online, 1300 660 013 and at the door.
