As founder and Artistic Director of independent theatre company Mutation Theatre, McCarthy is used to scrounging around for money to buy props and costumes. So, it’s no surprise that his first challenge as an MTC employee was to adjust to a fuller bank account and accept the printed drink bottle and coffee cup that he was given.
However, it’s only after a challenging application process that McCarthy found himself in his current position. In the past, the MTC has appointed assistant directors based on prior work with the company or recommendation from the director. Unlike previous productions, Return To Earth, along with The Joy Of Text, Clybourne Park and The Importance Of Being Earnest actually advertised for Assistant Directors.
Applicants were submitted to a multi-staged recruitment process consisting of an application essay, examples of past work and interviews. “You basically had to explain which production you would like to work on or be interested in Assistant Directing,” McCarthy says of the application essay. “You had to explain why that play was of interest to you, why you wanted to work with that particular director and why you were interested in working with a company like MTC. It also involved submitting a DVD of a play that you’d directed.”
For McCarthy, being involved with Lally Katz’s work was a big draw card. She’s one of the most talked-about female playwrights this year and Return To Earth marks her MTC main stage debut. It’s an imaginative, bittersweet comedy about a young woman who returns home only to find that everything is strange and unfamiliar.
With Fennessy guiding the creative reigns, public anticipation of opening night is huge. McCarthy says that Fennessy himself was another reason that he was particularly interested in working on Return To Earth. “As a director you really have to think about how a text is put together,” he muses. “As an assistant director, I’ve learnt a lot about direction from working underneath Aiden Fennessy, who’s a very experienced director of new work.”
But director isn’t the only role that McCarthy is interested in playing. Having begun his theatre foray as an actor, he has also written and produced his own work within the independent theatre sphere. Therefore, this experience has also been beneficial to McCarthy’s other personas. “I’ve also learnt a lot about writing, just through the analysis of Aidan and the cast,” he explains. “They pick apart Lally’s script and figure out how it works. So through that I’m actually learning a lot about how writing for a stage and writing for a company like MTC works.”
Which, says McCarthy, is very different to his experience in independent theatre. Although his work with Mutation Theatre put him in good stead when it came to landing himself a job with the MTC, he says that the two are incomparable environments. While working for free undoubtedly sucks, the freedom to explore work that he finds contemporary and urgent, without any outside pressure, is where the beauty of independent theatre lies. McCarthy explains that this background is a solid foundation for moving into more main stage works, and is good grounding in the hard realities of what is a competitive industry.
Consequently, he is appreciative of the opportunity that the MTC provided. “The work that we do at Mutation Theatre we don’t get paid for,” he explains. “It means that when you get to a situation, like this role at the MTC, where you get the opportunity to work in a very well-resourced company and you get paid for your work, you’re very grateful for that. I’m also very grateful to have received an opportunity to work with some people who are legends of Australian theatre.”
While he’s taking as much from this opportunity as he can, McCarthy is also working hard to fulfill his role as assistant director under Fennessy. This largely involves observing and responding to rehearsals, chipping in ideas to discussion and being a sounding board for Fennessy, Katz or the cast. “It’s a very complex work that Lally has written, so having someone in the room such as myself who can be somewhat detached from the work to give feedback can be useful at times,” he says.
The MTC is renowned for pulling off such complex and ambitious work. Established in 1953, they’re Australia’s oldest professional theatre company and one of the largest theatre companies in the English-speaking world. With an abundance of talented directors, actors and writers, the company produces up to twelve plays in a subscription season.
However, it’s the hard work of these talented artists that is the strength of the company. “The depth and detail into which the director and actors go in to the script, and how rigorously they all work in bringing that story to life for the audience was particularly valuable to see,” enthuses McCarthy. “I think it’s really exciting that the MTC is investing in young directors, such as myself, so that hopefully in the not-to-distant future, we can step up into directing roles.”
