KEY POINTS:
Actor Paolo Rotondo has spent 18 months on a tour of duty with the play Strange Resting Places. Now he is taking leave to appear in the Silo Theatre's sassy end-of-year comedy, The Little Dog Laughed.
Former Shortland Street star Rotondo plays movie-star-in-the-making Mitchell Green, whose sexuality is, by the standards of our celebrity-obsessed age, incompatible with his matinee idol status.
"Mitchell has invested a lot of himself into making his dreams come true but there's just a slight problem in that he has neglected this quite important part of himself - his sexuality," says Rotondo. "He's on the cusp of joining the celebrity A list but then he falls in love with a rent boy called Alex [played by Charlie McDermott] and realises that by being the person he really is, he could lose everything he has worked so carefully for."
Enter Tinseltown uber-agent Diane (Alison Bruce), who decides it is mutually beneficial if her most successful client remains in the closet and on the arm of his blonde and pretty girlfriend (Sophie Henderson).
The result is a contemporary comedy of manners which ruthlesslydissects the age of celebrity and the calculated creation of public image.
It is the first time in nearly two years that Rotondo has worked on anything other than Strange Resting Places, which was lovingly created and crafted by Rotondo, Rob Mokaraka and Taki Rua Productions over a five-year period. It traces the stories and experiences of the Maori Battalion in Italy during World War II.
The play won the duo the 2007 Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for Best Writers and was nominated for Outstanding Production of the Year. It has taken them and fellow actor Maaka Pohatu around the country, to Australia and most recently to this year's 10th Festival of Pacific Arts in American Samoa this year.
"I was one of about two palagi in the New Zealand delegation," says Rotondo. "It was a real privilege, a very special event to be part of and I really enjoyed myself. The accommodation was pretty rudimentary. We slept on mattresses, communal-style, in a local polytechnic and there was music 24 hours a day. As soon as we got back from performing or watching others, the Maori boys would get out their guitars and start singing."
He jokes that he can't imagine Mitchell Green enjoying the experience, describing the character as egocentric and image conscious. But Rotondo also admits he recognises elements of himself in the character.
"As an actor, you have a public and private persona which sometimes blur. When I was on Shortland Street, for example, I was more conscious and aware of myself in the public eye because I knew a little part of me was still working and that people were watching me.
"I'd make sure I had a clean shirt on when I went out and I would try not to do anything too outrageous or draw attention to myself. I guess that's why actors tend to socialise with one another because you have a licence to express yourself."
Despite the fun he has had with Strange Resting Places, Rotondo says he was ready for a hiatus, especially given that the show will tour next year to Singapore and Canada.
"I didn't really know what I was letting myself in for when I got the audition for Little Dog because I was busy at the time doing a writing course and working on Strange Resting Places. I just got the two pages for the audition but found myself laughing at how outrageously ridiculous but finely honed it was."
Silo Theatre creative director Shane Bosher, who directs the satire, programmed The Little Dog Laughed because he had a similar reaction.
"Normally when I read a script, I try to sit back and think about how an audience will react and what they will like about it. But I lost myself in this script and was sitting there giggling and giggling. I have directed an awful lot of drama so I thought it was time I worked on a comedy."
Drama has been the order of the day for Silo over the past year since the decision to move from its home of 10 years and use the Herald Theatre as its new base. Fingers were crossed that the company's loyal audience of liberal sophisticates would follow.
But Bosher says the year has been better than he ever dared imagine with near-capacity audiences for Rabbit, Threepenny Opera and Betrayal. He says The Little Dog Laughed rounds out the year perfectly with its savvy blend of humour and humanity.
"It might be about movie stars and it might be set in Hollywood but this play is actually very much about the universal experience of falling in love. How do you get together? How do you admit you're in love? What do you do when you are torn between your true self and an image that has been created for you?"
The little dog laughed
Written by American playwright Douglas Carter Beane, the play was first produced off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre in January 2006. It features an actor, Mitchell, his agent Diane, a hustler named Alex, and Alex's girlfriend Ellen. When Mitchell and Alex become involved in a physical relationship, Diane is concerned that Mitchell's "slight recurring case of homosexuality" will derail his career before it gets started.
The play transferred to Broadway's Cort Theatre in November 2006 and ran for 112 performances. It was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play; actor Julie White, who played Diane, won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. The 2007 Theatre World Award was presented to actor Johnny Galecki, who played Alex.
What: The Little Dog Laughed
Where and when: Silo production at the Herald Theatre, Oct 24-Nov 15
