KEY POINTS:
Being a narcissistic species there is no doubt we spend a fair portion of time chewing over what others think of us.
Sociology and related subjects have turned the supposed conflict between our exterior and interior beings into a human science replete with terms like "the social construction
of self" and other jargon surely designed to confuse.
Theatrewhack, a collective which develops original and classic works, puts identity under the spotlight with its latest production, iS.
Described as "existential musical comedy", it mixes literary references, singing, dancing and contemporary and classical theatre to explore the disintegration of a young actress when an irresponsible director slowly peels away her sense of self.
It might sound cruel instead of comic but there is a happy ending, of sorts, when Issy (Madeleine Hyland) wakes up to the fact that there is more to life than fame.
But as the saccharine saying goes, it's often not the destination that counts but the journey and this one simultaneously pokes fun at and pays homage to popular culture.
Writer/director Patrick Graham's journey with iS began four years ago when he appeared in a local version of British playwright Sarah Kane's Crave.
Kane's debut play Blasted so shocked and appalled critics - the Daily Mail, although hardly the most liberal of newspapers, labelled it "a disgusting feast of filth" - that she later wrote under a pseudonym.
Described variously as "a new brutalist" and practitioner of in-your-face theatre, Kane committed suicide, aged 28, after writing five plays.
Graham, who found Crave brutalising, was hungry for a way to explore what it means to take on different persona, and where one ends and the other begins.
He wrote poems and then, through Theatrewhack workshops, introduced the fictional Issy and her story. Despite her inexperience, Issy is hired to star in a version of Crave being re-worked as a one-person show. Anxious to please and desperate to be famous, Issy agrees to the director's increasingly sadistic demands while grappling with depression and her confused feelings for female friend Jordan (Eve Gordon).
iS was first performed at the Wine Cellar on Auckland's Karangahape Rd and, despite little publicity, sold out its week-long season, which was extended.
Graham deliberately made it comic: "Didactic doesn't work even when you do want to make a point.
"Comedy is an extremely good way to communicate big ideas in a gentle way so people laugh first and then think about what they're laughing at."
But he felt there were elements that may have been confusing and wanted the opportunity to re-work the show for a wider audience.
In the initial production, Issy's flatmates took turns to personify aspects of the hard-driving theatre director, but in the latest outing Graham has created a separate director character, Joan (Kirsty Hamilton). It has been a collaborative approach with the cast, which includes Nisha Madhan and Xavier Hornblow as Issy's flatmates, having their say.
"It's not like we are puppets on stage," says Hornblow.
This has led to lively discussion on the production's theme, including why someone wants to act in the first place.
Madhan, last seen alongside Hyland in the energetic adaptation of Shakespeare's Cymbeline, admits she went to drama school with stars in her eyes.
"You gradually realise, though, that there's a lot more do it than being The One who makes it big," Madhan says. "It's about wanting to create good work that means something to people from across a broad spectrum."
Hyland agrees. For her theatre is about community and creating a place where people can laugh, cry and think - which brings us back to those sociologists who argue that it is community which creates personal identity in the first place.
The creators of iS may agree: "Telling stories is one way to encourage people to become the protagonists in their own lives."
What: iS - An Existential Musical Comedy
Where and when: Herald Theatre, Nov 22-25
