Matthew López’s Olivier and Tony Award winning two-part drama, The Inheritance Parts 1 & 2, is finally coming to Sydney this month.
The story centers around a young gay couple, Eric & Toby and their circle of friends, including older couple Walter & Henry, whose lives are disrupted by a series of events. The play is a contemporary retelling of EM Forster’s classic novel ‘Howard’s End’ (and includes Forster himself as a character) filled with reflections on queer culture, literature, US politics, the Aids crisis, and covering fraternal, sexual and inter-generational gay relationships.
This year alone we’ve had all new productions in Melbourne and Canberra, and in Sydney it lands at Seymour Center (the season has already been extended due to demand) under the direction of Shane Anthony, the director behind two of my favourite shows of the last few years, Ulster American (Seymour Centre & Ensemble Theatre) and Anatomy of a Suicide (Seymour Centre).
Shane stepped out of rehearsals to have a quick chat about why The Inheritance is so beloved and still so important.
Answers have been edited for clarity.
Cultural Binge (CB): To start with, how did you come across The Inheritance? Did you see the original production? Did you first read the script?
Shane Anthony (SA): No, I didn’t see the original production. I heard about it, obviously. I had a friend who was involved in the Broadway production and then a friend of mine who lives in London had seen the show and often recommended scripts for me to read and so pointed it out. I read it in 2019 or 2020, and then started harassing the agent for the rights here in Australia.
CB: So when you read it, what was the thing that drew you to it to start with?
SA: It’s just good writing. I read it in one hit, it’s a page turner. It’s nuanced, it’s complex, it’s messy. These characters are fucking up, they’re flawed, which is exciting, you know, because it’s not one dimensional.
I’m also a sucker for plays that have characters needing to mine their traumas to move forward. I find that deeply fascinating because I think as a director it offers a really incredible terrain to work with. I’m personally interested in plays that have rich, compelling personal relationships, that are political, so it ticked a bunch of boxes for me.
CB: It’s funny because now, the playwright Matthew López is probably more widely known as the director of the hit gay rom-com movie ‘Red, White and Royal Blue’, which is a lovely piece of fluff, than as the writer of this multi-generational epic drama.
SA: There’s definitely some moments of fluff in The Inheritance too. The Inheritance is very funny and silly at times. There’s some romantic comedy moments. There’s definitely moments of deep gravity and he’s obviously wrestling with some big themes, queer history and legacy, but there’s definitely some soapy moments which are entertaining.
I think it’s like a beautiful cocktail to have this gravity and to have these moments that are really bubbly and fun as well.
CB: The Inheritance talks a lot about inter-generational relationships and friendships and mentorship. A focus of the play is how gay men don’t always have older people to teach us about gay life, and the Aids crisis decimated a generation. Did you have queer elders or mentors that were part of your life growing up?
SA: That’s a great question. It’s only been in the last decade that that’s become the case. And obviously, without mentioning who that person is, there’s one individual in particular, who I do look up to. So that there is a mentoring, guiding quality there. That’s quite beautiful, actually. So a lot of love and respect for that person.
It’s been really interesting having three separate generations in the rehearsal room. Some of the younger generations have just reflected on how different their experience has been and that has not been such a thing for them. They haven’t needed that guidance in the same way which is both refreshing and also eye opening.
CB: Definitely. I find it’s encouraging because that’s what we always wanted, that freedom to not be totally defined by our sexuality, but also part of me wants to go “Fuck you. You don’t understand what it was like!”
SA: Which is what the play’s interrogating. What do we owe the generations before that forged this path for you. You know, that’s a luxury. There’s a privilege in that legacy.
CB: I’ve got the cast list, and I’m making some educated guesses on who’s playing which character, but I am very curious to see who’s playing the most important character in the show… Tucker.
SA (laughs): This gorgeous young actor, Jack Richardson. Tucker’s wonderful. A lot of fun. Jack’s timing is impeccable, so it’s a joy. We looked at a bunch of Tuckers and there were different iterations of what that character could be. Then Jack just arrived with something that was actually unexpected. Jack’s got us laughing in the room.
CB: Who’s doing the design work on the show? Tell me more about your team.
SA: We’ve got a really excellent team. I’m very fortunate. Kate Beere is a wonderful designer I met a couple of years ago, and she’s just created the most perfect space, which is essentially like a blank canvas for our production to take place, but highly suggestive of all of the multiple locations that the play needs to support.
Tim Chappel, who won an Oscar and BAFTA for ‘The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert’, is doing our costumes. Damien Lane is the composer on the production. I’ve worked with Damien a bunch before on previous shows. And Alex Berlage is doing lighting design.
CB: You do have a very high powered cast and production team on this. How did you get them all together?
SA: I really have to praise the producing team, of which I’m one of the producers. Gus Murray from Sugary Rum and Daniel Cottier. We’ve been working for a year and a half on the show. I know it’s so cliche, but it really feels like there’s a village of people working on this, which is so beautiful.
CB: So the show is two plays, told in three acts each (with act breaks). On the full two-show days there’s a longer meal break between the two plays so you’re not stuck in the theatre non-stop for the full duration.
I do imagine, though, that a lot of people are going to be slightly wary just because of the length. I’m the kind of theatre nerd who’s absolutely down for sitting down for almost seven hours of theatre. But that’s not the case for everybody.
SA: I kind of expected the same, but our sales are totally the opposite, actually, and we’ve been really surprised. The ticket sales are definitely much stronger than previous Seymour shows that I’ve directed at this point in time. So there’s obviously an appetite for the experience and for just being in the theatre. And you’re right. I’m like, who are these people who want to sit in the theatre for seven hours? But that audience is obviously out there.
It’s rare that we get these kinds of durational experiences in Sydney, things like Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music a couple of years ago [CB: Or Bark of Millions]. With these kinds of shows I think people allow themselves to go into another world in the way that we do when we binge television. There is also a sense of community that you develop when you’re sitting in a room with people for seven hours going on this journey together. So do it in one day if you can.
There are a bunch of people that are planning to see the show have already seen it overseas and I hope we live up to those expectations. I’ll be also interested to see how Australian audiences will see this because it’s so specific in terms of its cultural ties to the United Kingdom and EM Forster and ‘Howard’s End’, but also its set in New York, which is such a character as part of the piece as well.
CB: The version of New York in the play feels very early 2000s. It’s the ‘Sex & the City’ New York that we all know very well. It’s Gramercy Park, the Whitney, the Lincoln Center and trips to Brooklyn. Places and things we know from pop-culture.
To wrap up, how would you convince someone that The Inheritance is going to be something that they should come and see?
SA: I would say that it is a profound, epic piece of theatre over seven hours that is about personal relationships. Absolutely universal, but set against the backdrop of queer history and both British and American politics. You’ll laugh, you will cry, you’ll be entertained.
CB: Thanks for your time.
The Inheritance plays at Seymour Centre from Nov 7-30, 2024 with the option of seeing both parts in one day, or over two evenings.
If you need more convincing you can read a review of the Broadway production on The Queer Review, my mini review of the Los Angeles production, and my review of the Melbourne production.
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