HAS Interview

The Hampstead Authors' Society

Being, Seeming and Seeing – Theatre, Therapy, Confession and Psychodrama

In conversation with David Rhodes about his play, Rites of Privacy.

Zsuzsanna Ardó: What triggered the idea of writing Rites of Privacy?

David Rhodes: As an actor, one is usually at the mercy of others, waiting for a director/casting director or producer to give you permission to do your work. I wanted to empower myself and develop projects where I could be at the helm and keep my creative process fertile rather than depending on others for employment and expression.

ZA: How did then the idea for a play turn into the writing process itself?

DR: I have always been told the best source for a writer is what they already know. As a first generation, American Jew in New York, I was steeped in my family’s diverse cultural backgrounds and the varied population of Manhattan. Also as the son of two Freudian psychoanalysts and having been forced into therapy by my parents at an early age; shame, guilt and the power of secrets was well within my knowledge base.

ZA: How long did it take from the idea to the final product – the premier in NYC?

DR: I spent a year developing the piece and then another year gathering the necessary funding and creative team to get my vision realized. So from start to finish it took two years to get RITES OF PRIVACY mounted in New York. Now, two years later we are making our international debut at The New End Theatre in Hampstead.

ZA: Could you tell us about the nitty-gritty details of your writing process?

DR: Absolutely. Since I am an actor (and love to dress up) I decided to take an “active role” in developing this piece. I set up a video camera and dressed up in front of the camera and improvised. I would then view the video tapes and the characters I had created and build on them. To be more specific – I began by dressing up as my mother (a childhood fantasy), and confessing to the camera. Then I decided to transport her from Park Avenue to the Deep South, sort of Lauren Bacall meet Blanche Dubois. All the characters were developed in this way, beginning in some sort of reality and then being morphed and fictionalized for dramatic value, and to protect the guilty. Then I transcribed and edited from the improvised video tapes and RITES OF PRIVACY was born.

ZA: How does being an actor influence your writing? Do you catch yourself thinking as an actor while writing?

DR: Yes. Because I write plays, traditional two act dramas and comedies as well as more experimental pieces like RITES OF PRIVACY, being an actor is an essential part of my process. I imagine I am the character, say the lines in my head (or sometimes out loud) then imagine what the next line or next characters response would be. There is a constant inner dialogue or monologue, which essential becomes the text of the play.

ZA: How do you structure your days?

DR: Right now my days are about preparing for each evening’s performance. The show is very demanding, physically, vocally and emotionally. I begin warming up the lower register of my voice early in the morning and gradually make my way to the higher tones by mid afternoon. I try to eat well, get to the gym and review the script before heading to theatre. After the show I have supper and go to bed early. May not seem to exciting but it’s a joyful discipline that feeds me well, literally and spiritually.

ZA: To what degree do you as both the author and actor like to participate in the staging/design process, not to mention directing?

DR: I’m involved in all aspects. Even producing (though reluctantly). For RITES OF PRIVACY I designed the costumes and makeup, choreographed, and had an active role in the scenic and video design and participated in the fund raising events as well. The director and I work in close collaboration feeding off each other’s creativity and try to create the best we both can offer.

ZA: To what degree are the five different characters in Rites of Privacy are based on people you know? To what degree are the intimate secrets you reveal during the show the figments of your imagination?

DR: All the characters have departure points from real people, family members, colleagues and the like. Their stories have been embellished and theatricalized, in some cases their genders and nationalities have been changed as well. There is a core of truth in all the characters and I suppose in some way there is an aspect of me in all of them. The stories I tell from my own life while changing costumes are all true and to the best of my recollection accurate.

ZA: Why these secrets, why these five characters? Have you considered that the characters might come across as stereotypical?

DR: Stereotypes have their origins in recognizable national, ethnic and social characteristics. The characters represented in RITES OF PRIVACY span a spectrum of Jewish Americans from diverse backgrounds. Each one exists in all their recognizable glory. I have met them all. Even if they appear stereotypical, which I hope they don’t, they are all authentic. Their secrets presented themselves to me in stories that I have been told or inferred from their real life counterparts and others; so in a way they chose me rather than me choosing them. The autobiographical stories I have chosen are designed to seg-way into the character’s stories and create a personal relatable parallel with them.

ZA: The plot is driven by a dramatic need for confession by the five characters – and their author: you. Their confessions are interspersed with yours – or at least, what is presented as yours. Is it? To what degree is your life narrative, presented as another confessional thread in the structure of the play, authentic and real?

DR: Definitely authentic. The one character I have stayed true to is myself, which is really the theme of the play. My producer and director Charles Loffredo mockingly refers to me as the “the poster child for authentic living”. I find that very endearing. One certainly doesn’t need, as I have been artistically compelled, to divulge their private stories in a public forum; but living in shame and secrecy, in my opinion, is very damaging as in evident in the characters I have created.

ZA: The premise is Freudian – the hidden is harmful, it must be excavated to be healed. The Freudian analyst parents’ influence still haunting, even in the creative process?

DR: People ask me what it is like to have Freudian analysts as parents. My glib answer used to be “how should I know, I never had parents who were anything else? What is like to have parents who are shoe salesmen”? As I’ve gotten older I think the question deserves a more sophisticated response. Analysts don’t always make the best parents. Their children are not patients and their subjective, analytic insights can interfere with their innate parenting abilities. My parents were both excellent analysts by reputation, but limited as parents and “treated” us too clinically. My thinking and behaviours are steeped in overly introspective and self conscious self evaluation – no doubt. Sometime this leads me to great insight and inspired revelations and sometimes it interferes with my own innate creativity. Good or bad, I am certainly my parent’s child and as I say in RITES… “We (my siblings and I) grew up in the shadows of The New York Psychoanalytic society.” That said I do believe the hidden can be toxic and harmful and should be revealed and examined, at least to oneself to be healed and fully liberated.

ZA: Bridging the gap between the being and the seeming brings seeing: a reflected life which is worth living?

DR: I’m not sure I understand the question entirely, but I think there is an important distinction between perception and reality – facts and feelings. I don’t think the two can ever be completely untangled as the human experience is by its nature subjective and imaginative. I think it is for each of us as individuals to decide what world to live in and how to balance the two, reality and perception. A life governed solely by the tangible and scientific reality seems very dry; but being driven only by imagination and emotion can lead to madness and gross misinterpretation of the reality around you. Therapy can be a supportive tool in balancing the two. Since I have left behind my Freudian roots and explored some different therapeutic modalities on my own, I have found it to be very helpful.

ZA: You/your character mention in the play that you were pronounced uncurable by your analyst in your childhood. And yet… does the talking cure via Rites of Privacy work? And for it to work, does it need to be public? What is the interrelationship between therapy, theatre, confession and psychodrama in your experience?

DR My wife was an actress and is now a Psychologist. It seems a logical progression. I think psychotherapy and acting are two professions where in order to be most effective you must be willing to enter into the thoughts and feeling of people other than yourself without judgement. Both require empathy in a very visceral and personal way to be effective. As an artist, I explore my joys, passions and demons through my work; hopefully they have some universal relevance and appeal. We are all in the process of healing and growing, hopefully. The alternative is remaining static and or spiralling downward into madness or depression. Perhaps some are lucky enough to be completely content and self satisfied as they are. I need to keep exploring and am by no means at the end of my journey. There is no point of arrival where I am ultimately done or healed. It’s all process. I will say that I am certainly enjoying the ride and seem to be moving forward.

ZA: Your play and your passionate performance is an argument against secrets. Would you like to live in a world where there are no secrets? Would it be viable, possible and bearable?

DR: I think there is always a place for privacy and mystery. Not everyone needs to dance around in pantyhose airing their dirty laundry. But it would be nice if people could give themselves a break from the shame and guilt, and realize that there is nothing so shameful that they have done, or that has been done to them that it cannot be forgiven and processed. To err is human…to forgive is not divine… it’s fabulous!