INTERVIEW: ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ moves from New Zealand to NYC
Photo: Simon Leary and Karin McCracken star in Heartbreak Hotel. Photo courtesy of Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade / Provided by BBB with permission.
Heartbreak Hotel, written by Karin McCracken and directed by Eleanor Bishop, began its life in New Zealand and has transferred around the world, with McCracken starring in the two-hander with Simon Leary. The two are back on stage exploring the many issues of heartbreak at the DR2 Theatre in Downtown Manhattan. Performances continue through April 19.
The show, created by EBKM, which is an abbreviation of Bishop’s and McCracken’s names, portrays a woman dealing with a recent breakup, and throughout the process, she encounters all of the men in her life, according to press notes. The play, which runs 75 minutes, is about serious topics, but the two actors are never far away from a laugh.
“We were really excited and sort of surprised,” McCracken said about the transfer to New York City. “It’s not a particularly well-trod transfer for companies from New Zealand, so we were really excited and maybe for six months weren’t totally of the belief that it would eventuate. But here we are. It did. Our whole company are really big theater fans, so to be in the theater capital of the world is so inspiring and exciting for us.”
Leary concurred: “I certainly didn’t really believe it until I got on the plane and then getting through immigration on the other side. It’s just a surreal thing to have happened. So delighted being able to take this show, but this feels definitely like a huge-life-goals-kind-of-thing.”
McCracken said that heartbreak is a universal experience, and perhaps that’s why Heartbreak Hotel has found success in multiple countries, including New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.
“Certainly sorrow, just to widen it out, is a very universal experience, and I think the content is resonating with people,” she said. “And the form is surprising people, and I think that combination right now is an exciting place to sit in the theater. … You go into a show about heartbreak, and you perhaps imagine a certain number of tropes and a certain way that it will roll out. I do think with our show we manage to subvert some of those expectations, which is fun for audiences.”
Leary talked about the worries he had on whether this New Zealand production would transfer well. Their first stop was in Edinburgh, Scotland, but he was pleasantly surprised to see that people responded positively to the characters on stage.
“We did Australia and London as well, and so I think we probably had a quiet confidence that it feels like a very human show that people are so yearning for this content,” he said. “It’s certainly fantastic to be received with open arms, but, yeah, I had a sneaking suspicion that people would laugh it up here as well, which I’m thrilled about.”
McCracken said the inspiration for the show came from a long-form heartbreak that seemed to not mesh well with the outside culture writ large. She didn’t want to hear the clichés like “Time will sort it out.”
“That wasn’t really working for me,” McCracken said. “The show is sort of a meeting point of those clichés. The songs are classic breakup songs, but they’re so revamped into this low-fi disordered version. And then something that we hope is slightly more honest and more accurate to people’s broad and diverse experiences of heartbreak, which is that it’s messy and nonlinear. It’s a physical experience; it’s not just an emotional experience. It’s a physical experience that your body also goes through.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Heartbreak Hotel, written by Karin McCracken and directed by Eleanor Bishop, was created by EBKM. The play stars McCracken and Simon Leary. Performances continue through April 19 at the DR2 Theatre in Downtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
