Behind the scenes — meet our Resident Director, Anthony Nicola
We’re introducing you to the special team of people responsible for making theatre at State Theatre Company South Australia. Here, we learn more from our new Resident Director, Anthony Nicola.
Who is Anthony Nicola?
I have no idea. But I was raised Greek-Orthodox and I’m queer, which probably explains a lot about me…
When did you first get interested in directing? How did you get started in this area?
Since I can remember I’ve been telling stories — I was a horrible liar when I was a child! I just couldn’t believe that we had this gift of the imagination and could craft whole worlds and people in our heads… So originally, I thought I was going to be a novelist, and although I enjoy writing immensely, it also terrifies me!
I got into Drama during my high school years and I realised that actually what I enjoyed was creating experiences for people. Then I became a very politically motivated teenager and realised that art was the best way to start conversations about things I feel are important to talk about, so I auditioned for the Flinders Drama Centre as a director and four years later — here I am!
Looking back, what do you think was one of your first experiences of being a director?
When I was maybe ten or eleven, I would direct my younger cousins in fairytale adaptations that I would put on at my yiayia’s house and charge my family to watch. Business was great for a few years! But soon enough, no matter how much I begged them they wouldn’t perform Cinderella for me, which infuriated my adolescent brain because I spent heaps of time on it the night before instead of doing my homework, and they were really inconsiderate for not taking my orders, and why weren’t they thrilled to be in my show? But my cousins had simply grown up. They were bored of it. And my life changed in the moment I realised I hadn’t gotten bored of it. At all. I never wanna grow up. So I thought to myself… damn, I’m gonna actually have to pursue this thing!
What do you believe is the role of a director in theatre?
I think the role of the director in the theatre is to be a facilitator. Your job in a rehearsal room is to help these brilliant individual minds to communicate as a whole, and within that comes the great vulnerability and joy of creation. A great director is someone who listens — with not just their ears but also their eyes and mind — to the world around them. Someone who always wants to learn and keep expanding their understanding of what it means to be alive.
What (or who) are your inspirations as a director?
I don’t have particular inspirations as a director but I have people who I really love from the theatre world: Stephen Sondheim, Romeo Castelluci, Pina Bausch, and the Greeks.
What has been your favourite moment with State Theatre Company South Australia?
The very first theatrical experience I can remember was Geordie Brookman’s 2014 production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, starring Rosalba Clemente as fading actress Irinia Arkadina (little did I know then that Rosalba would be my acting teacher at the Flinders Drama Centre).
It has stuck with me forever.
The production was staged in the old State Theatre Company Scenic Workshop on a traverse stage, and the fact that I could see other audience members reacting to the action of the play was life-changing to me.
It broke open my understanding of what theatre could be and what it could do…and The Seagull instantly became my favourite play and Chekhov my favourite playwright. It was a magical day.
How does your role as a director change the way you consume art?
It can be so hard sometimes to just sit back and watch something for entertainment value, especially after going to acting school and having all the magic of theatre and film cracked open and deconstructed. But it’s kinda like a switch for me. It takes a lot of energy to be critical all the time and hold everything you consume under a microscope. Lots of art is meant to wash over you… it’s not necessarily meant to be analysed or sometimes can’t be analysed or sometimes shouldn’t be analysed. So I always leave my critical brain at the door and let the experience take over.
What are some of your favourite plays to read, and would recommend to someone?
These are so many that I can’t list them all here! Here are some modern classics I love: Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Annie Baker’s The Flick, Nick Payne’s Incognito, Alice Birch’s Anatomy of a Suicide, Simon Stephens’ Motortown, Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County, Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive… just a few!
What are some of your favourite textbooks/podcasts/any other materials you would recommend to someone wanting to pursue a career as a director?
I don’t think there are any rules when it comes to directing. There’s not a “right way” and a “wrong way” to direct. There are thousands of different methods and there have been thousands of different books written on those methods. I think I’ve only read ten in my life… maybe less. I believe you can really only learn how to direct by directing. And in doing so you learn your own particular style! But Peter Brook’s The Empty Space and Eugenio Barba’s On Directing and Dramaturgy: Burning the House are two really fantastic books on theatre that have helped me through. I think I’ve learnt more from watching great theatre and films than anything else, so watch as much as you possibly can! Watch: John Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence, Jia Zhangke’s A Touch of Sin, Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth, Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann, Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz… the list goes on and on and on.
What can we expect to see from you in 2021?
So much! None of which I can talk to you about yet! In general, I’ll be dipping my toes into everything I can with State Theatre Company South Australia. Lots of workshops, developments and assisting with productions…And there is the possibility I’ll be working with someone I admire greatly and hold very close to my heart on a project they’re developing at the moment. Which would be a dream come true!
Why is live theatre so special?
Theatre is alive. Theatre is actually that magic thing that occurs between an audience and the performance. They don’t exist without each other. You can never re-create a great moment in the theatre, because that great moment was not only everything happening on stage, but it was also what you brought into the theatre on that particular day… your baggage and insecurities and joy and heartbreak — your singular energy — that you unknowingly sent up onto the stage. I know it won’t be long until we can create great moments in the theatre again, together.
