Male monologues take centre stage

By LINDA HERRICK, arts editor

Jason Hoyte wants to talk about sex. A lot of sex. For someone who confesses, "I'm quite a shy person by nature", Hoyte - one half of comedians Sugar & Spice - goes on to snigger he is having great fun playing an extroverted rent boy called Tim.

Tim is just one of five male characters Hoyte gives voice to in The Viagra Monologues, a three-man show written and directed by Geraldine Brophy as a masculinised homage to Eve Ensler's celebrated The Vagina Monologues.

On stage with Hoyte are actors Greg Johnson and Paul Barrett, playing a total of 16 men, gay, straight, young, old, and just plain old in-between. It's not all about sex, although sexuality does figure large.

"Quite a few people have said to me, 'How can a woman write about men and men's issues?'hs" says Hoyte. "That's quite an interesting point, but people like Roger Hall can write about middle-aged women and do it well.

"There have been a few things where we've gone, 'That's not true! That is just nonsense!' But she has shown us the facts and we have gone, 'Oh. Okay'."

Take another character he plays, 49-year-old Dibs, and consider this country's dismal prostate cancer statistics.

"You know how New Zealand males have this ungodly fear of going to the doctor and getting their testicles checked? Men just go, 'Oh my God, I'm not interested in that'.

"Dibs is that kind of guy. He's at the pub, he likes his beer and his cigarettes, and he doesn't like talking about that kind of thing, frankly.

"I related to that, absolutely. I need to be on my deathbed before I'll even consider going to the doctor. It's a terrible attitude, but a masculine one."

As well as Dibs and the rent boy, Hoyte also plays Glenn of Hawera - "a country boy, you wouldn't call him an intellectual but he is very honest and proud of his life, however humble that may be"; teenager Dominic - "kind of like a homeboy who talks about things a teenager goes through in his own vernacular"; and Michael, a priest.

All Hoyte will say about him is a cautious "he has been shaped by his own experiences and you can see why he is the way he is, but I don't want to give the story away".

Hoyte and his other Sugar & Spice half, Jonathan Brugh, were on stage as a hilarious Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Michael Hurst's production of Hamlet, casting which Herald critic Peter Calder called "inspired".

"Hamlet was a good experience," Hoyte recalls. "Because of the nature of our [Sugar & Spice] shows, people would never believe we would do that sort of thing, but we are both actors anyway so it was just another step for us.

"And it was great being part of a cast and not having to do the whole show ourselves."

Sugar & Spice, together now for 10 years, have attained an almost iconic status, a frisson of comedic anticipation rippling through the audience when they come on stage.

Hoyte laughs. "When we did the school matinees with Hamlet it was like we were legendary. It was ridiculous, it was a bit like being in the circus."

While The Viagra Monologues is a three-hander, Play 2.03 - this year's Auckland Theatre Company 2econd Unit production - is more on the scale of a rugby team, complete with reserves.

A total of 100 actors auditioned for the cast, which was eventually whittled down to a mere 14.

Those appearing include Claire Chitham (Shortland Street), The Strip's Michelle Langstone, Mercy Peak's Miriama Smith, and Edwin Wright and David van Horn, who impressed in the SiLo production of Unidentified Human Remains & the True Nature of Love.

Play 2.03 follows last year's 2econd Unit show Play2, developing its long-term strategy of pushing forward a new generation of actors and audience.

Directed by Oliver Driver and Colin Moy, Play 2.03 is written by Jodie Molloy and Jacques Strauss.

And because it is about a group of young Aucklanders, words are not enough - Mikey Havoc will DJ on stage, with KOG Transmissions.

But where Play2 was about one rather crazy night out in Auckland's club scene, Play 2.03 takes its cast and their interweaving stories into their homes over a few years as they play out, muck up and agonise over relationships and those other mad little things in life.

As we said last time round with Play2, "highly recommended - but be ready for something unlike anything you've seen before".

On Stage

* What: The Viagra Monologues

* Where & when: Herald Theatre, tonight-August 9

* What: Play 2.03

* Where & when: Maidment Studio Theatre, tonight-July 26