RENEE LIANG chats to Lori Dungey, member of improvisor group ConArtists and co-creator of Austen Found, which presents the ‘undiscovered works of Jane Austen’ at the Comedy Festival this week.


RENEE: How did you get the idea for Austen Found?

LORI: Penny was on her travels in the States last year and saw they had a Jane Austen (as well as Tennessee Williams and Chekhov) literary show in LA. She liked the idea but wanted to make it a musical as well. Penny is a big Austen fan and thought the girls would flock to it. She’s so right. It has clearly struck a chord with women though I am sure there will be men attending as well.

R: Who’s involved?

L: In November last year the first all NZ Improvisation Festival was held at BATS and every improv group had to present a show. Penny called myself, Stayci Taylor and Greg Cooper, all members of ConArtists to create a new show. She put the concept to us and we all loved the idea of such a strict code of behaviour put into such a free form style of performance.

R: How do you develop a show like this?

L: It’s actually perfect for improvisation because the problem (or the challenge) is that there’s often too many choices in improvisation and you’re constantly hoping you’ve made the right one.But with the Regency period everything was so buttoned down it meant we had less choices or more that the choices we made, had to be played more subtley. The stories we told had to somehow be smaller or rather it’s the small incident that becomes huge and drives the story. In that time the smallest thing had so much significance. If you touched a man’s hand you were practically engaged!

We didn’t really have a structure to hang the show onto so we had to make one up. All we get from the audience is the title of the show. We have an audience member select one of the deadly sins – example Lust – and then the audience comes up with a word starting with L that is a good match (like Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility). The title could be Lust & Lethargy or Sloth & Saintliness etc. And then we’re off. In Auckland we have added one more man, Nigel Burrows, which has taken some of the pressure off our poor solo man. Our Regency dresses do have hooks on them so we can, if the occasion warrants, create a sort of pantaloon look and transform into men.

R: Who is your favourite Jane Austen heroine and why?

L: I don’t really have one stand out heroine of Jane Austen. I suppose all of the women she writes about would be my heroines. She really began to push women forward as thinking, rational creatures into the consciousness of well bred people. In so many ways women were considered ineffectual and powerless but Austen also presented a pleasing image of an educated woman.

She had a devilish sense of ribald humour and rewarded those readers who understood the double wit that she was creating in her words. She also presented an emotional life to women, which may very well have helped men examine and voice their own feelings.

I also love how all of her stories are restricted to her class – those who served them seemed to have had no life. She rarely gave any of those people below her a look see.

R: How much of the show is rehearsed/pre scripted and how much improvised?

L: We have a ball because every Austen story seems to have one and we have rehearsed a dance scene. What we say however in that dance scene is not set and will alter according to the story on the night.

e also know there will inevitably be a parlour scene, a piano forte playing scene, a turn about the room, a walk in the country and perhaps even a hunting scene. Then there will be love and love will be put into peril. Generally those love matches that have been forged throughout the show will be revealed by the end and the lovers and their family will sing about it.

The great thing about the Regency period is that they only did a certain number of activities so everyone will recognize when we’re in a carriage or when we take a brisk walk to the estate next door for morning tea or when we’re buying ribbon at the haberdasher.

There also seems to be the prescribed characters – the meddlesome neighbor, the paupered widow with only one servant, the pompous doctor, the cold but handsome wealthy bachelor, the twittering silly young girls and so on and so on. There’s a huge number of characters to choose from and the rehearsal process has been about exploring as many of these characters and scenarios as possible.

We have rehearsed like beings possessed and hopefully the hard work will show in the authenticity of our plot, speech and manner. We’ve read, watched the movies and studied up about the period.

We’re also singing away about all that’s going on around us and that can get pretty silly. Sometimes we have to work very hard to not just stop and have a good laugh. Ross, our muso is working very hard to determine when it’s the right time to sing and what sort of style of song would be suitable. Sometimes the characters may just break out into song without warning and he has to catch up and go where the singers go. There’s a huge amount of give and take between Ross and the other actors. Hopefully you’re psychically making the same decisions at the same time! But sometimes not and you have to work really hard to ensure everyone is moving forward with the same story.

We have a board at the side of the stage to write down people’s name and bits of plot points so we can keep it all straight in our minds.

R: Who do you think will love the show? (Will the show appeal to people who don’t find Mr Darcy sexy?)

L: I think everyone should love this show. It’s a bit of a send up of the Jane Austen style though sometimes we do create some very touching scenes. It’s not all a laugh a minute. The singing is pretty fun and it’s a very intimate space so the audience should literally be able to hear the cogs of our brains grinding along. It’s pretty exciting to see six people mind-meld and create an entire evening of theatre from so little information supplied by the audience.

For those who think Jane Austen is not their cup of tea (and I can’t imagine who), we have another Comedy Festival show starting, at The Drake, on May 14 called Sex, Lies & Improvise, right after Austen Found. The MC will be wearing pajamas and a dressing gown and the audience will be asked to fill out some naughty questionnaires prior to the show – completely anonymous. So the audience can get their Austen hit at 7:00pm and then jump under the covers with some very saucy improvisers at 8:30pm.