Maggie Scott has been part of the theatre world for as long as she can remember. It has been a long time since she has walked the boards, as for a long time she has been in the director’s chair. Sydney Arts Guide fired some questions her way as she brings together her latest production for the Hunters Hill Theatre Company, C.J.Johnson’s THE DOG LOGS, which opens at Club Ryde on St Patrick’s Day, the 17th March, 2023.
Q. Maggie, You are tertiary educated with a degree in drama, and then have gone on to act, direct and teach drama. Did your love of theatre start with school productions? Did you get involved with theatre groups in Manchester before you came out to Sydney in 2000?
A. Yes I suppose the love started with playing the Ugly Duckling as a 5 year old in ballet class and then progressed to school productions. I went to an all girls grammar school so we played both the male and female roles. After university productions in Manchester I gained my Equity card through a short period with Asylum Theatre then spent most of my adult life in London or nearby Surrey. There I was a member of the Miller Centre Players and Chipstead Players.
Q. You migrated to Sydney in 2000, the year of the Olympics. Are you a sports lover as well as a theatre lover?
A. Yes my other passion is English Premier League football. I’ve been a Manchester City fan since I was 14. The only time I managed to marry the two passions of theatre and football was when I directed a play about the 1990 World Cup – An Evening With Gary Lineker.
Q. You have been actively involved with theatre since coming to Sydney. How have you managed to sustain your passion? Your day jobs, have they been theatre related? In what areas?
A. Always sustained the passion! For many years I taught English as a Foreign Language, with a specialisation in English Through Drama. I also taught Drama workshops – both for children and for adults with a disability.
Q. You have been involved with the Hunters Hill Theatre Company since your arrival. The Company is one of the oldest surviving community theatre companies in Sydney. The Company has gone through many changes over the time. You were its President between 2016 and 2019? How have you found the experience? What have been some of the highlights?
A. Yes they were difficult years when I was President as during that period the Anglican church sold our theatre premises of 21 years and we needed to find a new temporary home. This we did in Hunters Hill Town Hall, with varying success. Personal highlights of mine over the years with HHT have been acting roles in plays like Dancing at Lughnasa and Sylvia , whilst favourites I have directed have been Daisy Pulls It Off ,Stepping Out, The Sunshine Boys, Tartuffe, Moonlight & Magnolias, Perfect Nonsense and 84 Charing Cross Road.
Q. in 2005 you bravely set up your own independent, profit share theatre company, Insomniac Theatre. You ran the Company for twelve years, playing pubs and clubs in the inner west. They were great shows. This is how we first met. I enjoyed coming to see the shows and reviewing them. How did you navigate the pub/club theatre experience? What were some of your favourite memories from that time? Did you have a good team? Were you sad to close the Company down? Do you think that there is any future in pub theatre?
A. Thanks for your support David. It was always interesting and exciting performing in pubs and clubs. And unpredictable. Like the time the police organised simultaneous drugs raids in all local pubs just before curtain up, or the time a drunk stumbled onto the set and started eating his pizza onstage. I had a fabulous team of casts and techies. and together we had some very happy years. Some favourites of mine were productions of True West, Shakers, Bouncers, The Flags, Motherhood Out Loud, Jerry & Tom, The Local and of course THE DOG LOGS. So it was a terrible wrench to put it all on hold but frankly the writing was already on the wall with many local pubs beginning to close.
Q. A few years ago, the Hunters Hill Theatre Company moved venues from the Hunters Hill Town Hall to its new location in a theatre space that has been set up for the Company within Club Ryde. From an outsider’s view the move seems to have been successful. There’s people at the club who might come up and see the show. There’s on site parking. Is the Company happy with the way things have gone?
A. Very much so. It’s mutually beneficial as the Club also enjoy having our patrons book dinner or lunch there plus buying pre- and post-show drinks at the bar. Most importantly though we have exclusive use of the theatre space and so can build our sets in situ and rehearse on the set from early on in the process instead of having to bump in and out in a very limited time. Acoustics are good and we have some raked seating so audiences are also very pleased with the new auditorium.
Q. One of the photos in the article features actors from the last show at Margaret Street. I don’t think readers would be familiar with the Margaret Street Theatre. What is the story there?
A HHT performed there for 21 years, from 1995 to 2016, in a beautiful little building in Margaret Street, Woolwich, rented from the Anglican Church. It was actually the old deconsecrated St John’s Church, to which HHT subsequently added raked seating, air conditioning , a state of the art biobox etc etc, and which had storage space for our costumes, props and flats. It was heartbreaking to have to vacate in November 2016 when the building was sold by the Anglican Church despite community outrage.
Q. You are directing the upcoming show at Hunters Hill Theatre (HHT), C. J. Johnson’s THE DOG LOGS. I am not familiar with the play and the playwright.
A. THE DOGS LOGS has had multiple productions throughout Australia including an Australian tour, and Borys The Rottweiler, one of the dog logs, is one of Australia’s most-performed monologues. CJ was short-listed for the Phillip Parsons Young Playwright of the Year Award in 2004 for his play Backpacker. His plays The Young Tycoons, La La Land, and Barnesy, the Harbour and You have all had multiple, successful seasons in Sydney. An award-winning filmmaker as well as playwright, C.J lives in Sydney and Los Angeles.
Q. You have worked with this play numerous times. You have put it on as an Insomniac Theatre production. You have also put on a one act version of the play which you took to the Trans Tasman Theatre Festival on Norfolk Island. How was that experience? What draws you to this play? How have rehearsals been going? Do the actors find it hard to get into the dogs’ heads? Can audiences expect an entertaining night with a lot of laughter?
A. I love this play in all its versions. It explores so much about not only dogs but also their humans, and the part dogs play in all our lives. The 16 dogs in this collection range from working animals to pampered pets to mangy old strays. I am including some dogs I have never included before so the text (an amalgam of both the Australian and the American scripts) constantly gets bigger and better. Taking part in the theatre festival on Norfolk Island was a fantastic experience. (Though it meant sharing a house with all the dogs for a week). The current rehearsals are going full steam ahead. I have a new and brilliant cast of 4, playing an average of 4 dogs each, who have well and truly got into their many characters’ heads. It has helped to have, coincidentally, as my Assistant Director, someone who happens to have experience as an actual dog trainer! Thank you, Chrissie. Audiences should expect plenty of laughter but I advise them to bring tissues too. There is loss along the way.
Q. What does the future hold for Maggie Scott? More directing shows for HHT and other community theatres? Any acting roles you would like to play? Any chance of you putting on another independent theatre company production with a favourite play that you haven’t tackled yet? I don’t imagine that you will be retiring from theatre any time soon.
A. I would love to keep directing. I started out as an actor and still get a thrill from creating a character onstage but if I had to choose I would always go for the buzz and the attention to detail of pulling an entire show together. I doubt I would return to independent theatre in the current climate. I love working in community theatre and would wish for many more successful years with HHT at Club Ryde.
Hunters Hill Theatre Company’s production of C.J.Johnson’s THE DOG LOGS is playing the Hunters Hill inside the Club Ryde between the 17th March and 2nd April 2023.
https://www.huntershilltheatre.com.au/
Featured image : With cast & crew of the last ever production at Margaret Street – Moonlight & Magnolias. Maggie Scott is third from the left in the front row.
Hunters Hill Theatre Company is offering one double pass to each Saturday night perform of the show during its run. editor.sydneyartsguide@gmail.com with THE DOG LOGS PROMOTION in the subject heading. Advise which night that you would like the double pass for. Winners will be advised by email.