STEFAN GOLASZEWSKI
After performing two Edinburgh shows as part of comedy sketch group ‘Cowards’, he has directed two Edinburgh Comedy Award Winning Shows (Tom Basden and Jonny Sweet) amongst others, performed two one-man plays in Edinburgh, (the first of which winning a Fringe First Award) made a TV series with ‘Cowards’ as well as making two radio series… Made a pilot for BBC3 called ‘Things Talk’, made a pilot for BBC called ‘Young Unemployed And Lazy’ which has recently been commissioned for a full series to be broadcast next year, starring Russell Tovey… Not to mention the development of his first play (Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About A Girl He Once Loved) into a screenplay with the UK film council…
Oh yeah… And he has also written a short film adapted for Hollywood starring Kate Winslet and Hugh Jackman (shooting to begin in a couple of weeks).
All this on top of recording three albums of pop songs in his living room as ‘The Popsocks’. (www.myspace.com/thepopsocks)…
On my annual visit to the Edinburgh Festival, I was lucky enough to catch his latest show ‘Stefan Golaszewski – Is A Widower’.
Set in the year 2056, this masterfully performed monologue presents one mans emotionally charged retrospective on a relationship with a woman… From married, to divorced, to widowed.
I decided to contact Stefan to find a little bit more about him, and his approach to creating a piece of theatre as successful as this…
Ok Stefan,
Last year you were massively successful with “Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About A Girl He Once Loved” not only at the Edinburgh Festival but also off Broadway and beyond…
How did it feel approaching the festival again this year with such expectation?
I'm not sure I thought about it. I think my main concern was the Widower play is a lot darker and more slippery than the other one and that anyone wishing to see another fairly cheerful thing about a nice enough div who gets in too deep would be disappointed. But I think most people went with it for what it was. You can't think about reviewers and awards - they don't even buy tickets. You've got to concentrate on making sure the people paying fifteen quid for a ticket get a great hour.
Your performing the two monologues along side each other as a double bill this Christmas at The Bush Theatre… Though each monologue is delivered from different age perspectives, both focus on a female and the theme of ‘love’. It’d be interesting to know whether ‘Is A Widower’ was at all inspired during or came about as a result of writing ‘Speaks About A Girl He Once Loved’?
I started writing it while I was still in Edinburgh performing the first play so they must be linked in my head I guess. It's probably a comment on the first play, in a way, as it takes the wide-eyed div from the first play and looks at what he'd be like if he was 76 and still had those same, very male obsessive desires. You know what men are like. They're a bit much.
And are these pieces influenced by personal experiences?
Erm... Some.
You decided to bring in Phillip Breen to work with you as director for both monologues … Obviously, writing the pieces yourself you would have had an idea of how you envisioned them being performed…
How did the introduction of an external Director effect the production of the piece?
I think the best thing a director can do is make the thing more like itself. Phil’s good at this. He's also good at making the thing look pretty and showing me how to act. Which is useful. We share the same desire to make beautiful, heart-breaking, funny, very human pieces of theatre that move an audience. Neither of us is interested in making a point or telling the audience an opinion we have, which is good because I don't know enough about anything to have any serious opinions on
Anything.
I can imagine performing a run of one-man shows for that period of time is quite intense… especially with such an emotionally charged piece… How do you go about maintaining your character throughout a long run of performances?
The hardest thing is the physical and mental stress of doing it. It's like doing an hour's work out and a really hard exam all at once every day for a month. This year I ate properly and didn't binge drink to get me through it. In terms of maintaining the character, I was constantly looking for new twists and details in the performance to keep it alive. People are so detailed in the way they move in real life and as you probably know you've got to work at recreating that.
Aside of ‘The Stefan Golaszewski Plays’ commencing in December… Tell us about any other projects undertaken over the last year?
At the end of 2008 we made our second Radio 4 series as Cowards and then at the start of 2009 they broadcast our TV series on BBC4. At the same time I've been writing the first draft of a screenplay adaptation of Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About A Girl He Once Loved with the UK Film Council and I made a pilot for BBC3 called Young, Unemployed And Lazy, which has just been commissioned as a series.
Throughout your life, what have been your main influences fuelling your ambition write and perform?
A couple of things, probably. I've never been good at anything else. Any job I've had I've been rubbish at so it was quite important that I found a way of making
money that didn't involve having a proper job. And other things I see that other people do. I often sit there in theatres thinking 'I wish it wasn't like this they're patronising the audience - I wish it was like this' so I go and write something like that. Or when I see something brilliant it makes me think 'I wish I'd done that' and I go and try to write something as good as that.
What does the New Year hold for Stefan Golaszewski?
I'll be finishing The Stefan Golaszewski Plays in January. Then we'll start filming Young Unemployed And Lazy for a few months. Alongside that I'll be working on the second draft of the film and writing a new monologue for the next Edinburgh festival called Messiah. (So do come and see that too...)
Stefan will be performing both Monologues discussed in this interview at The Bush Theatre… be sure to catch it over Christmas or in the New Year.
02 December 2009 to 09 January 2010. Opens 04 December 2009. Mon-Sat 19:30. Sat Mat 14:30.Dec 4 19:00
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