ALEX & EVE: Sydney Indie Phenomenon

When Alex and Eve: The Baby opened at The Factory in Sydney in August, it was the third instalment in what has become an amazing Sydney Independent theatre phenomenon. Stephen Carnell interviews writer/producer/actor Alex Lycos and director Michael Block.

How did the idea for the Alex & Eve story originate?

Alex Lycos: Well, I’m of Greek descent and I was dallying with a Lebanese girl a few years back and wondered what would happen if I took her home to meet my very traditional Greek parents.  So I wrote that story.

SC: Has your life as a son of immigrant Greek parents influenced the characters and situations in Alex & Eve?

AL: Most definitely! I’ve known these people and problems all in my life. And I know that the life of immigrants in Australia is an evolutionary journey. The Alex & Eve trilogy is about my journey, Eve’s journey and ultimately our journey together.

SC: What led you to write, produce and act in the Alex & Eve trilogy over the past 5 years?

AL: Alex & Eve was the 2nd play we produced. I only began producing plays, and created the Bulldog Theatre Company, because every independent theatre company and the Greek community theatre company rejected the play. With my frustration at the constant rejections reaching breaking point, I decided to put my own money into my plays and produce them myself. We've since built a great team including Paul Miskimmon, Elena Stamoulis, Socrates Vothoulkas and Eithne Freeney.

The first Alex & Eve play dealt with their courtship and how their friends and families reacted to this problematic romance. The character Alex is a somewhat traditional Greek-Australian Orthodox boy, who is a high school teacher (like me), and lives at home with his parents. Eve is a Lebanese-Australian Moslem girl and a corporate lawyer who lives with her parents. This play was well received. So I then wrote ALEX & EVE: THE WEDDING, and most recently, ALEX & EVE: THE BABY.

SC: As a writer/producer/performer, how do you work with your director Michael Block?

AL: Michael and I have a very synergistic creative relationship. I focus on the mechanicals of rehearsals and performance, including rewrites. Michael focuses on the on-stage development of character and scenes. He pays attention to what works dramatically from the script and coaches the actors when it doesn’t. It’s a little different to most writer-producer and director relationships, but it works for us.

SC: How have your ALEX & EVE plays performed at the box office?

AL: I’ve been surprised and pleased at how well our work has been received by audiences.

Since the premiere of Alex & Eve nearly 5 years ago, the three plays have been seen by over 25,000 people and we have performed 90 shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. I’ve also written a screenplay of Alex & Eve as a feature film and this is currently in pre-production.

Alex & Eve: The Wedding opened in 2009 and has played 17 performances to 8,500 people in Sydney at The Factory, plus one special show to a full house at the 1600 seat Enmore Theatre. I do questionnaires to the audience at each show and feedback has been excellent.

SC: How have you marketed the Alex & Eve series?

AL: Mostly via online, database and word-of-mouth. We collect audience details at our shows on the questionnaires, using prizes as incentives. This initiative has built our database and enables us to quickly prompt to those who have been to a show to invite others to enjoy the same experience. Once we have audiences in for our first couple of shows bookings rise fast for subsequent shows. Referrals work well. Using The Factory gives the flexibility to add additional performances at relatively short notice.

Flyers are useful and our sponsors promote the show to their contacts, but electronic marketing is our core activity. Our two trips interstate broke even and paved the way to further exploration of growing the Alex & Eve franchise. We’ll go interstate again in 2012.

SC: What have been the greatest difficulties in mounting three productions of Alex & Eve?

AL: Keeping the bulk of the cast together over five years. We lost a few after the second show and we’ve had to integrate new actors into our cast. But having Michael Block on board as our director for all three shows, building a strong team spirit and paying our cast a weekly wage have contributed to consistency and keeping our cast together.

SC: In hindsight, what would you do differently?

AL: Manage the cast better. I didn’t know the show would expand into three plays over five years, each involving the same characters. So building a good team for a long haul was required. We did it, but there were a few major hurdles and trips along the way.

SC: What’s next?

AL: I just want to tell stories. I’ll work on new stories for stage and film. Plus I’m planning interstate runs for Alex & Eve 2 & 3. It’s going to be a busy next few years!

Stephen asked director Michael Block how he became involved with the ALEX & EVE trilogy.

Michael Block: I met Alex Lycos about 6 years ago when he was doing an acting course at Darlo Drama. I then directed him in “An Actor’s Nightmare” and we hit it off.

SC: What kept you involved with ALEX & EVE (A&E) over nearly five years?

MB: Well, I more or less retired from directing four years ago when I became a father. Alex invited me to join the A&E creative team and to share the responsibility for directing the show. I could focus on the actors’ performances and he handled the rest. This minimised my time involvement in the production and allowed me to do what I love most – work closely with actors.

SC: What have been the difficulties?

MB: Well having different directors at different rehearsals sometimes meant mixed messages were sent to actors. But with a strong team spirit, this was always easily resolvable.

SC: How did you connect with the underlying theme of strangers in a new land?

MB: Coming from a small country town, I always felt like an outsider in the big city. I had experienced the alienation that Alex and Eve’s parents suffer their whole lives. And working as Sommelier at Bon Ricordo over many years has brought me close to Italian cultural issues in Australia. I got it!

SC: How do you account for the success of the Alex & Eve series?

MB: Well Greek audiences are the best theatre goers in the world, ‘cause they invented this art! (wink, wink!) There is very little on offer in theatre for ethnic audiences. We filled a gap.

SC: In hindsight, what would you do differently?

MB: Not much really. I direct by reading the script a couple of times, then putting it aside and focusing on the performance of the actors. If they are not fulfilling the dramatic purpose of a scene, I fine tune or re-engineer and ensure that the actors pursue their objectives. It’s all in the script. My job is to get that on stage. I was challenged by last minute script changes and no Tech Rehearsal.

SC: What’s next?

MB: I want to put together an ensemble of actors for what I’d call ‘Acting Jam’. It’s like jazz musicians riffing together, the actors work individually and together to find characters and a narrative thread. I’m designing a series of workshops based on this concept for Actors Anonymous.

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