By Oliver Lees
Avril Good is a Kyneton resident who is set to perform in the 24 Carrot Productions performance entitled The Regina Monologues at the Meat Market Stables in Melbourne later this month. She spoke with Oliver Lees.
What can you tell me about the show?
The Regina Monologues is all from the perspectives of different queens throughout history. It covers the challenges in their ruling lives and the ways in which they were challenged. The show will comprise 13 monologues from different rulers through history, including Queen Himiko of Japan, Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Isabella of Spain and Queen Njinga of Angola.
Each monologue is very different in style. Somare are very comedic, others cover very difficult themes like mental health and body language that are quite confronting. The first performance is a dual monologue with two queens talking to one another, and then the audience can walk around and have a choice of where they’d like to go next. It’s a bit like a choose-your-own-adventure. I think everyone will be able to find something for them.
Has your work been impacted by the pandemic?
We were meant to perform in May last year, but obviously that had to be postponed. We continued throughout the lockdown doing rehearsals via Zoom, to try and keep our head in the game and stay connected and see some friendly faces.
One of the advantages is that we’ve been immersed in our characters for much longer than usual. You rarely get so much time with a character. For me, my character Persephone is always sitting in the back of my mind. Persephone deals with feelings of anxiety and depression, which I felt I could relate through lockdown. I think that’s true for a lot of the performances.
Catherine the Great is another character in the performance, and she talks about vaccinations, as she was a pioneer for inoculation in Russia. Originally that topic wouldn’t have been so topical, but now it is.
What do you enjoy about the performing arts?
I first performed with 24 Carrot Productions five years ago, and that was the first time I had performed since I was in high school. I auditioned and was lucky to be cast. I’m now on the board at the company.
I really enjoy the rehearsal process. I don’t have many things in my life where my mind is entirely occupied by what you’re doing. It’s great to have a complete form of escapism. I also love watching other people perform and see how they interpret their roles. I’m really excited we can do live theatre again, we’ve been rehearsing since February last year.
