SERENA: Can you briefly talk about the show Pirates of Penzance?
MAXWELL: So, the character I play is Frederic in Pirates of Penzance which is a musical written by Gilbert and Sullivan way back in the late 1800s. This is an adaptation of that, so it’s been sort of rewritten a lot and basically we start on his [Frederic’s] 21st birthday and he’s finally out of his indentures and he’s a fully fledged pirate and he says, pretty much, “I’m out of my indentures. I don’t want to be a pirate. I have found this book that tells me how to be a gentleman. I’m gonna go into proper society and become a gentleman. And because I’m a gentleman that means that all the pirates are my sworn enemies.” And, it’s sort of his journey attempting to go into society and become a gentleman.
SERENA: What are some of the themes and what should people expect from the show?
MAXWELL: The themes are a lot about duty. The subtitle of the show is ‘The Slave of Duty’ and it’s about exploring: what are our obligations to duty? And what duty should we pursue? And how does that affect our lives?
And people should expect a camp, dumb, fun, silly, hilarious musical. This show has been so much fun to put together and so much fun to perform and it’s just … it’s just so much fun!
SERENA: How did you approach the creation of your character within the show? Have you had any particular challenges or exciting opportunities from playing this role?
MAXWELL: I came at it with just as much fun and joy as possible. I just thought from day one “I’ll just go big and see what lands” and see where the director was like “no, that’s not kind of the right direction we want to go this way” and just kind of feel out the world of the show. I always try to lead with things being silly and fun so that was kind of my angle in, to see where the humour of it is.
SERENA: Any particular challenges or exciting opportunities playing this role?
MAXWELL: The whole show is usually done with around 30 people and we’re doing it with five people so that is a massive challenge. This show is athletic to say the least. Everyone is on stage all the time and that’s pretty crazy. You can do a big show that’s two and a half hours and have 20 minutes on stage and that’s a big role. We are all on stage for the entire show and it’s massive.
SERENA: How do you balance the humour and musicality in your performance?
MAXWELL: Some moments are meant to be humorous and musical and some moments are just purely musical and sometimes the humour only works when it’s played musically accurately and sincerely. So yeah, that’s kind of a tricky one to answer. I guess, I just try to always read when the humour will come from being as sincere as possible and also where the show needs a sincere beat. It’s always tempting to go more into the humour then you need to sometimes.
SERENA: What do you hope the audience will take away from your performance or the show as a whole?
MAXWELL: I’m hoping that the audience leaves this show having just had the most fun they could’ve possibly had and just had a really, really, good cathartic laugh.
SERENA: What intrigued you about the show and your character? Is it something you’ve done before?
MAXWELL: I love this character Frederic because he’s just this young kind of himbo, naive-like, best-of-intentions-but-a-bit-of-an-idiot type and just so misguided. I mean, I find that funny and I think it is a pretty relevant thing in today’s age with manosphere stuff and toxic masculinity. There’s a lot of misguided young men and I think that this is a story about that.
SERENA: How does this role relate with other roles you have tackled?
MAXWELL: The show I did before this was a production of ‘Twelfth Night’ where I played Duke Orsino and I think those characters were pretty similar style-wise and that it was a very high-camp version of that show, so, I think stylistically, I sort of learnt a lot from that [and] tried to bring into this show.
This is actually – in terms of like main stage musicals – a pretty different role for me. I’ve done a lot more serious stuff. I haven’t really been given a lot of room to do big high camp silly stuff. Although, I did a show last year a couple times [and the] year before called ‘Bananaland’ with this character Ex who is kind of this big wacky misguided young man and I think it’s a character type. I’ve played a little bit but not a whole heap which is exciting.
SERENA: Where do you see yourself going with this role?
MAXWELL: Where do I see myself going with this role? I think just stupider and stupider. I think this whole thing with this show – the fun of doing it – is just silliness. It is so silly and fun. So, that’s the direction I want to keep going [toward].
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