It’s been four years in the dreaming and making but Lally Katz worries her new play Atlantis might look like a quick turnaround “rapid response” project.
“So much of the play is about storms coming and going and during rehearsals we’ve had so many devastating storms and hurricanes in the news,” Katz says. “I hope it doesn’t look like I just threw this thing together at the last minute.”
In Atlantis, Katz returns to the city in which she spent her early childhood, Miami, Florida, a city more recently visited by Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest weather systems to make landfall in the area. Irma weakened as it approached the city and Miami dodged a bullet. But as Katz watched news reports of flooding and mass evacuations, a play named for the mythological city swallowed by the waves took on extra resonances. “I was hearing all this stuff from experts talking about how one day Miami will be underwater,” Katz says. “I thought how weird, because I see the past as being like that in a way. When you try to look back at your childhood, it’s like it’s underwater. You can never go back, you can never reach it.”
Katz, who lives in Los Angeles, working on screen projects including a new comedy series starring Seinfeld alumnus Jason Alexander, began writing Atlantis in the aftermath of a relationship break-up. “I was 35 and it had been a long-term thing and then I experienced a twisted ovary and suddenly my fertility seemed like a really big deal. In my twenties, I never thought about it all. In my early thirties, I was like, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if I got pregnant. Then in my mid-30s I’m single and panicking.”
Featuring more than 40 characters played by just five actors, Atlantis is a piece of “road trip theatre”, says Katz.
“It goes from Australia to New York City, from New York to Kansas, Kansas to Miami and then to Las Vegas,” she explains. “It’s a road movie, a comedy and a coming-of-middle-age story all sprinkled with the idea of climate change. There is a lot of weather.”
Like much of Katz’s stage work – plays including Neighbourhood Watch and Stories I Want to Tell You in Person – Atlantis weaves autobiography with whimsical strands of fiction. “Atlantis is a lot about me. The main character is called Lally. It is fictionalised truth. During that time, when I was heartbroken and searching for answers and maybe looking for a way to heal your heart, I met lots of amazing people. I met lovers who changed me a lot. They became part of the story. But I also met taxi drivers and Airbnb hosts and they’re in the story, too. Maybe it’s good that I’m leaving town again the day after it opens.”
Katz says her writing “lacks a filter”. “Writing about myself is so revealing. We do a reading and I think, oh wait a minute, this is absolutely embarrassing. But then we get into the rehearsal and suddenly it’s like they’re not talking about me anymore. But once the audience comes in, it will be humiliating, for sure. People always say if they don’t like the play it doesn’t mean they don’t like you. But with this one, they might.”
Atlantis runs until November 26 at Belvoir. See what else is on Sydney stages this month.