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Interview: Matt Byrne on Reservoir Dogs

Prepare yourselves for some killer fun when Quentin Tarantino’s killer-heist movie ‘Reservoir Dogs’ appears live on stage this October!

 

Reservoir-DogsPrepare yourselves for some killer fun.

Adelaide director and producer Matt Byrne is bringing Quentin Tarantino’s killer-heist movie Reservoir Dogs live-to-stage this October.

Byrne will also play one of the characters in his version of the cult classic, which sees a group of hardened criminals come together to rob a diamond store. The Adelaide premiere of Reservoir Dogs on stage follows the success of Byrne’s Avenue Q and Mother and Son which were introduced to Adelaide audiences through his company Matt Byrne Media.

For those familiar with the 1992 film, now is the chance for you to see it unfold in front of your eyes, but according to Matt there’s something to be enjoyed by those who haven’t seen it too.

“It will be faithful but you’ll be seeing it happen in a different way to the way you originally saw it. If you’re obsessed with the movie you will certainly enjoy it but this will stand alone as a piece of work apart from the film,” Byrne said.

“If you know the story that’s fine but I’ve already got a lot of people coming along who haven’t seen the film but they’ve heard about it and are intrigued by it and love [Tarantino’s] work.”

One of the main reasons that Byrne decided on doing a live production of Reservoir Dogs was Tarantino’s ‘clever’ script.

“The thing that attracted me to Reservoir Dogs and why I’ve always liked Tarantino’s work is the script; because his dialogue is involving and engaging, his characters are colourful and unpredictable, and there’s an edge to them. While he’s making you laugh he’s probably planning your demise and that’s a really cool thing for a writer to be able to do.”

When talking to Matt Byrne, it’s clear to hear his admiration for the award-winning screenwriter.

“Tarantino knows what the audience wants and he gives it to them in steam shovels,” he said. “There’s a lot of black humour [in the script] and he’s a very funny writer.”

The actors joining Matt on stage feel ‘very privileged’ to be performing the well-known roles.

“The guys are working together really hard and feel very privileged like I do to be working on something like this and bring something so iconic to life. Jim McInnes who’s playing Mr Pink is from Scotland, Rohan Watts who’s playing Mr White is a very experienced guy and has done a lot of shows with me and is doing an amazing job in the Harvey Keitel role,” Matt said.

“David Grybowski, who’s done many shows with me is playing Jo Cabot; he’s one of Adelaide’s best and most experienced actors. There’s kind of a mixture of new faces and old faces, which is what I really love.”

The audience can expect to see many of the film’s iconic scenes unravel on the Holden Street Theatre stage.

“They’ll see the story distilled back to its essence: the heist, the build-up and aftermath,” Matt said.

“What you’re going to see is these guys turning on each other, looking for someone who they can trust and it’s going to happen right in front of your eyes.

“Some of the iconic scenes when we present them on the stage will shock some people but they’ll be laughing, they won’t be able to look in some scenes but they won’t be able to look away either because it is just so clever, powerful and confronting.”

Byrne hopes to pay homage to the ‘king of cool’ through his production.

“Tarantino is the king of cool. We’re trying to present a very cool production that remains faithful and very true to the movie.”

“I think the audience will come out of it hopefully feeling that they’ve really been through the wringer, that they’ve seen something that is bloody funny, confronting and powerful and maybe some of them will go back to the film and appreciate it even more.”

By Isabella Pittaway

Reservoir Dogs
When: 9 – 26 October 2013
Where: Holden Street Theatres at 34 Holden Street, Hindmarsh
Tickets: $23 – $28
Bookings: Matt Byrne Media on 8262 4906 or VenueTix on 8225 8888

 

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