George F. Walker and Dani Romain
Writer of Escape from Happiness, Surburban Motel, Heaven, The End of Civilization, Criminal Genius, This is Wonderland, The Newsroom, Due South, Niagara Motel discusses his co-creative process
George Frederick Walker (“named after two dead uncles”) is Canada’s most produced and prolific playwright. Walker’s plays have been translated into many languages and continue to be performed worldwide. Four of Walker’s plays are currently being performed across the US with more to come in 2007.
Walker has not written for the stage since 2000’s controversial comedy Heaven and has apprently switched mediums now writing for film and television. Critical hits include Due South, The Newsroom and This is Wonderland. Walker also co-wrote Niagara Motel – a recent film interpretation of highly successful Suburban Motel play series incorporating Featuring Loretta, Problem Child and The End of Civilization.
Walker’s quirky cacophony of characters - often on the edge of beautiful chaos- speak in orgasmic dialogue overlapping each other to create a messy universal ‘verbal jazz’. Walker’s thought process is reminiscent of experimental music masters John Coltrane or Charlie Parker.The cabbie turned passionate playwright, goes out on an eccentric, unpredictable tangent when it comes to his story telling – giving his street cred characters nice monologues or ‘solos’ as the rest of the ensemble ‘fills in’ when the writing calls for it. For years Walker composed and rearranged these vocal symphonies in his head constantly arguing with himself about his many colourful characters. That tune changed when he met director Dani Romain who became his creative collaborator and writing partner.
Walker and Romain are responsible for ground breaking 'dramedy' This is Wonderland (nicknamed Law and Disorder) currently nominated for 12 Gemini (Canadian Emmy) awards. This is Wonderland which showcases offenders and defenders in Canada’s lower court system, was also nominated for a 2006 Monte Carlo Television Festival Award against dramatic heavyweights 24, Six Feet Under and Lost.
Thanks to the insight of Dani Romain, George Walker has transcended his stories and vignettes of marginal society to a different media playground through television, and like his theatre works, they are being enjoyed worldwide. To understand the writing process of George Walker is to understand the creative process between he and Dani Romain, be it writing for theatre, television or film. Walker and Romain speak in a kind of jazz – taking solos and filling each other in – Walker in gravelly fast paced lead vocals, Romain in fast paced slightly higher octave - both perfectly synchronized in thought.
It all began at Toronto’s Factory Theatre.
You were a cab driver and then you became a playwright? How did this happen?
Walker - It wouldn’t of happened had they not advertised. I didn’t have any ambitions whatsoever. I just kinda had to write. Every once in a while, I would just write stuff. But in the old days of The Factory (In Toronto) they were actually advertising for writers way back when people thought it was important to have a Canadian culture for a moment, so they actually went looking for people. A friend of mine said they were looking for plays at this theatre. Why don’t you write one? So I took a whack at it. Then I wrote one of a few things (The Prince of Naples) and they made me resident playwright and I thought great. That was the last conscious decision I made about writing until I met Dani. Dani said “Why don’t we stop doing this and start doing movies and TV?” and I said okay, “Let’s do that.”
Writing for television ( This is Wonderland ) versus writing for the theatre - is there a huge difference in the process or not?
Walker - It is still character stuff. You have to pay more attention to story but maybe not as much attention as I thought originally. We are learning that about the show now, actually we are trying to put more character stuff in and more incidental stuff and just having more fun. These people are not too dissimilar from the people I have been writing about all my life. The whole world was simpatico as soon as I walked in. This is just like a playground that I have already been playing in but writ large !
Romain – When he used to write plays, he would just write them. They would just come out. Now that there’s two of us, there’s a discussion but now we can go back to more character driven as opposed to figuring what the story is and then building it that way.
Walker - We need to do both I suppose. But when we get into trouble, if we are a little short on one idea, then we just expand something and just let it happen. Somewhere in the middle of the show, if we just want to have fun and we have got some space, we take some time now to just let something happen without any kind of worry. We both hate outlines a lot. What we have started to do and what we do now is make little short outlines for ourselves, to let us know where we are going, and not to try and explain them to anyone else, because to do that I find, just sucks energy.
Romain – Plus explaining to somebody else, once you figure it out for yourself and write the character to have the character say it, it’s much easier to explain what it’s going to be.
How do you write This is Wonderland?
Walker - We have a lot of different ways of doing this. We can stand and do it together. We can pass it back and forth – doesn’t really matter.
Romain – At every stage we go through we bang every idea back and forth all the way through, and then we put it together and we go back and forth all the way through.
Walker – We are in tune with each other because I forced Dani get in tune with me (laughing) Dani’s for me, the person I have been missing all these years writing, that I’m having an argument with anyway. Know what I mean? I’ve been having an argument and a discussion with this other part of my brain about "Is this any good, is that any good?" you know … and you wonder ..so now you get to say “Is this any good?” or she gets to say that to me “Is this any good " or we go "Is this better, that better?” so it’s back and forth a lot. Then we do some things separately and then sometimes one person just takes a break and the other person does all the work except asks the other person all the time .. “Is it any good? Is this better?”
Where do you get your dark, fun wit from? Do have some favorite playwrights or you inspired by everything around you.
Walker – I am inspired by this story. This is an homage to that world in some way to the world around us and humanity. We wanted to put humanity on the television. We say to the actors, you get to come in and bleed and fall apart and rant and do whatever you want for a brief period of time and then you go. We want it to be cathartic for you (laughing) so just enjoy the time that you are here. It’s a time for actors to play and to feel. We are inspired by everything. That’s why we are a good team. Because we are both kind of interested in the world and haven’t really figured it out. Dani is a lot younger than me and has a lot more energy than I do, and that’s what's good too, because there’s that different stages of life thing happening. When I am thinking one thing, she’s still thinking of somthing else that’s possible.
Your characters are never finished, they are always on the verge...
Walker – Like life. It’s not finished at all . The same thing happens in the series that used to happen in all my plays … We have numbers of endings and people would try and figure it out . We would have six or seven endings… because there are no endings really. I have always had that trouble writing them so Dani will say “Well there is this and then there is this” .. and then we just keep going and sometimes we just hop off the train at some point. They’re not really finished. There is no redemption, there’s no catharsis, there’s only just more. There’s just the next day.
George Walker plays currently in production across the US and Canada.
Criminal Genius - Oct 26 - Nov 19 at TheatreFIRST
The End of Civilization - Nov 8 - Nov 19 at Locus Theatre Company
Heaven - Nov 8 - Nov 18 - at Downstage Performance Society
Suburban Motel - Sept 29 - Nov 19 at Zellerback Playhouse
Escape from Happiness Jan 12 - Feb 11 2007 at Theatre Vertigo
Playwright George F. Walker
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