Katherine Sortini on The Damage Is Done: 'Queer people deserve the gorgeous, rich characters'
With The Damage Is Done, Katherine Sortini takes on a new challenge. She talks to Jo Laidlaw about the pressures of a one-person show, the ongoing fight for queer acceptance and why not everyone has to love her work
After training as an actor at Flinders Drama Centre, Katherine Sortini soon moved into creating and producing her own work through self-founded company Deus Ex Femina. After a couple of years off, Sortini returns to Fringe with the world premiere of The Damage Is Done, continuing her dedication to telling queer stories. ‘I’ve been doing a lot of producing so this is like coming back, getting back into it,’ says the actor, playwright, producer and poet over Zoom. ‘This is my first ever one-person show that I’ve written too, so I’m excited.’
She follows a long line of young South Australian actors who’ve gone on to develop multi-strand careers. ‘When you go through drama school, they tell you it’s rare to come out and become a full-time actor straight away, or ever,’ says Sortini. ‘There’s a kind of theatre-maker skill you might need to develop if you want this to be a career… a lot of people find success in different veins, they might act in shows once or twice a year and then spend the rest of their time making work with other people, which is really exciting.’ She cites the UK’s theatre tradition of one-person shows as an inspiration, admitting most of her previous work has had a creative team running into double figures. ‘This is my first show where it’s just me and the director, which I really wanted to do. I want to see if I can tour something financially viable, rather than the bigger shows. It’s not how I work, I’m normally very collaborative, so it’s been challenging but in a good way.’
The Damage Is Done centres around a family secret, a coming-out story and two very different sisters; one the golden child, one queer. Darkly funny, the shifting statuses within the family unit parallel the way the world at large thinks about queerness. ‘Parents still disown their children and send them to conversion simply for being gay, at the same time as apologising for these really evil things like sexual assault: “He might have done it, but think about his scholarship”, you know? In some places, being queer, something you can’t choose, is as bad as being the most evil thing you can be.’
Sortini firmly believes coming-out stories will always remain part of the queer canon. ‘Queerness is not as accepted as we maybe think it is. Of course, it’s better than it was. But these stories are necessary to tell. I think also there’s an ownership of coming out, where you are saying “I am ready to let the people that I love know that I love this way.” That’s a sacred ritual. And yet there’s still a massive fear of being rejected for what you are, which is part of this character, Isadora’s, journey.’ It’s safe to say that Isadora picks her moments though, choosing the point when her sister Christina’s life is very much on the rocks to introduce her parents to her female partner. ‘Isadora isn’t delighted that her sister’s been shunned, but she does think “this is my time to shine”, which is pretty dark.‘
Sortini is building her reputation as a writer on gritty stories that glory in the complex. ‘Queer people deserve the gorgeous, rich characters. We need nuance and we need nicheness.’ She’s an advocate for theatre that challenges and queer characters that are allowed to be messy and plain unlikeable. Let’s face it, no one wants to go down the pub with Hedda Gabler, and Fleabag could be a bit of a cow, but no one complains that straight characters are too complicated. ‘Everyone is messy, whether you’re lesbian, whether you’re not, whether you’re gay, whether you’re queer, whether you’re not… gay people voted for Trump, after all.’
Queer theatre doesn’t just have to be joyous: showing a character’s internal struggles can lead to a richer experience. ‘That’s the core of why I make work and theatre does that so well,’ says Sortini. ‘There’s something about being live and watching someone in the moment, sharing a story and gaining empathy or understanding. You can be crying and still be entertained. Sometimes I’ve not laughed once during a show, but I’ve been riveted.’
As for who the show is aimed at, Sortini reflects: ‘I think there’s this parasocial thing now [led by social media] where we think we’re always the target audience… but sometimes, you’re just not. If you’re a straight white man, you might not like my show. I hope you do, but you’re not the target audience particularly. Queer people will watch the person on stage for 60 minutes and go “I see myself in that”. We can’t cater towards everyone, darling.’
The Damage Is Done, Goodwood Theatre And Studios, Wednesday 11-Sunday 15 March, 7.30pm.