When Is A Musical Not A Musical? When It's Eddie Perfect's 'Vivid White'

In the world premiere production of Eddie Perfect's new song-filled show about Australia's cut-throat property market, director Dean Bryant hopes to uncover what comedy and satire can do, "in a world that is constantly facing crises after crises after crises?" And he hopes to ask this by surprising the audience at every turn.

"There is so little surprise left to us as audience members," says Bryant. "The most important thing you can do as a creator is continually surprise the audience. They have given you something so precious: their attention, for two hours. But that attention only lasts for 10 to 15 minutes if they realise there isn't going to be anything that they didn't see coming."

Perfect started working on Vivid White, in collaboration with Bryant, 18 months ago, and the pair could hardly be more qualified to create the next great Australian musical. Perfect began his career in satirical musical cabaret (including Shane Warne: The Musical and solo shows that won Green Room and Helpmann awards) and became a national treasure in his TV appearances in Offspring, Playschool and Australian's Got Talent. But these days, he's become more focused on working behind the scenes. While workshopping and re-writing this new work, he's co-directed the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and been in the USA writing and composing for two upcoming Broadway shows: King Kong and the adaptation of Tim Burton's film Beetlejuice.

Bryant, who is now an Associate Director at MTC, graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts 15 years ago, and his stature as a director has been on the rise ever since. He's worked for top Australian institutions including the Sydney Theatre Company and Opera Australia. He's also won Green Room and Helpmann awards, including Best Director Of A Musical for Hayes Theatre Company's Sweet Charity, as well as listing Associate Director for Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert amongst his credits.

"Musicals are without a doubt where my heart is", Bryant admits. But despite the pair's pedigree in the art form, he stops short of calling Vivid White musical theatre. He promises "there are songs and there will be some choreography", but, "it is its own thing. It's not like anything I've ever seen or read before."

The first surprise is the audience not knowing what to expect: "You can only surprise people once they think they know what's coming." He wants to "just let the audience come and experience it and name it themselves - if they want to".

With a story about the friendship of two couples falling apart when they want to buy the same house, it's certainly familiar MTC material about middle-class liberals - "not political Liberals", assures Bryant - who buy houses in the suburbs and tickets to the theatre. But Bryant also assures that this is just the jumping off point for a "satire about satire". Without giving away too much, he says that two of its characters were once an award-winning comedy satire duo.

Like The Beast, Perfect's first new work for the MTC in 2013, also about a schism amongst a middle-class milieu, it plays with the idea of being offended and asks if a laughing audience are, indeed, outraged? Bryant laughs as he explains they are making a satire that knows satire doesn't work. "You spend all night tearing strips off people and they laugh - and they're like, 'it's someone else. They're talking about my friend. They're talking about that guy who lives across the street.' They literally cannot realise that it could well be themselves they're talking about."

But there's still "a lot of joy" to be had in seeing Australians on stage who are "talking about things we all talk about" - and we sure do talk a lot about house prices. Bryant suggests familiar characters get far more surprising if you "put them in a world where things are happening that are not normal and expected, but they still keep behaving like middle-class Australians".

So, should satire and comedy make people change?

Bryant says, "Comedy satire has this really, strangely, large responsibility because it's pointing out people and society's flaws and it's somehow also expected to solve those flaws and effect change. That's a lot of responsibility for a piece of entertainment to have upon it."

Maybe we put too much responsibility on art to change the world. But if laughter and surprise lets an audience think about an issue - or themselves - it's a firm nudge in the right direction.

Melbourne Theatre Company presents Vivid White, from 18 November at the Southbank Theatre.