SEANNA VAN HELTEN talks to actor NICK COOK about Hollywood, sex, and self-deception in THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED.

Sex and sexuality, drugs and money, and an illegitimate pregnancy: American playwright Douglas Carter Beane’s Hollywood satire The Little Dog Laughed is all about the tabloid-worthy dirt that “gets swept under the red carpet,” says actor Nick Cook, who stars in the play’s local Queensland Theatre Company production, directed by Michael Gow.

Cook plays Alex, a young Brooklyn rent-boy who unexpectedly falls for a client, Mitchell (Nathaniel Dean). The trouble is, Mitchell is a Hollywood actor whose star is on the rise, and his cunning agent, Diane (Caroline Kennison), is desperate to secure the film rights to a popular play. Cynical but savvy Diane knows that if Mitchell scores the lead role, the industry accolades will follow – but only if she can keep Mitchell’s sexuality a secret. “We fall in love,” says Cook, “and Diane then sets forth to derail the relationship.”

Meanwhile, Alex’s roommate and sometime girlfriend, runaway rich girl Ellen (Melanie Zanetti), has fallen pregnant and is in need of both financial and emotional security. Diane contrives to sort out the mess of Mitchell’s personal life once and for all, promising all the players in the sordid little drama an ending truly worthy of a Hollywood fairytale.

Although the characters of Mitchell and Alex are worlds apart – “Mitchell is staying at the Plaza Hotel overlooking Central Park and I’m in a dirty one-bedroom flat in Williamsburg,” explains Cook – their surprising love affair provides the heart of this otherwise “very dark” satirical comedy. Cook’s character, he says, is the only one “who walks away in the end with any integrity.

“My character plays for truth,” Cook continues, “whereas the other characters are quite comedic and heightened” – especially the character of Diane, whom Cook describes as a “female version of Ari Gold,” Jeremy Piven’s smooth-talking agent in the television series Entourage. “She’s a tough bitch and has worked her way up in the industry ... now she’s finally on the brink of something special and here Alex comes along to fuck it up,” laughs Cook.

Through Diane, playwright Beane lampoons the hypocrisy and sexual conservatism of the Hollywood film industry. But the cover-up of Mitchell’s sexuality is not the only act of self-deception explored in the play. In fact, although the plot hinges on the problems entailed by this lie, all the characters are to some extent guilty of dishonesty. Explains Cook, “My character battles with admitting his sexuality, even though I’ve slept with over 100 guys in my profession. I insist that I do it for the money” – the same excuse that Mitchell uses to hide his personal life from the public.

“In the end, the play culminates into a search for happiness,” says Cook. What does it mean for each of these characters to live in truth? And to what lengths will they go to protect their interests?

The Little Dog Laughed also reflects the public’s intense interest in the “real lives” of Hollywood celebrities, an appetite visible in the proliferation of tabloid news, gossip blogs, and lurid “unauthorised” biographies about the perils of celebrity. And yet, Cook says, the playwright manages to pierce the snarky surface of his subject material and portrays four complex and “truthful” characters.

“I think this play actually gives a fairly truthful insight into the Hollywood world,” says Cook. “The comedy comes from truth and the story is so absurd and so far-out that it is funny. If it is taken literally – and I think it should be taken literally – you realise that the industry itself is what is absurd!”

THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED plays in the Cremorne Theatre, QPAC, from February 8 – March 13. For bookings phone Qtix 136 246 or visit www.qldtheatreco.com.au.

Comments (2)

Write Comment
Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged.
Name:
Comment:
Code:*