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Josh Azouz and Kathryn Hunter on Gigi & Dar
Award-winning writer Josh Azouz, known for his work across stage, screen, and radio, has teamed up with Olivier Award-winning actor and director Kathryn Hunter to bring Gigi & Dar to the Arcola Theatre this October.
Gigi & Dar is a comic tragedy about what we bury to survive. Want to know more? So did we, so we managed to grab some time with Josh and Kathryn to find out about their inspiration for the play and what drew them to this unique project.
Great to meet you both, shall we kick off with some intros then.
I’m Kathryn Hunter, the director of Gigi & Dar, and I’ve had the pleasure of working with this incredible cast to bring Josh’s brilliant script to life.
I’m Josh Azouz, the writer of Gigi & Dar. I’ve been developing this play over several years, and I’m thrilled to finally see it coming to the stage at the Arcola Theatre.
What attracted you to this project originally?
Kathryn: What initially attracted me to the show was the unique quality of Josh’s writing. His genre-defying freedom—this mix of anarchy with a deep sense of feeling for his characters and themes—stood out to me. There’s such depth and truth in his interrogation of life, alongside a sense of the comic and the absurd embedded in every aspect of existence.
What has been the biggest challenge in realizing Josh’s vision for the show?
Kathryn: The biggest challenge has been how time functions in Gigi & Dar. Time doesn’t behave as it usually does in life – it doesn’t follow the rules of being logical, explicable, or predictable. If you asked people what the date is today, most would say, for example, the 26th of September, 2024. But what if another group replied with absolute certainty, saying, “Of course not, it’s May 1968 or September 2011, or October 2023, or… 1945”?
What is your favourite element of the show?
Kathryn: It has to be the characters – these people that Josh has written, now embodied by four brilliant actors. The life they bring to the stage is a joy to witness.
How important is audience interaction to you?
Kathryn: Audience interaction is the very essence of theatre – it’s why we do it, isn’t it? To create a dialogue, an exchange, and to release the silences. The audience might not interact verbally, but there has to be a connection. Theatre is a combustion between actors and brilliant writing, and it’s thrilling to watch that spark ignite. This production, with its young cast, should resonate with both younger and older generations, as well as across cultures and ethnicities. It’s a meeting point where painful questions are asked, and a conversation—an opportunity to listen—is invited.
What can audiences expect from the show?
Josh: A running time of 90 minutes straight through, some laughter, a few tears, and a dose of disquiet.
What was the initial inspiration?
Josh: As a teenager, I was in a bus station in Jerusalem, and I was struck by the sight of a young woman applying eyeliner while a machine gun lazily hung off her shoulder. That image stuck with me.
How long have you been working on this then?
Josh: I wrote the first draft in 2016 but then set it aside for a few years. I picked it up again in 2022 and started working on it from there.
Is the version coming to Arcola how you originally envisioned it, or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
Josh: The plot has always been set at a roadblock in the middle of nowhere and focused on the friendship between two young soldiers and how a personal crisis leads to outsized consequences for two civilians. However, a significant change came a couple of years ago when I consciously moved the setting away from Israel/Palestine. I felt that the political context was muzzling my characters, reducing them to mere mouthpieces. In order to make them deeper, more human, and ultimately more surprising, we all needed to be let off the leash.
Describe a moment during the production process that felt magical or transformative.
Josh: Watching actors Tamni Virmani and Lola Shalam assemble life-like weapons was terrifying in its casualness. As for a magical moment… Roman Asde, who plays Sim, evokes the essence of spring in a simple yet devastating way. And you absolutely have to hear Chipo Chung sing – it’s magical.
If your show had a soundtrack, what songs would definitely be on it?
Josh: Well, some of the soundtrack might actually feature in the play! There’d be Ennio Morricone from his spaghetti westerns to mark the tension and action sequences. Something emo-ish, like Billie Eilish or The Last Dinner Party, would capture the devil-may-care attitude of the soldiers. Bobby Womack’s Please Forgive My Heart would fit the moments of pain. And, of course, classic trash like MMMBop. Oh, and One Direction makes an appearance – of sorts!
Thank you to Kathryn and Josh for taking out time from rehearsals to chat with us. Gigi & Dar plays at Arcola Theatre from 3rd October until the 2nd November. Further information and tickets are available here.
