Volkstheater Wien

You two have known each other for more than twenty years now. You are finally realizing a long-cherished dream: to bring a play to the stage together.

ASM
Yes, we talked about a kind of Calexico opera from time to time early on. I’m actually a violinist and toured Europe with the band in 1999. The trumpeter Martin Wenk invited me to join him. Because of my classical background, I hesitated at first—but as I became more self-confident, it was great fun to become free on stage, to create and improvise with this wonderful band. It’s great that now, twenty years later, we’ve found the Volkstheater to produce the first theater piece with Calexico live on stage.

How was it, Joey?

JB
It was great to work very closely with these wonderful actors in this incredibly beautiful theater. It’s a new experience. For me, we’re doing contemporary theater. It’s not a musical, it’s not an opera. We put two essential parts together, the drama by Tennessee Williams and our music—and that results in an honest piece. You experience a great diversity, even between the four musicians.

In his foreword to CAMINO REAL, Tennessee Williams wrote that the piece ‘is nothing more nor less than my conception of the time and the world that I live in’. That was in 1953. Seventy years after the first performance, what is your thought on that?

JB
Tennessee Williams wrote CAMINO REAL after the Second World War. I read somewhere that it was his mid-life crisis play. He prefaces the play with the famous Dante quote: ‚In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself in a dark wood where the straight way was lost.‘ I can empathize with that from my own life. Having had several successes with his earlier works, he really wanted to go deep and challenge himself anew, and perhaps his audience too. That’s also what we’re aiming for with this project as a band.

ASM
The character of Madrecita mentions that the time for dreams is over. ‚You have to be realistic on the Camino Real.‘ For me, there is a lot in this sentence. It’s an allusion to the uncertainties that arise when you think about the state of our world. The many crises, now most recently the re-election of Trump. Sometimes it is difficult to understand what is happening around us. You inevitably have to ask yourself how free an individual can still be today. Kilroy illustrates this perfectly, because at some point he has to realize how wrong his perception was. Nobody can achieve everything, nobody can remain a champ forever.

JB
I own a house in Tucson, Arizona; it’s on the Camino Real, the network of historic trade routes that connects Mexico City to Santa Fe. It’s nice that there are so many characters in this play whose thoughts and concerns I can relate to. For me, CAMINO REAL is a work of art about change. The depth and quality of the writing—about the human condition—is remarkable. How multifaceted life is reflected here. The piece refers to every single day of my life, to yesterday, today and tomorrow. It is about those who have nothing and those who have a lot and never get enough. There will always be people in need, and those who take advantage of that need, like Mr Ratt and Mr Gutman.

Do you feel a special connection with Tennessee Williams? Two artists from the South?  

JB
I see it more as a connection to Tennessee Williams as a person—regardless of where he grew up. I really like the fact that he set the piece somewhere in Central America, that he spent time there. I don’t think it’s so important where someone comes from, but rather what they’re looking for. I myself was born in Montreal, grew up in California and later in Arizona. But I am more than the place where I grew up. I’m searching for the place where I belong.

I assume you haven’t found it yet?

JB
For me it has a lot to do with a sense of community, and that can be anywhere. When we tour with Calexico, we form our own little village. We travel and play concerts in different cities and countries around the world. CAMINO REAL is also about community, and I like the process of working together on a piece and addressing issues that are really poetic and touch the heart. The cry for community, this human need, can be felt everywhere in this text. How could we survive without community? You can see how people come together in times of need.

Is there a character you can particularly identify with?

ASM
For me, it’s Kilroy. You get the impression that he’s a dreamer, which means that all the other characters are connected to him in some way. It has something to do with this crisis when you have to ask yourself at some point: Who am I in this world—coupled with the fear of death and getting older. You can feel that Tennessee Williams has put himself in the shoes of all these characters.

JB
I somehow embody all these characters. Some days I want to be like Madrecita and other days I realize: Oh my God, I’ve just pulled a Gutman.

When we talk about our time as an era of many crises: What kind of art do we need? How do you combine dark and positive vibes in your art?

ASM
Art today has a different task than it did twenty or thirty years ago. Nowadays, it’s about giving the audience hope. So that you can leave a play with a more positive attitude. I hope that our production conveys that you don’t have to be afraid. That it’s worth fighting for freedom-–just like Lord Byron does in the play, for example. He dares to take a step that nobody else dares to take because he is not paralyzed by fear.

JB
Honesty is the word that comes to mind. You have to be real and you shouldn’t fake anything. When you’re young, you’re fearless. Once you reach mid-life and feel all the responsibility, for the kids, the mortgages (and so on and so forth), then you realize how you become more anxious, not just physically but emotionally. I think that’s what Tennessee Williams is wrestling with. It’s the question of how we as a society deal with anxiety. Do we repress it, or do we allow it? You can feel it in every character.

I listened to some songs from the early days of Calexico again. I realized again how much of a storyteller you are as a songwriter, for example in Across the Wire. There are characters in the songs who experience something existential. This time, however, you are creating music and lyrics from within a drama in which you are involved. Does that make a difference?

JB
Yes and no. I asked myself from which perspective I should write. Should I write from the audience’s point of view or from the point of view of one of the characters? In the end, John and I were guided by the thoughts of Tennessee Williams, and that was enough.

You already have a lot of stage experience in your life. Will you still be nervous at the premiere?

JB
I’m always nervous, no matter how much experience I have. It takes a worried man to sing a worried song. But that’s my medicine. That’s part of my healing, opening myself up to that kind of experience.

The interview was conducted by Alexander Kerlin and Aleksandra Gvozdenovic.