First the “Heart”.
Now the “Mind”.

James Thoo, writer of the play “The Jugular Vein”. 

Join us and see what goes on in the mind of the “Mind” as well as how he came to the completion of “The Jugular Vein”.

Q: Before we go on about your play, tell us more about yourself.

A: I was formerly head editor of Joblo.com and I wrote the award-winning film Jarum Halus in 2008.

Unfortunately, the experience of working on that film launched a heat-seeking nuclear sub into my heart and I decided to quit the whole racket and take a long and indefinite break from writing completely.

When I eventually came back my screenplay ‘Sonata’ was Scriptshadow’s Best Unproduced Screenplay of 2015 and was hip-pocketed by Robert Downey Jr‘s company with a view to him playing the lead role.

It is currently in production in Los Angeles without him because life is a big fat downer.

Another of my scripts, ‘Hurt’ is in production for BP in Louisiana right now.

Other than that I’m not great in social situations, so good luck approaching me, just fyi.

Q: Now, on to the play. What is the inspiration behind this story?

A: One of our actresses talked in our first meet-up about how frustrated she felt about the societal expectation she routinely felt as a woman and a wife, to be a particular person in public, when she was really very different in private.

There’s that quote from Hawthorne that no (wo)man for any considerable period of time can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true.

And I will forever love Hawthorne  because of the scene in The Departed where Leonardo DiCaprio says ‘Hawthorne’, and then Mark Wahlberg lifts his leg and makes a fart noise.

I don’t get to associate any other great writers from the 1800s with fart noises, so that’s kind of a big thing for me.

And so I just built from there.

Q: Why then, should people watch “The Jugular Vein”?

A: I mean, I think people should see this show because those guys worked their asses off.

I don’t know if I can say the script is good without sounding like an asshole, but the acting is certainly outstanding.

And the direction has been so incredibly interesting to watch behind-the-scenes, and a total masterclass in working with actors.

I guess a halfway related aside here would be that one of the things another of our actresses told me that resonated before I wrote the script. She mentioned she had been in an all-female production of Glengarry Glen Ross, which happens to be my all-time favourite play.

This made me sad inside, as it occurred to me that if you’re a woman and a fan of Mamet, you’ll never really get a chance to say any of his wonderful lines.

Not unless you’re his wife and he wrote a role for you in Heist, anyway.

And so because the odds of Rebecca Pigeon dying while Mamet still produces theatre, combined with any of our actresses subsequently even meeting Mamet at all, let alone seducing him into a proposal were pretty remote, I tried as much as I could to, at the very least, give our actresses some fun dialogue to say.

So if you want to see a woman say ‘cunt’ on stage, this is probably the show for you.