Anna Francolini plays Martha in Franz Xaver Kroetz’s Tom Fool, opening at the Orange Tree Theatre on 16 March, with previews from 12 March, and running until 16 April.
Anna Francolini has previously performed in Taking Steps at the Orange Tree, she returns playing Martha alongside Jonah Rzeskiewicz (Ludwig) and Michael Shaeffer (Otto).
Tom Fool is directed by Diyan Zora. More information and tickets can be found here.
You’re playing Martha in Tom Fool, what can you tell us about the play?
The play follows a couple who’ve been married for 20 years, and their teenage son who is looking for a job. We watch them negotiate their free time alone and with each other and how family life alters when they take steps that break away from their normal routine. Sounds simple and mundane, but it’s really not.
What was it about Franz Xaver Kroetz’s script that made you want to be a part of the production?
It’s got a structure that feels slightly absurd at first but really is just shining a light on the minutiae of ordinary life. I liked the ordinary being elevated to something incredibly fascinating that is in turns both funny and moving.
Tell us a little more about your character?
Martha is a housewife. Housework and keeping home and family together is her job. Negotiating the behaviour and moods of her family is her life’s work.
What does it mean to you to be playing this character?
A character like Martha makes me reflect on many personal things. I too am a wife and a mother, and because it is set in the seventies, I feel a strong connection with my own mother and her experience in the family home. I love the opportunity to step into my ancestors’ shoes when I can. To feel the person they were when they were my age. It brings them back to life for me and offers a powerful private experience for me which I then display in public!
How have rehearsals been going, and what are you enjoying most about working with this cast and creative team?
Rehearsals have been amazing! It’s my first time back in a theatre rehearsal room since the pandemic and didn’t realise how much I needed it! There are only three of us in this play so it’s full and intense and tiring.
Diyan is a clever, astute woman and a brilliant director – I’m going to give her a glowing review on Tripadvisor. But mainly we laugh – because that’s my main objective in life. It’s a happy room to be in.
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking tickets to see Tom Fool?
Good idea. Let’s get back in the theatre.
