I remember the first time I heard those words. It wasn't in high school or university, but in a song from 1987 called Eat the Rich, a song written by the British heavy metal band Motörhead specifically for the film of the same name.
The song was full of double entendres and cheap innuendo. "They say music is the food of love / Let's see if you’re hungry enough!" were the opening lines, gargled by the late Lemmy Kilmister, whose lyrics deftly trod Spinal Tap’s famous fine line between clever and stupid.
I'm not sure how I have managed to almost entirely avoid Shakespeare, despite a life devoted to words and music. The sum total of my experience was a reading (not a performance) of Hamlet, in year 11. It is, frankly, an embarrassing gap for a writer.
When Queensland Theatre invited me to respond to their production of Twelfth Night, I was intimidated, and my instinctive response was 'no'. Then I realised I was being offered a challenge and a belated opportunity to engage with something beautiful.
The other selling point was musical: Tim Finn, whose early work as a member of Split Enz had been forever imprinted on my brain, would supply the food of love for the play, composing music for Shakespeare’s old verses as well as a suite of original new songs.
These songs draw mainly on two musical forms: English folk and, in the play's second half, stomping glam rock – particularly its most androgynous purveyors, David Bowie and Roxy Music, both clear influences on Split Enz.
That androgynous element is important, for Twelfth Night is especially resonant today. It’s a romantic farce, full of suggestion and double entendre, and its comedy rests on multiple mistaken identities and cross-dressing, as well as delicious wordplay.
Beneath the laughter lies deep melancholy. The shipwreck that separates twins Viola and Sebastian, and the loss of Olivia's father and brother, creates a sense of mourning: Viola (as Cesario) warns Orsino that Olivia is "so abandoned to her sorrow" that she fears she will not be admitted into her court. Orsino is insistent, telling Cesario to “be clamorous and leap all civil bounds, rather than make unprofited return.”
In one of Tim's songs written to complement the original text, he compares their love to an abandoned building: "No one lives there anymore". Yet Orsino, Viola and Olivia are all stricken with unrequited longing for those whose hearts are set on others. In Viola’s words, they love “with adoration, fertile tears, with groans that thunder.”
Once upon a time it was clear
Who I was and how I got here
Now I'm not so sure anymore
The new normal Seems a bit queer
The heart wants what it wants, and "Love is love" are words we have heard many times in these last 12 months. As we have grappled with the concept that gender and sexuality might not be fixed identities, but exist somewhere on a spectrum, so Twelfth Night was ripe for reinterpretation.
On this theme, Tim makes one of his finest contributions, Keeping Up – a song sung by Feste, Olivia's resident court jester, after he may, or may not have identified the male Cesario as the female Viola:
Once upon a time it was clear
Who I was and how I got here
Now I’m not so sure anymore
The new normal
Seems a bit queer
The song acknowledges the temporary social seasickness caused by rapidly changing social mores. I found myself wondering if some of our most conservative commentators have ever asked themselves Feste’s question: “Am I confused, or simply annoyed?”
Feste himself is not quite the fool he appears: he understands that ch-ch-changes could end up leaving men like him behind. Mostly, though, he is too busy enjoying himself to be annoyed by anything – unlike Malvolio, Olivia's insufferably pompous steward.
Here lies this production's most provocative twist: Malvolio is re-cast as Malvolia. Her pursuit of Olivia gives Twelfth Night another layer, not just of same-sex attraction but also tension and, ultimately, betrayal: "she hath been notoriously abused," Olivia says.
Her star turn, singing Lady Ho Ho, is the play’s most outrageous moment. Quivering with pent-up desire in her yellow cross-gartered stockings, her over-the-top attempt to seduce Olivia is doomed by Olivia’s disinterest as well as by Maria’s cruel device.
Tracy Grant Lord’s set design depicts the fictitious land of Illyria as an island under a celestial night sky, revolving through different exterior and interior landscapes that are like chambers in the hearts of the island’s occupants.
Australia is an island, too: "Beneath our radiant Southern Cross, we've boundless plains to share" – or so our anthem says. Our debates can be petty and mean-spirited. As a people, though, I don’t believe we are, at least not when given the chance to be our best selves.
Australia's LGBTIQ community made clear they felt deeply betrayed by last year’s postal survey on marriage equality.
Having long been victims of notorious abuse themselves, they were subjected to a national vote that struck at their core as human beings. They saw it as another cruel device to prevent them from loving who they pleased as equals under the law.
Yet, presented with no alternative, Australians rallied behind them, resulting in marriage equality being signed into law before Christmas of 2017. It was a significant moment in our polity which showed the public to be far ahead of party-political games.
In the process, leaders and heroes emerged on our national stage. Some, you might say, were born great; some achieved greatness; while others duly had greatness thrust upon them.
Twelfth Night is a joyous play. Everyone is searching and longing for love and companionship. Even Malvolia, after vowing vengeance "on the whole pack of you", is entreated to a peace. And music, being the food of love, ultimately binds them all together.
So, let's see if you're hungry enough. Play on!
- Andrew Stafford
