Kiss Me, Kate: Hub Interviews Kristian Latella

Hub’s Tabitha Stephenson-Jones sat down with 21-year-old Kristian Latella, up-and-coming actor and visual effects student, to hear all about his role in the Hills Musical Company's current production of Kiss Me, Kate.

Photo credit: Daniel Salmond

Tell us a bit about ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ - what’s it about and is there anything Hills Musical Company is doing differently than the original musical?

Kiss Me, Kate is a romantic comedy and musical. It’s based on ‘Taming of the Shrew’, the Shakespeare story, and it’s about this travelling theatre company that put on this show - you get to see the lives of these characters from ‘backstage’ but then you also see them perform the show itself, so it’s a fun take on those relationship dynamics. It’s a fun and funny musical - a lot of dancing. It’s also an older musical, written in 1948 meaning that it’s sometimes old in terms of the ideologies, so there has been some updating to make sure it’s more palatable for modern audiences and to make sure the audience enjoys it a bit more and also for them to understand that a lot of it is satire, and playing on those elements instead of pushing those ideas.

Tell us a bit about your characters, Bill Calhoun/Lucentio!

Bill’s a fun character - he is very confident, so playing on that was a lot of fun. He’s a gambler, so he’s a bit naughty but he’s a great character to delve into and you can really see a nice character arc in the show. It’s amazing getting to play him because it contrasts the ‘Taming of the Shrew’ character, Lucentio, who’s a lot more of the hopeless romantic character, and who falls in love with Bianca in the show. Lucentio’s a junior character - a bit naive, a bit innocent, a hopeless romantic. It’s nice to play that kind of dynamic and juxtaposition in the show, going from one character who’s a bit more up themselves to a character who’s a bit meeker and a bit more innocent. It’s been a lot of fun to kind of dabble in both. 

How did you get started in the arts industry, in either theatre or visual effects?

It started when I was younger, I used to do a lot of creative things like I learnt piano, I really had a thing for music, I liked singing, and then I also enjoyed some of the acting side of it. I went for auditions for commercials and other things. When I was really young, I also made animations on my computer with MS Paint and Windows Movie Maker - great software. For my singing and acting stuff, I did classes for everything, which helped me make connections in the industry. In 2015, I got into amateur theatre and from there I did roles in various youth companies and then eventually, only recently I got into the community theatre stuff which is more adult, and it’s been so much fun doing that. Then in the background with school, I was doing a lot more tech stuff like web development and graphic design. I still have that passion for animation which I would do in my spare time, and I eventually discovered that uni had a really cool course so I did a Bachelor of Creative Industries. I did that course for two years and then I decided that I wanted to do a placement with Rising Sun Pictures, so I switched to Film and Television to do the placement. It’s basically been all of these little passions that I had throughout my childhood which have luckily fallen into place, and here I am doing pretty much everything that I love. 

How did your education in visual effects prepare you for your work in theatre? Are there any skills or knowledge that have carried over from one field to the other?

They go pretty hand in hand in terms of soft skills, like being able to talk to your team. For example, at the moment with visual effects work, we have a team and we’re developing some short films so we have to work and communicate with each other. This often means getting feedback from each other, being able to talk about different shots, timing, and helping out each other with everything that we need to. Theatre has really helped with communicating ideas and being able to talk to people, and really just understanding how to work on things together instead of criticising each other - it’s been good to be more empathetic and look at things from different perspectives when trying to problem-solve visual effect things.

What was one interesting or unexpected thing you’ve learnt through being in Kiss Me, Kate?

Getting to make sure you’re always switched on in a role, and also playing two different characters - playing a character that’s more realistic and then playing a heightened Shakespearean role. It’s a challenge to switch between them, not only just switching between the characters, but making sure you're always on and not dropping that character when you’re doing scenes. 

What has been your favourite role to play so far?

I have to say, definitely Tommy DeVito from Jersey Boys - it’s a show that’s close to my heart. It’s the musical that got me into musicals. It hits close to home because it’s about these four Italian fellas and being half-Italian myself, it’s nice to be able to play that, and really draw inspiration on my character from people I know, and relatives, and kind of put that into a performance that felt really authentic and organic. Oh, and I love the music as well - the music’s great. 

What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced so far within the creative space, and how did you overcome them?

It would really be just putting yourself out there - for both theatre and also visual effects. Everything has to do with networking with both, but visual effects especially. I’ve found largely with visual effects, you have to go talk to artists and ask them questions - really get to know them and build a relationship. This is so you can learn more about the industry, but you also get to build a connection with them, and potentially get recommended for a job. With theatre I would say letting go of all sense of looking silly - you have to be silly in theatre, and let yourself go a bit, and just commit to the role. 

What do you enjoy most about performing? 

When you sing a song or you perform a piece or even dance - it’s just that energy you get from the audience, it’s just getting to entertain someone. The idea that you’ve made someone’s day a bit better through your performance, and they go home and are like, “I really enjoyed that experience and I had a lot of fun” is really rewarding. We’ve also done shows for kids with disabilities, which have also been amazing because they don’t usually get these experiences, and it’s really good to see them smiling and happy and to introduce them to the world of theatre and build a passion for it. 

Any advice for young people wanting to get into musical theatre or acting?

Try different classes, audition for different things, talk to people who might already be in the space - but definitely sign up for a class. Adelaide is so small and the community theatre is so tight that if you know one person, you pretty much know all of the theatre community. Try different things, try different dances, try singing, and then people can help connect you to other others within the community. Give things a go, be open, try lots of things, and decide what you want to do.