Finn takes the good with the Bard in stage musical

Tim Finn hadn’t seen much Shakespeare until he was asked to write songs for Twelfth Night and ‘fell in love with the language’.

Singer-songwriter Tim Finn has written songs for Twelfth Night. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen.

Tim Finn hadn’t seen much Shakespeare or read many of the Bard’s plays until he was asked to write songs for Twelfth Night and “sort of fell in love with the language”.

The singer, songwriter and former member of Split Enz has written about a dozen songs for a production of Shakespeare’s comedy for Queensland Theatre in Brisbane.

He armed himself with a second-hand copy of Twelfth Night from an Auckland bookshop and soon the songs started coming.

“You could say that Shakespeare was the father of music theatre,” said Finn, referring to the number of songs written into the play. “And you are allowed to collaborate in Shakespeare: rather than being afraid to kiss the hem of his garment, you’re being invited to dive in.”

Finn has written original songs and new settings of Shakespeare’s lyrics, many of them sung by the clown, Feste.

He gave The Australian a preview of one of them, O Mistress Mine, a melancholy entreaty to love in a minor key.

Twelfth Night follows some earlier forays into the theatre by Finn, including a play with songs, called Poor Boy, for Melbourne Theatre Company, and Ladies in Black, a musical based on a novel by Madeleine St John, also with Queensland Theatre.

A future project is his opera The Star Navigator, about the Tahitian navigator Tupaia and his ill-fated voyage with Captain Cook.

Finn said he had approached Twelfth Night as if it was a giant tree in a forest, such was the weight of four centuries of performing tradition.

“With the number of songs in there, it will be quite different, even though it has been known as one of the most musical of his plays,” he said.

The production, directed by Sam Strong, opens at Queensland Performing Arts Centre on April 28.

Finn said he was delighted by how the actors were singing the songs. “There’s a little joy in the sound they’re making, so I’m very happy,” he said.