"It's a huge privilege to process your life through words and to consolidate that into a story. I don't know what my life would be without the ability to make and share meaning. I've been so lucky."
More than the awards and recognition she's received, playwright Jules Orcullo is focused on work that is all about generosity and vulnerability despite the discomfort she feels in her own talents.
'You're terrible, Jules.'
"My mum disavowed the notion of any kind of fiction storytelling. From a young age, she wanted me to read science books and encyclopedias; but dad was more on the imaginative, creative side," Orcullo shares.
Her interest for make-believe and fantasy began when she was around 12 years old.
"I have nothing bad to say about my childhood — it was pretty good! But fantasy stories made me think, 'Hey, what if this was reality?'
"I didn't use it to escape from anything massively harrowing, but the first thing I would turn to when there was some serious illness in the family were books and writing fan fiction."
Fiction made me feel like everything was okay...if not in that particular moment, somewhere in another universe or cosmos, everything was okay.Jules Orcullo, Playwright
Love for fiction is what drew her to writing; but despite her ability to harness words to create worlds and stories, she continues to find it difficult to call herself 'good'.
"I'm a playwright and a dramaturg. I do that on a professional level and those things are part of me; but it's still hard for me to see myself as good at them. Like with a lot of writers, there's still a part of me that says 'You're terrible, Jules. You're a very bad writer,'" she laughs.
'Hey, look who's a playwright!'
For Orcullo, writing plays and musicals happened by chance. While in the UK, she developed her first ever play after a "nudge" made her realise she can actually do it.
"I've never written a play before I got into this development with some actors. I completely rewrote a particular paragraph in the play and put it up onstage with some actors. Somebody next to me nudged me and said, 'Hey, look who's a playwright!'
"At that point, I was like, 'Okay, maybe I can do this playwriting thing."'
"At that point, I was like, 'Okay, maybe I can do this playwriting thing."' Credit: Jules Orcullo
"I grew up watching all of the commercial musicals that came to town, like Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King ... My sister — who lives in the Gold Coast — is also into musical theatre, so she's been an influence on me as well.
Not only did I become interested in writing for theatre, I knew I needed to go back to musicals. It's become so important to me. They're such a big part of my life.Jules Orcullo, Playwright
Orcullo shares that when it comes to creating plays and musicals, her process for each project is different, but all involve "listening to what's going on in my head and in my own domestic sphere".
"I start to hear a song and write it down and lay it out. And then I think, 'Oh, I wonder what would lead into that song, and I start writing the scene before that song.
"One of my collaborators has this clear way of describing the work that I do — and it's a mix of family and iconography."
'But, what if...?'
Orcullo's work leans towards stories that involve her own life and family — which are "part real and part fiction" — and icons, such as The Beatles.
"My dad, Felix Orcullo, always told this story — usually once a year at our Christmas dinner table — about how he wasn't able to see The Beatles when they performed in Manila in 1966.
"I would always think 'Hey, that's a cool story!' but it doesn't really have an ending and that made me quite sad.
Listening to that story over the years, I thought of creating a play where dad got to see The Beatles and sort of rewrite history. What if he got to see them in concert? And not only that ... What if he spent the whole night with them?Jules Orcullo, Playwright
Orcullo's unfinished work, 'My Dad Never Saw the Beatles', won the 2024 2024 Griffin Award for outstanding new Australian playwriting. Credit: Alice Boshell Photography
This play's theme is true to what I usually do — stories about what we wish never happened or could never possibly happen and the regrets that go with that. It's about 'wish fulfilment' and to see what happens because of that.Jules Orcullo, Playwright
"What do we learn about ourselves? How do we grieve the fact that this possibility never came to fruition? There's comedy to it; but also gooey, quite heartfelt tearjerker elements as well."
'I'm Filipino, Australian, Fil-Aus, Filipinx'
Aside from family and icons, Orcullo shares that her own identity has influenced the work she does.
"My parents migrated in 1976 as skilled workers, as accountants. So our family's been in Australia for a really long time now.
"I still have close ties from back home and I try to go back every five years or so."
Orcullo shares that, at their core, her stories are about what it means to be Filipino and queer in Australia.
"My work has a lot to do about yearning, reaching and searching back to what that is in our family line. It's such a cool research task for me as well.
"In 2020, we also founded this collective called 'Kallective' that brought together creatives who identify as Filipinx."
Orcullo shared that while she doesn't have a comprehensive understanding of 'Filipinx', she gets that the term is a way people are able to make sense of their identity and history.
I'm unsure about being called 'Filipino' or 'Filipina' ... I don't like the pressure of identifying as one or the other. I'm still on the journey, but 'Filipinx' feels like me.Jules Orcullo, Playwright
"Even the 'Philippines' construct has a colonial tone to it. And there are days that I feel Filipino and some days I feel Australian. There are different feelings associated with identifying as either; but from a young age, I''ve known that I am a queer. I use different pronouns, but I am not beholden to them.
"I'm still on a journey when it comes to knowing who I am."
'Talking about myself feels weird'
When it comes to talking about herself, Orcullo admits that it still feels weird being so personal.
"I joke that when people come to see my shows, they get to know about 50 per cent of who I am as a person.
"It's so wonderful and lovely and warm when they say nice things, but I don't have the same knowledge of them, so it's an awkward interaction sometimes.
"There is still a 'gooeyness' and strangeness that I feel about my work that I don't think will ever go away."
