Dylan Aiello is the leading player in Supersonic Man. He plays Adam, a fun-loving ‘influencer’ having the time of his life. But when Adam is struck down with a terminal condition, he faces losing everything, including the love of his life, Darryl. Adam and Darryl vow that this will not be the end and instead they seek a new beginning and explore new ways to live. Adam will become a human cyborg!
Supersonic Man combines jazz hands with high drama to tell a tale inspired by the true-life story of Peter Scott-Morgan, as depicted in the acclaimed 2020 C4 documentary, Peter – The Human Cyborg. QX spoke to Dylan Aiello about his role, the inspiration for the musical, and his plans for the future.
Use discount code SMQX3 and get £3 OFF General Admission (not concession) tickets for all performance dates.
What attracts you to a particular role in a script?
The first thing that makes a character come off the page for me is their tempo and something about their weight or their gravity. I start my character work from physical exploration, so that is how I read scripts: always on my feet; always clowning around. Just from the words of the play you can normally understand a character’s tempo and what centre of the body they hold themselves in, whether in their guts, the pelvis, their throat or their head. I am drawn to work with characters and stories where there is meaningful development and change in a physical reality. By working with the body, something thats common to all humans, I try to speak to everyone, make every character relatable and universal even to people in vastly different life circumstances.
Have you always played parts that draw on such a broad spectrum of talent?
I started my career in performance art. So, yes, I have a tendency to love doing the most. This has been a journey for me as I have matured as an actor: discovering the courage to surrender, let myself be seen, let all the doing settle and just learn to be, grounded and present, in front of an audience. It’s quite a challenge. It’s easy to be intimidated, especially entering the Musical Theatre world in London, you’ve got people who can hit a high C while doing a pas de bourrée, hanging upside down from 50 ft silks. But the truth is that what fascinates us and keeps us coming back to the stage, even in a world that is so saturated with hyper stimulus and content, is human reality. To watch the spark twinkle in the eye while a fire roars in the heart. I feel very lucky that Chris’ play and the environment the whole team has created supports that approach to the essence of drama.
Supersonic Man tells a tale inspired by the true-life story of Peter Scott-Morgan. What inspiration did you take from Peter, and how does your character pay homage to him?
Peter Scott Morgan is a hugely inspiring individual. Of course he has deeply informed the character and the story as Chris developed them on the page. Peter’s story also speaks to me personally. I have had two close family friends suffer and eventually succumb to different forms of MND and Peter’s struggle and frank dialogue around the alienations, the fears and the humiliations of this disease have opened my heart to a deeper level of understanding. As an individual, Peter speaks frankly about being penned between, his savage, and sometimes debilitating inner critic on the one hand and his dogged determined and fiercly anti-establishment rebel on the other. This is an inner conflict that I relate to at my core. While the character of Adam Rossi in Supersonic Man is vastly different from Peter, there is an essential struggle between these twin forces that puts an unquenchable fire in his heart. Also, Peter’s wonderful romantic spirit is everywhere in the play. His relationship with his dedicated partner, Francis in the face of suffering and death, is deeply inspiring.
Faced with tragedy, how does your character manage humour?
I think humour operates on many levels for Adam.
There’s no doubt that he uses humour to inject pure joy into the world. He thrives on the impish joy you get from watching a prank play out perfectly, a cock-headed ploy send cream pies into the faces of your clueless friends.
But I think humour functions in a more defensive and controlling way too. Adam is someone who will not tolerate pity. He’s gotta be the strongest, and often most unsentimental realist in the room. Humour is his way to lay out harsh truths, to take control of the emotional atmosphere and to banish any sad sobbery from his presence.
Have you followed a particular fitness schedule to prepare for this role?
I am and always will be a lover of kettlebell fitness. No where else are you in a more playful and intimate dance with the punishing grace of cold hard iron in motion. I used to be more into body building, getting ripped and chasing the perfect body. At some point I realised, once I had gotten it, that the washboard abs and sculpted muscle is truly a delusion, its a fantasy, and it easily turns into neurosis. To keep a perfect bod is to obsess over your bod. So now, I’m all about strength. The long game. Growing inside and out at the same rate. And as long as I am moving, lifting heavy things, expressing joy through my body, my physique will reflect that.
Tell us about your favourite songs from the show.
For me a stand out song is in act 2: Finding a Voice. I think this song has layers to it. As humans it is nothing less than a heroic development when you find your own voice. How you reconcile all the disparate parts of yourself, banishing shame and self criticism, and learn to speak with integrity and confidence, trusting that it will resonate with others. For me the voice is such a crucial part of my practice and my expression that losing it is unimaginable. It is a heartbreaking part of MND, when the voice box needs to be removed to accommodate a breathing tube, it is another step of losing contact with the outside world.
What other projects are you working on?
Right now I am working on the post production of a short film, RUIN!, that I acted in and created with Rosa Aiello, an incredible director and artist who happens to be my sister. I am in the early stages of developing a two-hander clown musical about pegging, working title: The King is Pregnant. More on that soon. I have also just finished some additional workshopping and training in a form of Animal Transformation acting work with a frequent collaborator and mentor and her company, Gabrielle Moleta.
Use discount code SMQX3 and get £3 OFF General Admission (not concession) tickets for all performance dates.
Supersonic Man runs from 9 April to 3 May at Southwark Playhouse Borough, 77-85 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BD, United Kingdom.
