Office outlook

Arts veteran Amy Mansfield is back with a new season of her hit show that mocks workplace culture. She shares some of her inspirations.

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Amy Mansfield has long been interested in the world of work, but not so much in doing a 9-to-5 gig. Instead, her background in literature, law and music has taken her into the gig economy as an artist whose work spans theatre, music and live events.

Mansfield's HR The Musical, a witty exploration of workplace culture, has been performed all over New Zealand and now a second version comes to Auckland just in time for end-of-year office outings.

For HR The Musical #2, she's crowd-sourced new stories from “real-life human resources”. Like its predecessor, the show includes various musical genres, including Renaissance, pop, rockabilly and Latin.

So how did Mansfield develop the skills needed for observational comedy? She explains the genesis and shares what makes Christmas “the most wonderful time of the year”.

What is your earliest memory?
Hanging out with my dad in the garden when I was about 3. He was lying on the lawn and I was balancing on his foot. This is a game I played with my two boys, too, so it clearly has some longevity. My mum was the photographer and I sometimes wonder if I remember it because I saw the photo, but I think I actually remember it.

What did you want to be when you were a kid?
A rock star and a poet. I think if you define these careers very broadly, I am doing these things in HR The Musical #2.

When were you happiest?
These days I feel pretty darn happy when I'm hanging out with my two cats named Bubba and Uzza Buzza and my family, and when I'm singing, or we're singing together, and the cats are joining in. I do believe everyone can, and should, sing and that the world would be an entirely different, better place if we did. I think if you made a Venn diagram of sociopaths and choristers there'd be no intersection. Someone should map this kind of data.

What makes you unhappy?