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      Interview: Erupting onto the stage with Volcano

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      Proforca’s David Brady talks about upcoming play Volcano

      For our latest interview on Runn Radio we spoke to David Brady. He’s been a guest on our show before, talking about Lately (you can catch up with that interview here). So it was our pleasure to welcome him back to talk about their latest show, Volcano. This show is a collaboration with Chewboy Productions‘ Georgie Bailey, who were in fact they were our first guest on our podcast (here).

      Volcano is billed as “One Man. One City. One Night to Remember.” It sees Max embark on a 12-hour odyssey across London that will change his life forever.

      We talk with David about the play, why he teamed up with Chewboy Productions for this play and whether they have succeeded in his desire to create a piece without any set. And we also discuss how fringe theatre can find a home outside of London.

      Volcano plays at Lion and Unicorn Theatre from 8 to 12 March, tickets are £14 from here. More

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      Interview: Escaping into real life with DeFriest

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      Aaron-Lee Eyles and Jay O’Connell on new play DeFriest

      We’ve interviewed Unmarked Theatre‘s Aaron-Lee Eyles previously about I Didn’t Want This, I Just Wanted You, so it was a pleasure to invite him back onto our Runn Radio show to chat about his latest show DeFriest. And this time he brought along his lead actor, Jay O’Connell.

      DeFriest, much like I Didn’t Want This, I Just Wanted You, is based on real life. It tells the story of Mark DeFriest, an American who has spent much of his adult life in prison. He earned some attention when he was dubbed the Houdini of Florida due to his numerous attempted prison escapes; it is claimed he has made 13 attempts to escape, succeeding on seven occasions. But the play isn’t about prison escapes, but more about the man who has been in and out of prison most of his life, even though it is widely agreed that the reason for much of it is his mental health, something that has never been fully addressed.

      The play is on at Lion and Unicorn Theatre from 10 – 15 March. Tickets can be booked here. More

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      Interview: Tom Foreman on Big Boys and why they really should cry

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      Big Boys is the first play from Tom Foreman Productions. It takes aim at the meaty topics of male mental health and coming of age in a time when we feel more divided than ever. We liked the sound of this, so we thought why not catch up with writer and director, Tom Foreman, to find out more.

      Let’s dive straight in with the obvious, what is Big Boys all about then?

      Big Boys is, at its simplest, a story about two boys growing up together. You see them from 11 until about 19, and all the ups and downs that that period of life throws at them. It’s hopefully a bit more than that though too! Firstly, it’s a bit of an ode to the past 10 years and coming of age in that time. Most nostalgia pieces I see focus on the 90s or early 00s, but there’s a generation of us entering adulthood who hit puberty in the early 10s. Secondly, it’s also an exploration of male friendship. I don’t think it’s something you see that much explored for its own sake, so I wanted to dive into it and really try to grapple with the dynamics of male friendships, warts and all. In extension of that, the play also focuses quite heavily on themes like mental health. The fact that suicide remains the leading cause of death for men under 30 has become so commonly quoted that it’s now become almost meaningless, but when you stop and think about that for a minute, it’s crazy. As a 21 year old male, I’m more likely to be the cause of my own death than any illness, accident or other. We still have such a long way to go with destigmatizing mental health, particularly among men, and so whilst I don’t profess to have the equation to solve it all, I really wanted to scrutinize what it is about male friendships that make them so closed off at the times they need to be the most open. I hope that gives some flavour of what it’s about!

      You had a previous play called “Big Boys Don’t Cry”, is this a reworking of that piece? Was the past year without theatres being open an opportunity to rework it into something new?

      I did. It was the original version of Big Boys, which we performed in 2019. After those performances, I got a huge amount of feedback, and I decided there was a lot that I still wanted to explore. So I went on this process of pretty brutal refinement and reworking. I was hesitant at first to edit it so much because the reception had been so positive and I didn’t want to risk losing that, but ultimately the writer in me won out over the businessman. I decided to change the name to Big Boys instead of BBDC because it really is a completely different show now. The past year has certainly allowed me to refine it even more. BBDC was originally programmed into Paradise at the Vaults at the Edinburgh Fringe 2020, so it’s pretty crazy that its (new) version will only see the light of the day for the first time in July 2021. Ultimately though I think it’s only crystallized in that time and the narrative and themes have become clearer, so I’m stoked to finally be sharing it with people.

      The play starts in 2011, is that a special year for you? And was Angry Birds really that long ago!

      2011 was the year I started secondary school! And it certainly was, Angry Birds was released in late 2009 so it was certainly in it’s boom phase by 2011. I’ve based all the timings on my own life, since so much of the play is based on my experience, hence starting in 2011.

      You’ve written and directed the play, are these two roles you feel can work together, is that any concern that maybe in doing both you could not spot any issues that need addressing?

      Personally I find the writing and directing go hand in hand, because I have such a visceral image of it all when I put pen to paper (or fingers to keys?) What I’ve been more concerned about is starring in it as well. I’ve taken the role of one of the boys in it because as a writer who also acts, I find that writing to my acting strengths is really helpful, however also because the play is so close to me that it felt like something I wanted to do respectfully. I really admire writer/directors like Jim Cummings or John Krasinski because I always think you can feel how much the projects mean to them which only draws me in deeper as an audience member, although maybe that’s just some cognitive dissonance on my behalf! It’s definitely challenging because when blocking and acting, I can’t see it from an audience perspective and especially on stage being aware of those sightlines and perspectives is absolutely essential. Luckily I have a wonderful assistant director, Pip Pearce, who joined the team and has been enhancing the project from the first online Zoom rehearsal. I’m really lucky to have him and his artistic vision on the team.

      Clearly male mental health is a big theme of the play, still a topic you think men are scared to talk about too often?

      Absolutely. With suicide still being the leading cause of death in men under 30, we have a huge way to go in this department. The ground we’ve made in destigmatizing mental health has been valuable, but we can’t get complacent. So much of it starts at a young age, and we have to realise that targeting these awareness campaigns at young men isn’t going to make much of a dent if they’re still growing up in environments that promote toxic masculinity and norms of ‘manning up’. I’m very aware of this stuff, but even I sometimes take it on myself when I’m having a rough day and find it hard to be honest with my mates. So absolutely, there’s a deeply engrained idea of what manhood should be for guys, and put bluntly, it’s killing us. We need preventions as much as we need interventions, and it’s on all of us to keep up the fight against mental health issues. 

      Have you drawn from much personal experience in writing the play?

      Largely, yes. I went to an all boys school with a co-ed sixth form, and when the girls arrived when we were 16, I suddenly realised how bad the masculine culture was. It’s so easy for those toxic norms to ferment when you’re surrounded all day every day by only other guys, and what had been lurking in the shadows was suddenly under a spotlight as soon as there was a break in that routine. So a lot of the experiences of myself and those of my friends and peers are reflected in the show. In fact, a lot of the stories they tell are genuinely true, and just pinched from my own life (I’ll let you try to figure out which are which!) Drawing it from my own experiences and those of my friends was important to me in producing something that felt real. However, I was also really aware that, given the weight of the topic, I needed to respect that. Accordingly I did a lot of research into others’ experiences of growing up male, having male friends, and navigating coming of age. I looked on forums, YouTube, anywhere I could. So I guess it’s really an accumulation of all the research, both personal and non-personal, that I conducted before writing the play so long ago now.

      Besides drawing from your personal life, what other research went into the writing?

      One of the earliest things I did was chat to Richard Pacitti, who’s the chair of Mind in Croydon, the mental health charity. Richard was wonderful in helping me understand the mental health endemic among young men, and he gave me some really insightful thoughts on a very early draft of the script. We had a long chat in his kitchen about the issues, and it really helped to inform the direction the script should take. Besides that as I say I did a lot of research online, and I’ve also just finished studying Psychological & Behavioural Sciences at Cambridge, and part of my early studies was psychological issues like depression and OCD. So in the end I had quite a holistic idea of it, although of course still for every person it’s so so different. But yes, throughout I have tried to pay close attention to it being sensitive and responsibly explored.

      Who do you hope this play will appeal to? And what message would you hope they leave the theatre with come the end?

      It’s the hardest question you get asked when you apply for theatres and festivals: who’s your target audience? We have a tendency as performers to cry to the sky “but everyone will enjoy this piece! It’s so deep and multifaceted!” That response doesn’t tend to go down well though, unfortunately. Joking aside, in terms of a demographic, I think certainly those aged 18-28 will appreciate the nostalgia and celebration of growing up in the 10s the most, so I think it’ll really resonate with young theatre goers. However, in truth, anyone seeking a self-examination or a critical address of mental health issues we face at the moment (particularly given the psychological impact of Covid), will, I hope, enjoy this play. On top of that, I’ve made it sound very heavy but the play is genuinely very fun for the most part too. It’s intense, it’s fast paced, and you get to see two young adults play 11 year olds, so it’s a great laugh too. I’m always hesitant about admitting what I want the message of the play to be. For me, whatever someone takes from the play is the most valuable thing they could have taken. However, for me, if it sparks one conversation about male mental health, or mental health in general, I think I will have been successful in my job as a writer. A couple of conversations about sour skittles and Lucozade may also suffice, if people enjoy the nostalgia.

      And finally, would it be bad of us to point out Woolworths closed in 2009 (Woolworths is mentioned in the press release as things that happened in the 10s)

      God, I’ve just looked it up and you’re right! When I wrote the marketing, I could swear I read somewhere that whilst it shut down in 2009, the very last store to close was in 2011, although I can’t find that anywhere now so I guess I was dreaming (who doesn’t dream of Woolworths?) Luckily Woolworth’s doesn’t actually feature in the show (spoilers) because otherwise I may have had to change that to HMV (another high street giant I lay a flower for before bed.) 

      ==================================

      Thanks to Tom for giving up his valuable rehearsal time to chat with us for this interview.

      Bad Boys will be playing at Lion & Unicorn Theatre between 6 and 10 July. Further details and tickets can be found via the below link. More

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      Interview: Linus Karp – Still living his Jellicle life

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      It’s hard to remember, but inbetween lockdowns last year, we actually did get some live theatre! And one of those was Linus Karp’s wonderfully titled “How to live a jellicle life: life lessons from the 2019 hit movie musical ‘cats’”. Its original run was cut slightly short, but as the saying goes, you can’t keep a good cat down and Linus is bringing his show back soon, not just London but around the country too.

      Being a good friend of ET’s, we thought we’d catch up with Linus to find out just what to expect from him in 2021 (spoiler alert – even more Jellicle) and whether he can still squeeze into that figure hugging cat outfit (spoiler alert – he won’t say).

      You actually managed to perform in October to a live audience, how lucky do you feel given we headed into another lockdown soon after?

      It was so perfectly timed – for that one week everything just felt into place. After all the cancellations and every project lost to 2020 it felt unreal to get to experience a week like it. Not only was it the first time performing live for *too long* – but also the first time in way too long that I got to see many of my friends. The Christmas run was less fortunate with the timings however…

      And how well did you feel it all went then?

      It was almost surreal how well it went. It’s the first show I’ve written, and having not been able to perform for so long it was incredibly nerve wracking – so to be embraced by sold out audiences, wonderful reactions and great reviews felt like a dream. A rather nice publication called Everything Theatre called it “An absolute joy” for example. Ah, thanks, you know flattery will get you everywhere, or at least an invite back for another interview anyway.

      Being the shows first run with an audience, did you learn anything; any major rewrites needed?

      I mainly learned about delivery probably – how, when presented in the right way, an audience is game to go on a journey with you, however ridiculous or jellicle that journey might be. No major rewrites – but throwing in a couple of new things and some polishing of what’s already there. 

      So you’ve not spent the last few months rewriting the show, what have you been up to instead?

      Trying my best to stay jellicle in all the awfulness! I’ve slowly been working on new shows that are as ridiculous as this one, I’ve gone on long walks in the woods and hosted weekly zoom performances of classic Simpsons episodes. I’ve also done some university guest lecturing which was a thoroughly jellicle experience.

      The show is heading back to Lion & Unicorn again in June, is that a good venue for you?

      It’s a wonderful space, above an equally lovely pub, it’s reasonably local to me, and – most importantly – it’s run in a really nice way. The AD David Brady genuinely cares about and supports the visiting companies and lets you put on shows in a way that’s fair financially – which really isn’t as common as it should be in the theatre world.

      Then you’re off on tour. How difficult has it been planning a tour when venues may still need to operate on reduced capacities?

      It’s been tricky, the show’s seen many cancellations and much rescheduling. I’m very grateful that the venues I’m visiting have been so keen to have the show and on making it work. I’ve also made sure the show is as flexible as a cat – it works whether it’s a socially distanced audience or not, and it’s just me on stage.

      Your last show toured extensively, will Jellicle be the same? Are you getting prepared to live out of a suitcase for the next year?

      Haha! I think it’s a show that travels really well. Unlike Awkward Conversations With Animals I’ve F*cked, this one doesn’t come with a double bed which always makes touring easier! I’m starting with quite a small tour, but would absolutely be open to the idea of going to many venues across the country. After being locked in my flat for so long it’d be wonderful to see the world again – and to spread the important message of jellicality of course!

      Given we’ve had another few months of lockdown since you last performed the show, any risk you won’t be able to squeeze into your costume come June?

      Ha! I guess you’ll have to be there to find out!

      As always, our thanks and gratitude to Linus for his time to speak to us. How to live a jellicle life: life lessons from the 2019 hit movie musical ‘cats’ will be performed at Lion & Unicorn Theatre between 1 and 5 June, before heading on tour.

      Confirmed dates as of time of writing:

      1 – 5 June: London, Lion & Unicorn – BOOK HERE25 – 26 June: Cambridge, Town and Gown – BOOK HERE2 – 3 July: Birmingham, Old Joint Stock – BOOK HERE8 July: Poole, Lighthouse – BOOK HERE13 – 15 July: Bristol, Alma Tavern and Theatre – no booking link currently available. Theatre website HERE

      Further dates are likely to be added. Please check here for updates. More

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      Interview: Georgie Bailey ties us in knots with Tethered

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      Tethered, Or The Adventures of the Adequately Excited People, seems to be another play that is going to play havoc with our word count (see also How to live a jellicle life: life lessons from the 2019 hit movie musical ‘cats). But long name aside, we’re always more than pleased to chat to anyone crazy enough to be planning a show right now. And for that reason, we thoroughly enjoyed catching up with Georgie Bailey, Artistic Director of Chewboy Productions, to find out more about the play and whether our GSCE French is at all relevant to anything.
      First things first then Georgie, tell us what to expect with Tethered.
      Tethered is going to be a madcap, bizarre, run-around hour of surreal theatre. You can expect printers with prophecies to deliver, a lot of strange words inspired by our current language and (most importantly), balloons and party hats for all. As if two characters being tied together wasn’t enough, there’s also this idea of the audience choosing the order of their story, which is both terrifying and exciting for us as actors. Expect a big adventure and treat everything as more than meets the eye. There’s a lot of content covered in an hour, and the piece gets very child-like and silly in a very comedic way at points, but then suddenly diverges into more serious, poignant and poetic points. Oh, and you can definitely expect to see a lot of fun being had with this huge old rope we’ve got. A whole lot of physical comedy is coming your way at the Lion and Unicorn folks…
      How will the audience get to decide the order then? And does the running order of the two halves effect the outcome?
      We’ve actually had a lot of fun with devising how best to let the audience decide which half they see first. Initially, we were going to use a coin flip, then realised COVID was a thing and that it might not be the best option to go with a sweaty coin getting exchanged between sweaty palms. So, we went through a few different variations of what could happen and are still experimenting with it now. It might change every night, but at the moment we’ve got a big game of splat taking place, where both characters represent Half A and Half B (sums up the play, really). The audience decide a category and the two actors are pitted against one another; determining the victor through playing.
      We also tried a thing called a moo-off, a show of hands, a mind-reading exercise and a short, sharp game of twister. Anything could happen… And yes! The order determines how you view the play and how things pan out for the characters. It’s quite a cyclical play in that everything has a place and makes sense between Parts A and B, but your opinion and perspective of the characters and this bizarre situation alters quite dramatically depending on the order you experience.
      Do we detect a hint of lockdown madness in the theme of excitement at the pair possibly being untethered and released? Was this a show inspired by lockdown, or just created during it?
      Your detection is on point! We wanted to create something that physically embodied both lockdown and social distancing, but it’s taken to a much more abstract, absurd and surreal place. There is no mention of lockdown, COVID or our real world – it’s all a lot more distant and strange. Our plans were thrown up in the air a bit; our original show was due to be produced as part of the Lion and Unicorn Theatre’s Associate Artist scheme has had to be postponed until late 2021, so we wanted to keep creative and busy during lockdowns 1&2, so decided to create this. Mainly for us to have fun, but also for the audience to have a bit of fun too.
      Your characters are Sans and Moins, which as obviously spotted straight away (honest we did) means Without and Less in French, is that at all relevant or are we reading too much into things?
      Very beady eyes from you all – yes, it is very relevant, both in character and situation. But we don’t want to give too much away at all! It’s a well-hidden little thing, so you’ll have to whack those beady eyes out again when you see the play.
      The show was initially pencilled in for a December run, but you’ve decided to push it back now due to lockdown 2 (and since the time of interview, lockdown 3), was that a difficult decision to make?
      It was a super difficult decision to make. We’d had the show pencilled in for a good couple of months as well as had the script developed, rehearsal space booked etc. etc. But with lockdown 2, we realised rehearsal would be almost impossible with us being spread across the country. In a way though, we’re grateful for the additional time to work on the show further, have some more fun with it and get it up to scratch to reach its full potential for February.
      Finally, and because we really couldn’t let it pass by without comment, you’ve recently published “Poems While You Poo”; would you recommend that as a Christmas present for our dad’s maybe? And is there any poems in the collection about the toilet roll shortage crisis from the first lockdown?
      We might be biased, but we’d definitely recommend it as a Christmas presents, not just for Dad’s but for the whole family! The collection is illustrated beautifully by my partner-in-crime Hal Darling (co-founder of ChewBoy) and takes you through the seven stages of doing your business, with a variety of poems ranging from comedic, wholesome, educational and emotional – it’s all there for your toilet breaks. And it’s available in hardback and paperback – so there’s a version for every book lover or toilet fiend you know. And we’d love to say there is some poems about the toilet roll shortage of lockdown gone by, but we’d been developing the book for such a long time before lockdown that we missed that boat! Maybe in our sequel that’ll make an appearance…
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      As always, our thanks to Georgie for taking the time during the latest lockdown to chat to us about the show. It is now scheduled to play at Lion & Unicorn Theatre between 9 and 14 February 2021. Further information, tickets and of course, that book, can be found on their website below. More

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      Interview: Linus Karp tells us “How to live a jellicle life”.

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      It’s an hour of jellicle ridiculousness and silliness – which I think we all need more of in these times!

      When Linus Karp got in touch to let us know about his new show, (playing at Lion and Unicorn Theatre from 20 October) we were shocked to realise it had been almost three years since we first came across the wonderful Awkward Conversations with Animals I’ve F*cked.  And having had our ego well and truly massaged with our review appearing on the show’s flyers for much of its life, we couldn’t turn down the chance to talk to him and find out just what attracted him to Cats – the film, not, well, you know…

      Did you ever imagine just how big the reaction would be for Awkward Conversations?
      Yes and no. I could never have predicted it having as long a life as it did, and I very much doubted my own ability to perform it beforehand – but I thought it was the most brilliant thing I’d ever read so really hoped that it would resonate with people as it had with me. I’m thrilled it had the life and impact it did, and it will always be the most special thing to me. 
      The show toured extensively: did that changed how you related to the show, and your character Bobby, come the final performance?
      Absolutely. One of my favourite things about Awkward was how clever Rob’s [Rob Hayes] writing was – how much was said without actually being said. Even though I’d read and performed the text so many times I kept finding new things. It felt like for every run I understood more and more of Bobby’s world and it kept getting better as a performance. Having been with a show and a character for so long, it was very much my own emotions mixed with Bobby’s as he bid farewell to the things he loved at the last few shows.
      Your new show, “how to live a jellicle life: life lessons from the 2019 hit movie musical ‘cats’” is quite a mouthful: can we just call it ‘jellicle’ for short please?
      As long as you write good things about it you can call it whatever you like! I do love a long title – but having spent the last few days typing out the title over and over in emails and on social media my fingers have started to bleed and I do question my choices…
      Had you always planned to write your own show, or is it something that developed during your time with Awkward Conversations?
      I’ve wanted to write something myself for quite some time, though I lacked confidence and never really felt passionate enough about any of the things I started writing about – then I went and saw Cats…
      So what attracted you to write a show about the Cats movie? Are you a fan, or are you with the majority who were just disturbed by it all?
      Funnily enough I didn’t really care for Cats at first – I’d never seen the stage show and I went along to the cinema only because my flatmates wanted to see it. I was so engrossed in the movie I had to go back to the cinema a few days later. I’ve barely been able to think about anything else since! I enjoy the film beyond words and listen to the soundtrack every day without fail. I can’t believe how cool I must sound right now! 
      Can we expect anything quite as controversial as Awkward Conversations?

      Well, seemingly the hit movie musical Cats is a more controversial subject than bestiality to some, judging by reactions on Twitter! Though I think the show is both accessible and enjoyable for most – some friends who hadn’t seen the film saw a preview and still loved it. Which is always a good start!
      I will present and discuss the various jellicle cats from Cats, talking about what makes them jellicle and how you can apply their jellicleness to your life in order to make it more jellicle. It’s an hour of jellicle ridiculousness and silliness – which I think we all need more of in these times!

      Without giving too much more away, do you give much attention to the genital debate that happened around the movie?
      The show is not suitable to anyone under 18. Does that answer your question?
      The show opens with a short run at Lion and Unicorn Theatre, the same venue where Awkward Conversations begun life; a good omen? Can you ever dream that the show will be as successful as Awkward?
      Haha, I’d love to think so – it does feel nice to start in the same space! The shows are so completely different, it’s hard to draw similarities or expect them to do the same thing. When I started creating this show I thought that maybe no one but myself would want to see it, but the reaction from venues and people in general have been overwhelmingly positive. Who knows how far the jellicle power of Cats will take it!?
      When we notified our team about the upcoming show, Emily, who reviewed Awkward Conversations, instantly replied to put her name in the hat: do you envisage that this show will appeal to the same audience?
      Firstly, can I just say that Emily’s review of Awkward Conversations is the best piece of literature ever written, with timeless classic quotes such as “exceptionally creative and hilariously funny“, “an absolutely pitch-perfect Linus Karp” and 5-stars. 
      The shows are really different and jellicle is a lot sillier, though I also think they appeal to a similar audience. It was wonderful seeing people coming back to Awkward multiple times during its many runs. I really hope they come back and enjoy this one as well.
      So after you tour jellicle for three years, what do you have planned next?
      Ha! I do already have another idea for a ridiculous show that I’m hoping to do at some point after this. I’d also love to do something where I’m not alone on stage and actually have other actors to talk to. Plus, I’m waiting for Tom Hooper (Cats director) to call me and offer me a part in Cats 2.

      As always, our heartfelt thanks to Linus for taking time out of his preparations to talk to us.
      Jellicle will be on at Lion and Unicorn Theatre and runs between 20 October and 24 October, including a Saturday matinee and two shows on Friday. More