Prepped with a pink treadmill, and a running vest, ready to tell a story based upon her own life, Harriet Madeley and Crowded Room bring their brand new production Outpatient to Summerhall’s Anatomy Lecture Theatre. Harriet takes a magnifying glass to our society’s obsession with death, or obsession with avoiding it – from the rise of the zombie genre to the inevitability of demise.
Harriet is a writer, producer and performer represented by Independent Talent. For Crowded Room, she has created and performed in The Listening Room (Stratford East/prison & UK theatre tour/ARIA-nominated BBC Radio 4), The Colours (Soho Theatre/Rowan’s Hospice), Echoes (Public Health England/prison tour) & Edith (The Lowry/Theatr Clwyd). Other recent work includes The Other Tchaikovsky (BBC Radio 4, shortlisted for a BBC Audio Drama Award) and Hedda Gabler (a Queer adapation for Reading Rep).
1. Tell us about Outpatient?
Outpatient is a comedy about a slightly ridiculous writer who is attempting to interview dying people about death for a ‘hot take’ article. She believes we should all get better at talking about death, because really why is it such a big deal… until she is diagnosed with a frightening and mysterious illness herself. Having thought she was OK with discussing death, she realises she can’t deal with the prospect of her Own death at all, and she promptly implodes her life. She pushes away the love of her life, auditions for a reality singing competition, and starts playing fast and loose with the law… before finally (too late?) attempting to claw her way back to reality. It’s a dark comedy about how little we know ourselves until we’re forced to, and it’s based very closely on what happened to me when I was diagnosed with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis.
2. You’ve created many verbatim shows as well as adaptations, but this is the first piece you’ve written based on personal experiences – has the creative process been different for Outpatient?
Yes very much so. I’ve always been drawn to real stories, but it’s different when it’s your own! This is also the first time I’ve adapted stories from real events rather than using real people’s words. That’s made it a more straightforward writing process in a sense… but because it’s so personal, a more challenging one. It’s a creative and ethical minefield to know where to depart from the truth – in order to protect people, for example, or in order to enhance the narrative and serve the comedy whilst still retaining the essence of what really happened.
3. How does it feel to be bringing Outpatient to Edinburgh Festival Fringe?
Bloody exciting! And terrifying. It feels like one of those dreams where you suddenly realise you’re naked in public. But hopefully it’ll be more fun and less traumatic than that. I’m very much looking forward to sharing the story and seeing what people take from it. It’s a provocative show that I think will spark a lot of conversation, and hopefully give people a fresh perspective on mortality and illness whilst giving them (against all odds) a good laugh in the process.
4. Have you done the Fringe before? What are the key pieces of advice you have been given or would give to new groups or people performing at the Fringe?
The last time I did it I was a student, and I was in three shows… that’s probably why I haven’t been back since! The advice I’ve been given (and would give) is to pace yourself, and make very sure you’re passionate about the work you’re taking up. Also I think it’s important, whilst being ambitious, to not take yourself too seriously at the Fringe and not to set too many concrete expectations – it’s a high risk, high energy environment and you have to surrender to the chaos of that to enjoy it I think… at least that’s the advice I’m going to try to take.
5. What do you hope that audiences will take away from your show?
I hope people will emerge with a fresh perspective on their own mortality. OUTPATIENT takes a comic look at the fragility of the human condition and asks what’s really important when we realise we have limited time left. I hope people will leave feeling a little less frightened of death and more open to discussing it, and a little more appreciative of the loved ones in their lives.
6. What is your favourite thing about Edinburgh during August?
The sheer unpredictability and spontaneity of it. Each day brings such stimulating experiences from artists all over the world… it’s an absolute feast, and a total breakaway from normal life.