Actress Louise Marwood’s debut solo show Rita Lynn: Life Coach takes a humorous but deeply personal look at Louise’s own past battle with addiction though the lens of the larger-than-life, £250-an-hour life coach Rita. Mixing reality with fiction, the show gives audiences a glimpse inside the mind of a person who is at rock bottom and shows them what the road to recovery looks like. Louise will be performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.
Can you tell us about Rita Lynn: Life Coach?
The show is very much inspired by my actual addiction which nearly took my life and certainly consumed several years of it. I went through rehab a number of times, and for a while, it looked like I would never get better.
I left a secure and long-running TV role back in 2018, and unfortunately struggled with addiction. Now, six years on and I’m sober and fully in recovery so I think it’s the right time to bring my experiences to the stage. Rita Lynn: Life Coach is a bit surreal, it’s semi-autographical, and in places, very darkly funny. In it, I explore the subjects of addiction, trying to be something you are not, and the space in between.
In the show, I play Imogen who’s a dancer-turned-life coach teetering above the rock bottom she is about to hit, hard. One of my favourite lines of Imogen’s is “My suicide note was so good, it made me want to live.”
It gets to the point where Imogen’s life is almost in tatters, and then she meets a wealthy but depressed housewife in need of a life coach. On the spot, in a moment of drug fuelled delusion, she spontaneously creates and inhabits her alter-ego Rita Lynn who is a surreal, no-nonsense, no-frills life coach, who of course charges an extortionate £250 an hour.
Where did the inspirations for Rita and Imogen come from?
When you are in the throes of addiction, you completely lose yourself.
The character of Rita Lynn is my addict brain in human-female form. Imogen represents the scared girl inside of me that wanted to stop. The two voices inhabiting one person emphasise the duality and the conflicting nature of addiction.
The show asks important questions like; How far can we sacrifice ourselves to control how we appear to others? How can we value our relationships when we don’t value ourselves? And how to face the consequences of our choices.
How do you hope to be remembered in this industry?
For being brave enough to say I lost it all. For exposing addiction for what it is and what it does to a person. For trying to carry a story of strength and hope – If I can recover, anyone can.
What is your personal favourite part of the show?
It is so hard to separate any of it. It feels like I press ‘GO’ and then don’t look up for 60 minutes. I am on a rollercoaster the whole way, inhabiting the whole world and every creature in it, so it’s too difficult to pick out any bit specifically, but it’s definitely a rewarding experience.
Any words of wisdom or advice for the younger generation who want to break into acting?
Perseverance is key. Never give yourself a timeline. And create your own work! I was carried by the tide of others and their ideas for so long and that is part of the reason I was so unhappy creatively.
Creating work truly and authentically is the only way to gain creative control and to drive your own destiny in the direction you dream of.
Rita Lynn: Life Coach will be performed at 7pm in Pleasance Dome (Ace Dome) from 31st July – 25th August (Not 13th)
Booking link: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/rita-lynn-life-coach