We sat down for an exclusive interview with Rea Dennhardt ahead of their new show, The Undying, comes to the Old Red Lion (11-13th February). Tickets here.
The Undying presents a unique take on the concept of aging and second chances. What inspired you to explore this idea, and how did you develop the narrative structure of the story being told backwards?
The starting point was my grandma, who was married at 13 and became the ultimate Trad Wife, but was also constantly wondering out loud what she’d have done if she’d had the opportunities we had when she was growing up. This is the journey Amba, my female protagonist goes on, while her husband goes on a very different one. I wasn’t really thinking about narrative structure while I was writing, it just fell out of the story. The characters basically go on a journey that demands a seven act narrative structure. The play’s the way it had to be.
The play blends comedy and drama within a sci-fi premise. How did you balance the emotional depth of the characters with the humor of the situation?
The emotional depth and the humour didn’t conflict with each other as much as the sci-fi conflicted with both, because sci-fi can get super clunky if you aren’t careful. But I was, I was very very careful. And 100,000 rewrites later the play became quite light on its feet …
Amba and Prav’s relationship is central to the story. How did you approach writing their evolving dynamic as they reverse through time?
In The Undying, they reverse age, which is different to reversing through time and also different to Benjamin Button. What I like is that it allows the whole play to be set in the now. Yesterday you were 40, today you’re 20, what are the challenges of being 20, how are they not what you expected them to be. The conceit and the characters threw up loads of issues by themselves. I just had to write them down.
With The Undying being shortlisted for the Tony Craze Award, what has the journey been like from development to staging at The Old Red Lion?
I started writing the story on Soho Labs over a year ago, where the play was dramaturged and workshopped to life. Being shortlisted for Tony Craze just gave me the confidence and willpower to take Christmas money and not buy clothes or treats and put it into The Undying instead. The same is true for the actors Sabrina and Akaash and Chris Yarnell, the director. I think we all initially did it because we believed in the script. Tony Craze, may he rest in peace, helped us believe in each other.
If a real-life version of TwiceLifeTM existed, what personal questions or dilemmas do you think people would face in deciding whether or not to take it?
Haha. That’s what the play deals with. Come see.
Fundamentally you’d have to decide if you just want to repair the mistakes you made or try and go bigger, better higher. My characters don’t know this, because they’re too caught up in the immediacy of their own lives and feelings, but the conflict comes from them wanting choosing different paths.
Your work has been recognized across various platforms, including the RSC and Barbican Labs. How has your experience with different theatres and programs influenced your writing style and themes?
Every theatre is different, wants a different tone and style and product. Which is what makes London theatreland so fabulous, the breadth of reactions to a world that’s changing everyday. Wouldn’t it be awful if we had to watch one style of theatre day in and day out? It’d feel very trapped, very uninspired. Thank God we don’t have to do that. I think working with a lot of different theatres very early on taught me to write towards their wishes, and within the boundaries they set. It’s a challenge I actually enjoy. I want to write scripts, but in novel terms, I’d aspire to be someone like Colson Whitehead who writes beautifully across so many different genres.
I would love to come see this play because it has a great concept on second chances, however i’ll be in rehearsals during the two showings. is there a possibility of buying a physical copy of the play? or will there be other dates that this show will shown?
Hi Nikhilesh – best thing would be to contact the show team/theatre through the ticket link.