We sat down for an exclusive interview with Rebecca, writer and performer in I’m Allergic To People, which is debuting at Blue Elephant Theatre from the 18th – 22nd March. The play was developed in response to the systemic injustice faced by women and queer people who have been impacted by sexual assault and stalking.
How does I’m Allergic To People challenge societal norms around sex, dating, and queerness?
The play aims to spark social change by presenting the consequences and impacts of dismissing the crimes committed against women and queer people.
Each of the characters are used to represent different experiences, outlooks, emotions, actions and reactions one might feel when navigating through the themes of the play. The play aims to provoke audience members to reflect on their own morals and behaviour they accept.
What inspired you to explore themes of trauma, revenge, and identity in this play?
To be blunt, all these themes are all related to my own experiences as a young, queer person. I feel there are so many things we are told to accept and dismiss as if we are just meant to accept bad things that happen to us. It’s so strange to me how normalised victim blaming has become and how when you speak up about issues you have been impacted by you are made to feel like you are the one to have caused the issue. It doesn’t make sense. Why are people stigmatised for wanting closure or revenge for something that should have never happened to them? Hate towards women and queer people has spiked in recent years and I wanted to speak about it.
How did the development process shape the characters and their relationships?
I’ve been working on this play for nearly a year now. Throughout this time, things did change a lot. In the original script, there were five characters. Now only four as that was all that was needed for the purpose of the play. The relationship between the characters Olivia and Elizabeth has changed slightly as I figured out what I wanted to highlight with them. I also realised, I wanted to use these characters to highlight how everybody’s queer journey is so different. I think when you reach your 20s people assume you have everything together and know yourself very well. But this isn’t the case for everyone. I wanted to show different characters in different phases of their life but all being within a similar age range. It was extremely important that being queer wasn’t the thing that defined them. I find in the media, particularly for lesbians they are hypersexualised in terms of how they are portrayed, and often not even for a queer audience in mind. I wanted to attack this norm in the current media.
What do you hope audiences take away from the play’s exploration of systemic injustice?
Well you never know who’s the audience, maybe a lawyer or somebody who works in the justice system sees this play and it evokes them to change everything wrong, that’ll be great… And needed. But seriously, I want people to think, why is it that the justice system continually, and continually lets down people who seek justice for crimes like sexual assault, rape and homophobia. The people in this play who experience these things, never discuss their experience with the police etc. because from a writing point of view- what’s the point? We all know what the realistic outcome is. Without addressing these issues the abusers get away with their crimes and it’ll only get worse, especially for the victims. I want to be part of the revolt to break the cycle.
How does the collaboration with emerging creatives influence the production’s vision?
Working with emerging creatives has had such a positive effect on the play! Working with people, who have many amazing ideas and individual voices. It’s terrific to find other creatives who want to achieve the same things as me. It has made the whole process so encouraging.
What has been the most rewarding or challenging aspect of bringing this story to the stage?
The most rewarding part is seeing the audience’s reaction to some of the shocking parts of the script. The fact people don’t expect what’s to come makes me genuinely happy as that is what makes people talk about the play. The most challenging part was figuring out how to get this story on stage! I thought the hardest part would be actually finishing the script. There’s so many hurdles, and edits, and emails. It’s insane but worth the struggle