We sat down with Andrea Holland, creator and performer in Chop-Chop!, coming to Barons Court Theatre from 27-31st May. Chop-chop! is a high-energy Spanglish one-woman show that blends eclectic storytelling, wildly exaggerated yet deeply human characters, and a dash of food at its heart—serving up identity, connection, and a whole lot of bilingual chaos.
What inspired you to turn the chaos of cultural identity and procrastination into a Spanglish comedy with food at its heart?
Ever since I came to London in 2017 and discovered Fringe Theatre, I’ve dreamed of telling my story. Fringe Theatre transformed how I saw performance and opened up a whole world of possibilities. I realised that everyone has a story to share, each with its own unique voice, and that every story can resonate with someone—there’s room for everyone. And something that sparked the idea of telling it through two different characters was reading the play “Coser y Cantar” by Dolores Prida at uni, a piece where an internal conflict was made into theatre. As a bilingual person that grew up between Spain and England, I thought it could be really interesting and fun to share my story through two characters that were caricatured versions of the voices in my head —kind of like Inside Out, but bilingual and chaotic. Of course I’m not totally one or the other, and probably no one is, but we can all most likely see ourselves reflected in some things of these exaggerated opposing characters. These two versions — English, the productivity-obsessed voice, and Spanish, the carefree procrastinator — represent the scattered nature of my brain. My mind swings between procrastination, daydreaming, hyperfocus, and bursts of productivity and perfectionism, and these two crazy forces encapsulate all of that.
I love parody, clowning and physical comedy, it’s a language that really resonates with me, maybe because of its universality; and so it was only natural that I told Chop-chop! this way. I wanted to laugh at cultural stereotypes, at human contradictions, and above all, at myself. And of course, a homage to my roots and my persona had to have food at its heart. Food reconnects me with both my cultures and I believe that happens to a lot of people. It’s almost like when you have a dual culture or a multicultural background you can sometimes feel like you don’t fit. I don’t know if I’m English or Spanish enough but I know I love apple crumble and tortilla and that’s enough!
How do you switch between your two larger-than-life characters onstage—and does your bilingual brain ever get tangled up mid-scene?
At the beginning, I thought, “Right, I’m going to go crazy doing this, it’s going to be so hard!” But weirdly enough, I actually find that it really helps me to have two characters. I feel like it’s a lot easier than just playing one as I don’t do anything, their spirits just possess me and they do all the work, haha! No, but for real, I do it through the body, embodying them. Since they’re caricatures, their physicality is big, and accessing their shape allows me to access their content. I enter each of them through movement exercises, and once I find their body and energy, their voice and everything else follows. To switch between the two, I find breath super important, and also their state of tension, as they have quite different ones — it’s like a constant tennis match. It’s the most fun part of doing the show! It really challenges me and lets me play as an actor.
Normally, my brain does pretty well, but sometimes changing accents so quickly can be tricky. I remember one time, someone came in late and made a bit of noise. I was right in the middle of switching characters and had a bit of a brain fart. I was like, “Shit, who am I now?” Very existential moment.
Chop-chop! tackles serious themes with humor—how do you strike the balance between belly laughs and emotional gut-punches?
I’ve always believed that humour is incredibly powerful. As a comedy lover, I think laughter creates an instant connection — it’s indescribable. Once you get a few laughs you know the audience is most likely invested in the journey in some way or another, and they’re there for the characters. Then, you just need to trust that the relationship you built early on will help the more emotional moments land.
Also, I think the audience connect with these characters because, although they’re exaggerated caricatures, they’re grounded in honesty and truth—they’re, in many ways, reflections of myself. And perhaps that’s why they resonate: we can all see parts of ourselves in caricatures, no matter how heightened. After all, theatre—whether comedy, tragedy, or drama—is ultimately about human connection.
What’s one moment in Chop-chop! that always gets the audience laughing—or crying—no matter what?
One moment that always seems to get a good laugh, and that I personally love, is when Spanish, once again, gets completely distracted from the important task she’s meant to be doing and suddenly decides it’s time to meditate. But not just any meditation… she starts making these wild, guttural sounds that come from deep within, totally over-the-top and bizarre. And the best part is English’s horrified, confused reaction — just staring in disbelief. It’s such a ridiculous contrast, and audiences really respond to that chaos and clash between the two.
If your inner child could co-direct the show for one night, what wild or ridiculous scene do you think she’d add in?
To be fair, I think a lot of the scenes are already guided by my inner child. I believe one of the underlying themes of the show is connecting with our inner child in order to find ourselves again. There’s actually a scene that’s entirely hers, but I won’t spoil it.
However, if she had her way, she’d probably add a totally wild scene with gigantic Bratz dolls throwing a party—and she’d definitely be one of them! The scene would be set in Teletubbieland, now the new kingdom of the Bratz dolls, with guest appearances from Laa-Laa and Tinky Winky, who’ve stopped by to pick up their old mail. They’re also checking on Noo-Noo, the retired hoover who still lives there but hasn’t been returning their messages lately. I was completely obsessed with the Teletubbies as a toddler! To be honest, this sounds like a completely different show—but hey, I used to play with the Bratz dolls all the time in Spain and watch the Teletubbies every summer in England so it could be the union of my cultures!