Centre of the Universe is a laugh-out-loud search for meaning in a success-obsessed society. Writer and performer Gaia Mondadori presents a witty exploration of the human need for control in a TikTok-driven, self-help era. Through Mary’s journey, the show examines our obsession with material success and fame. When Mary sets out to become a star, no obstacle is too big – but at what cost? Summerhall (Tech Cube Zero) from 31st July – 25th August at 19:30
- Thank you for chatting with A Young(ish) Perspective! Introduce us to who you are and what your doing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year?
My name is Gaia, I am an actor and writer and I am performing my new self-penned solo show ‘Centre of the Universe’ at Summerhall (Tech Cube Zero) at 7:30pm from 31st July-25th August (not 12th/19th).
I am a performer and writer and I am often drawn to characters who have a secret, innate and sometimes supernatural power. A power that allows them to transcend the loneliness and limits of their carefully crafted personal prison and mythology. In recent years, I have performed a number of self-penned plays at fringe theatre venues, made my own short films, written for a range of mediums and acted in films and TV.
But hey, enough about me! Who are you? Do you ever feel…lonely? Lost? So angry that you could punch something? Or like you’re waiting for a sign? Come to my show. Maybe we’ll find the way together…
- A Youngish Perspective platforms accessible arts and champions the huge scope of different perspectives – can you tell us about the show you’re taking to Edinburgh Festival Fringe as if you’re flyering to both a young first-time-Fringe goer and a festival veteran returning every year?
Told through the perspective of Mary, the show examines the ways in which we may hide from pain and seek to be defined by the glory of material success. A teenager with no discernible talents, Mary believes that she is destined for greatness and refuses to be defined by the death of her mother. When an iconic TikTok influencer Gabriella Dios visits her school, a burning need for success is ignited within Mary – she will become a star.
Led by the signs she believes she is receiving from the Universe, Mary forges her own path to greatness. From hosting her own funeral to dropping out of school to cleaning bins and making love to her anger, there is nothing Mary isn’t ready to do to prove herself. But at what cost?
‘Centre of the Universe’ invites audiences to look outwards and question what we value as success. It is a coming-of-age story that explores the universal search for home, purpose, and the courage to have a dream. It is also a love letter to theatre, to connection, and to the impossible becoming possible.
- This show challenges the idea of external validation being an indicator of success, yet performance is a method to receive that external validation. How are you able to balance the method of the show with the necessary sacrifices of the industry?
The show certainly interrogates external metrics of success and how we are fed an illusion that external success or “making it” will suddenly, as if by magic, make us whole. But I do believe and I hope the show conveys this too that it’s not as black and white as renouncing all measures of external validation but learning to see those (whatever form they may take for you) for what they are. I think the danger is when we conflate awards/applause/criticism/compliments with our own value as a human and our egos suddenly think oh! I’m that and that and that. But really we are so much less and so much more than those shiny or spiky comments and trophies.
I wouldn’t say that performance is a method to receive external validation but it is true that yes there is applause (normally) at the end of a performance and the industry can certainly feel like it sometimes is a very confusing playground with no guidebook. Ultimately, it’s about the work. When I focus on the work then that noise melts away. I would be lying if I said I had reached a point where I was completely free from the need of external validation but I read that another word for ‘performance’ is ‘fulfilment’. I wonder if I am trying to understand and release and fulfil a journey that I feel I have been on in my own life and the questions I still don’t have answers to.
- Mary seems to have a delusional sense of self-confidence and belief in her own success. Do you think this is healthy or is there a value in understanding one’s limits?
Of course it is healthy and necessary to be in touch with reality and not completely delusional but I think I am fascinated by and like to live my life on the very fine line between reality and imagination, the what if…! I can’t help it, I’m a dreamer, always have been, always will be. Sue me.
But yes, I think it’s all about balance – the voice that says YOU ARE THE VOICE OF YOUR AND EVERY GENERATION is just the other side of the voice that says YOU’RE USELESS. YOU’RE A FAILURE. I think a lot of Mary’s confidence and belief is actually stemming from a place of deep deep need – a need to be seen, to be understood. She’s incredibly self-aware and yet, like most of us, she has blind spots or rather painful truths that she simply cannot face.
- Young women are often told that their dreams are too big and unrealistic. How does Centre of the Universe challenge this idea and what message do you want the audience to walk away with?
It’s interesting I’d never thought it was a radical or feminist statement for The Centre of the Universe to be a young woman. It just sort of made sense to me and why not? Why shouldn’t it be? I think young women have been told that throughout history because people fear what we may be capable of if we knew how powerful we actually are. We are all bursting with myth and magic and possibility. It is not in my control what audiences will walk away with but I can only hope for them to feel seen, to feel less alone in this vast beautiful cosmic chaos and of course to laugh!
- Who would your surprise dream audience member be?
My future self. I joke, I joke. It would be The Virgin Mary, obviously.