We sat down with Julia to talk about her latest play Auntie Empire premiering at Manipulate Festival.
1. You’ve described this work as absurd and rambunctious. At what point did you know this story needed to be told through comedy?
The idea began in 2019 in a Summerhall lab. The audience for that scratch found Auntie hilarious. The idea then went through a number of different developments – firstly in a short film which I co-directed with the brilliant Niamh McKeown, then in a traditional play structure through the Traverse’s Creative Fellowship programme they run with IASH, then a devising phase with Jordan & Skinner. But with Tim Licata as Bouffon director the show found its true comedic voice. I’ve heard it said many times that Britain is beyond satire. 2026 has started with news that exposes the Imperialist agenda of our liberal Democracies. Although that is a hard reality to face up to in our daily lives, it does appear to have opened the door to political satire being a welcome form once again.
2, The show has already lived several lives — as a short film, pop-up performances, and now a full stage premiere at Manipulate Festival. How has Auntie changed as she’s grown?
What is most exciting about teaming up with Tim is the access his expertise has given me to bouffon as an art form. The bouffon is a character and is an extension of the performer/creator. That bouffon then creates other characters as they satirise the powerful. So thanks to Tim I now play several characters in the show: Auntie Empire, who is my characterisation of the personification of Great Britain, Britannia; her parents, which in my story is England and Scotland, and a bouffon which is a version of myself the artist. It is a quite, quite different show from the work in progress we shared at Summerhall during the Edinburgh Festival last year.
3. Auntie Empire feels especially timely, but it’s also rooted in long-standing myths. Why do you think this figure needs confronting now?
Auntie Empire is massively informed by my experience of facing up to my culpability as a Brit. The character is inspired by Britannia whose footsoldiers literally beat the Gaelic language out of my elders on the isle of Lewis in the early 20th century. She’s also inspired by the Britishness that I believed was all that was great and good growing up in expatriate Indonesia. She is both inspired by the likes of Bake Off and Britain’s Got Talent and the various personalities currently in and recently departed from the Royal Household. I want us to see that even though the British Empire might be considered a thing of the past, the values and benefits of that shameful and horrific period in history are still alive and well today – in us.
4. Audience interaction is a big part of the show. What kind of relationship are you hoping to build with the people in the room?
The audience plays a huge role. In all our work in progresses and trial shows we have found the audience fun and full of surprises. I take good care to make sure that everyone who participates in the active participation moments have consented to do so, but really the show only works with an audience. And therefore every show is completely different because as the saying goes, there’s nowt queer as folk. So although the show knows what it needs to do, I don’t always know what an audience wants to do in it! The relationship between us is playful, consensual and challenging.
5. When audiences leave Auntie Empire, what do you hope lingers with them the longest?
I hope they leave having had an absolute blast. It is so silly and so much fun. But I also want them to leave feeling unsettled and looking at themselves and each other in a new light.
For listing info, please visit: https://www.disasterplan.co.uk/whatson