We sat down for an exclusive interview with Emma Ruse, Chief Exec of Framework Theatre and Director of Burnout. The writer of Burnout: A Verbatim Play, Ellen Bradbury, interviewed 27 individuals about their experiences of being burnt out.
This show runs from 6-7th February at Tron Theatre – Tickets here
How did your role as Chief Executive of Framework Theatre shape your directorial choices on Burnout?
All of my choices have been influenced by my role as Chief Executive! Framework is special as we are an artist development organisation that produces professional theatre as part of our model. Giving real opportunities for early-career artists to meet audiences. For me, that means all of my directing choices are about allowing our cast and creative team to thrive alongside creating the best show possible. It can be a careful balance for me as CEO and also as an early-career director myself, but makes for a very fun process!
What ethical responsibilities did you feel when staging verbatim material drawn from 27 real lives?
With verbatim, there is so much to consider as you’re holding real people’s stories, words and experiences. In this show, the only person who knows the true identities is our playwright, Ellen Bradbury – so even I don’t know! When choosing who’s going to read which character, there’s a responsibility to try and achieve the best representation for those people possible and that’s been the biggest challenge so far! We want to present these stories with care, compassion and heart – staying as true to these words as we can.
How did you decide what to theatricalise and what to leave raw or unresolved?
One of the things I adore about verbatim is its messiness, it’s raw and imperfect nature. When you’re writing a fictional play you can make sure your character says exactly what you need to convey in that moment – and in verbatim you have to build only from what you have. It’s a fun challenge as theatre-makers! We’ve definitely leaned in to the rawness, but there’s a real core thread that Ellen has found through these interviews that gives some real theatrical satisfaction!
Why was Burnout the right project to mark Framework’s first production as a Multi-Year Funded organisation?
It’s our most ambitious production to date, our largest cast ever, directed by our CEO and was our first ever commission back in 2021. It is also our first ever mainstage production. Being able to dream big, to support as many early career artists as possible to make their mainstage debut and round up a project we’ve been working on for 5 years – it made perfect sense.
What surprised you most during the interview material’s transition from testimony to performance?
How much humour there is! As humans I think we naturally use humour to escape, to divert and to distract – but for a play about Burnout it can actually be quite funny! It’s not all doom and gloom, there is humour and there is hope.
What do you hope audiences carry with them after encountering burnout framed as a collective, rather than individual, experience?
When you are experiencing Burnout (and most of us have to some degree) it feels like the loneliest thing in the world. It feels like failure, like everyone else has it together apart from you. But that’s not true. Burnout is one of the most universal experiences there is within the capitalist system we work in. I hope audiences feel seen, feel heard and feel less alone.