Tag: Q&A

Chloe Keneally as Odette in Swan Lake at the English National Ballet.

IN CONVERSATION WITH: Chloe Keneally

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We had an exclusive chat with Chloe Keneally, the first artist of the English National Ballet. Chloe originally performed My First Ballet as a student and had the opportunity to return to this production, this time as a Company dancer. As an advocate for ballet and accessibility, Chloe hopes this show continues to inspire younger generations to appreciate theatre and dance.

What was the most exciting or challenging part of performing in My First Ballet: Swan Lake?

I was lucky enough to have had the role of Odette in this production created on me when I was at ENBS as a second year student. I was really excited and grateful to have been asked to perform this same production last year with a few of my colleagues and the dancers at ENBS. It was one of my favourite experiences when I was a student, so to be able to do it again as a professional was really special for me.

How does it feel to bring such an iconic ballet to life in a way that’s tailored for young audiences and families?


It was such a rewarding and fulfilling experience to perform for a younger audience who mostly were experiencing their first ballet performance. You experience their reactions as you’re dancing and telling the story on stage. Their excitement and energy fill you and it becomes a collective experience. After the show, hearing the impact it had on them is such a fulfilling and rewarding moment as a dancer.

How did you prepare for the physical and mental demands of this production?


The rehearsal process is always really special to me as I love the safety the studio provides when trying new things and experimenting in order to grow. I also rehearsed with Fernanda Oliviera and Erina Takahashi throughout the rehearsal period which I will always be grateful for. They both have performed the full-length version many times and have been coached by some of the greatest and most influential people in this industry, so to have their knowledge and experience passed down to me was one of my favourite parts of this whole process.

Can you share a favourite moment from rehearsals or performances that has made this experience special for you?


One of the things that I love most about performing is that every show is so different, you are able to find and share little moments with people on stage that are always unique and happen organically. It was also really special sharing the stage with the beautiful second year students and having that full circle moment from the last time I performed this as a student and the journey I’ve been on (and am still on!) since then as a professional.

How do you hope My First Ballet: Swan Lake will inspire the children and families who come to watch it?


I hope that these performances will inspire another generation with a love of ballet and the art form of dance, but ultimately the impact theatre and live performances has on us.

ENB My First Ballet: Swan Lake will be playing at the Peacock Theatre from the 16th – 27th of April 2025.

Visit http://www.ballet.org.uk for tickets

Photo by Angela Grabowska

In Conversation with: Aakash Odedra and Aditi Mangaldas

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Aditi Mangaldas (c) Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company

In this new major production, two of the finest Kathak contemporary dancers of their generations, Aakash Odedra and Aditi Mangaldas, tell unspoken and sometimes taboo love stories. Mehek is an exploration of the human heart, its desires, courage and resilience. Centred around an older woman and a younger man, the dance delves deep into the different ways that love can be. Derived from the Hindi word for fragrance, the title Mehek alludes to the enduring power of memory and the essence of love itself. The stage becomes a place where rhythmic tales of desire unfold, entwined with elements of nature.

Mehek premieres in the UK at the Peepul Centre, Leicester from Thursday 4 to Sunday 7 April, and is showing at Sadler’s Wells in London from Thursday 12 to Friday 13 April.

Aakash Odedra (c) Glen D’Mello

We are really excited about Mehek, showing at Sadler’s Wells from 12-13th April. Can you tell us briefly about what we can expect from this performance? 

AM: I am extremely excited to be at Sadler’s Wells once again. Mehek comes immediately after my solo FORBIDDEN whose UK premiere was there in 2023. Both these pieces are distinct in their concept and choreography and yet both of them address universal taboos that have been part of our society from time immemorial…in this case a love story between a mature woman and a young man. I am very much looking forward to sharing the stage with Aakash Odedra for my first-ever long-length duet. Aakash has a brilliant symbiosis in his being; the lightness of the spirit of a gazelle and the inner strength and peace of the Buddha. This combination makes for a powerful artist. This makes it extremely energising and fascinating for me to share the stage with such an enigmatic and diverse artist.

AO: It’s a show about love between a mature woman and a younger man. Why is it taboo for a woman to have a younger lover? Society doesn’t blink an eyelid if a man has a younger partner but when a woman enters a relationship with a younger man it is frowned upon. Ultimately it is about love. We have an epic design of floating mirrors surrounding the stage, almost creating a mirrored palace or a shattered mirror. There are musicians live on stage, weaving in and out of the story representing society, resistance and, at times, guidance and hope. Aditi Mangaldas is a legend in the Kathak world. To see this ferocious Kathak dancer move is something that leaves a lasting impression, to dance with her is a life changing experience!  I want to transport the audience out of this world and invite them into our world, a world that defies possibilities and in which one can dare to dream. 

This dance consists only of you two, Aakash and Aditi. What has the process been like working solely with each other on stage?

AM: As I mentioned, it’s my first full-length duet so the whole process has been a learning experience. When there is chemistry, mutual trust and deep respect between two artists, then the flow of ideas and imagination is free and simultaneous. Two identities remained distinct and yet were able to merge into each other. This resulted in a process that brought together diverse elements. Aakash brought in contemporary inputs, while I brought in some very classical Kathak ones. The percussionists brought in rhythm and drama while the vocalists added emotion. Slowly one started perceiving the beauty of each element, until a lasting fragrance – Mehek – evolved.

AO: Before I started working with Aditi, I simply worshipped her, I used to watch all her online videos on repeat! So now to finally be sharing the same stage and space has shifted my being, it has changed my dance and my approach to Kathak. One thing Aditi and I have in common is the attention to lighting, staging and aesthetics. We play with what the space has to offer and in doing so we feel we are never alone, the space is dynamised and dancing with us. 

What sort of love story are you telling through Mehek?

AM: It’s a love story that you don’t see very often. It’s a love story between two ordinary people on this planet, one older than the other. However, we are conditioned to believe that the man would be older and the woman younger. Very rarely is it seen in any society for a much older woman to have a romantic relationship with a younger man. What are the dynamics of this relationship? What is it that is similar? Love is the same at whatever age. Desire is the same at whatever age and between whichever gender. Then what is dissimilar? It is the conceptualisation of time! Because each one views time differently. For one there is much more time in the past and less in the future while for the other the future seems endless. This doesn’t seem to matter in the regular ‘older man – younger woman’ dynamics. So why does it seem so important in the reverse case?  Many poets and philosophers have said that love is one emotion that makes you experience timelessness and spacelessness. Then why should age matter?

AO: Aditi is 25 years older than me and this became the basis of our story. We both have different perspectives on time and we started to question why age became a restriction on whom one can love, why is there a such a big bias in how men are treated compared to women when it comes to younger lovers. For me personally I love the idea and poetry of this impossible love story, it felt like the Hir Ranja (Romeo and Juliet) story but through Kathak. The concept is simple – love – but the subject is complicated because of age and gender. 

The word Mehek, can be translated from Hindi to mean ‘fragrance’. Is there a certain smell which reminds you of happy and loving memories?

AM: In one of the R&D sessions, Karthika Naïr, the dramaturge of Mehek, asked very poignant and probing questions. “What is the colour of love? What is the fragrance of love? What music do you conjure up when you think of love?” The above questions were put not just to Aakash and me, but also to all the musicians. It was fascinating to see how each one had different interpretations and answers. Love is a many-splendored emotions whose fragrance feels eternal, remaining with you through your life and triggering memories of a beautiful relationship. For me, love takes the form of diverse fragrances.

AO: Naag Champa, it’s the incense sticks I light every day in my temple, it reminds me of love for the divine, love that has no condition or limitation. From that fragrance, for me, are born all things connected to love.

You are both iconic Kathak dancers. What do you hope people learn from going to see Mehek, if they are seeing Kathak for the first time? 

AM: The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards known as Kathakars or storytellers. So essentially both Aakash and I are storytellers. We share stories and invite the audience to journey with us. I would invite the viewers to enter our world of Mehek and then go on their own journey of the discovery of love, of passion, of desire, of caring and of awakening. Does societal conditioning affect our views about a love story involving a much older woman and a younger man? Should a woman’s life be categorised by age and time: time meant for romance; time meant for childbearing; after which their sense of love and desire is rarely addressed? These questions are what I hope that the audiences will take away. As storytellers, we tell stories from aspects of life that we get completely immersed in. For me, the audience’s understanding of Kathak is not really important. Dance is a universal language.

AO: I hope they are able to see that the beauty of love is that it’s unlimited and unconditional, it can be danced, sung or written about, there is no right or wrong. Kathak is the medium that Aditi and I share and love. It has brought us so much joy and we’re using it to express our lived experience. I hope that by the end of the show you no longer see Kathak but instead you see love… when all leaves, only love remains.

Mehek has its UK premiere at Peepul Centre, Leicester from 4 to 7 April before a national tour https://aakashodedra.com/whats-on/

In Conversation with: Jonathan Oldfield

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Jonathan Oldfield is a performer, writer and director. He’s a Pleasance Associate Artist 2024 and finalist in the BBC Carleton Hobbs Award, and directed the award-winning Lorna Rose Treen: Skin Pigeon (5 stars Telegraph, Evening Standard, Observer, Independent).

His current project is One Way Mirror – an “alluring and poetic” (Everything Theatre) show that is “laced with tongue-in-cheek humour” (Fringe Biscuit) and Winner of the Brighton Fringe Trapeze Media Bursary 2024. Playing at the Soho Rising Festival at Soho Theatre on Saturday 17th February 2024. Tickets available here.

What made you want to tell this story? 

I moved into this abandoned office with a one-way mirror during the middle of the pandemic. As soon as I moved in, there was something kind of magical about the mirror that made me think “oh, there’s a nice story in here somewhere”.

I think a lot of the things that I like to make have a feeling of wanting magic to exist in them, sort of magical realist or magic adjacent. So as soon as I got literally a giant one-way mirror in my living room, I had a feeling in my belly that this is a little bit magical.

So I got a little book. and started to write down people that I saw, and things that I saw go by. And as I did that, I started to build this odd database of characters, moments and things. Very quickly, it became clear that there was something in it that really fascinated me, and I felt like that fascination was a good place to start making a piece of theatre from: that there was something that made my belly go “ooh”, that made me want to explore it a bit more. 

I like that idea, wanting magic to exist in an object. I think that’s a really interesting lens to view the world through.

I think so, yeah. I feel like mostly I’m quite a rational, grounded person. I’m not really very religious; I don’t do much betting or anything like that. But I really think a big part of me wants to believe in some kind of magic existing in the world. And so, if I can create a space in a theatre which makes people think maybe – just for a second – that there might be something like that, I think that’s really nice because those are my favourite pieces of art to consume as well.

Have you done much people watching before, or was it sparked by discovering the one-way mirror in your office? 

It was definitely sparked by the mirror. I mean, I feel like everyone has done a bit of people watching in their time: train stations and airports are the classic examples of that, where if you get stuck on a layover you end up watching people in a very transitional space.

I quickly became aware during the pandemic that people watching was a bit of a dying art, because there was a period of time where we were only allowed out of our house to exercise. And so, the idea of sitting on a bench and watching people actually became illegal at one point.

I suddenly felt like that feeling of being in crowds was really scary. I’m a hypochondriac, so there was a real fear about being in a big group of people. But also, I had this odd duality where I really missed it. I missed being able to just sit in the quiet and watch a crowd go by, which is why the mirror became this perfect safe space. I had a few inches of thick, almost COVID-proof glass where I was able to people watch and not be seen and not be perceived and stay quite safe behind there.

In One Way Mirror, you’re playing a character watching people on the other side of the mirror, but then as an actor you’re being watched on stage by an audience. How does that feel? 

I think my original intention was to really focus on the stories that I saw in the mirror. But as I was developing it, I think it became apparent that it felt almost like a lie to talk about the act of watching and being watched, without acknowledging that that’s exactly what is going on with the audience.

There’s a certain interactive element to the show as well, where audiences can get involved at various points. And so they have a choice: whether they want to watch or be watched. It felt quite nice that I was making a little cyclone of watching and being watched.

I hope it doesn’t sound as much of a headache as it feels in my brain, but I’m finding more and more parallels the more I build it, between describing the art of watching and the fact that I’m fully being watched underneath the lights. 

Is that what you hope the audience take away from the show? That sense of what it’s like to be a watcher and the watched?

I think that’s certainly a central discussion. Quite early on in the show, I talk about the fact that when I first moved into the office, I made a bit of a pact with myself that I was going to watch and not intervene at any point. Like a voyeur’s blood pact, I guess. I decided that because nobody knew that I was here, it would feel disingenuous to choose when to help and when not to help. I would be impacting people’s lives in ways that they were not consenting to or were not expecting.

And then I think the show itself discusses that pact with myself and hopefully makes the audience question when they choose just to watch and sit back, and when they do choose to intervene and connect. The very nature of a show that’s about sitting back and watching means that you’re discussing connection. You’re discussing talking to people, and especially talking to strangers. And especially talking to strangers in London, which feels sometimes like an insurmountable mountain.

I certainly want people to walk away wondering and thinking about when they choose just to watch and when they choose to act or to intervene or to connect.

Do you have a favourite moment from the show that you can share? 

There’s a section of the first ten minutes that’s almost like a child’s game between myself and the audience of fill in the blanks. And I deliberately have some questions that are quite closed and some questions that are quite open. It’s a way of me gauging how interactive the audience would like to be across the hour, and whether we’ve got people who really want to get involved, or whether we’ve got an audience who just want to sit back and let me do it.

I think I sometimes feel that a lot of interactive shows can be quite daunting for introverts, because they sometimes favour the people that are going to be loud and upfront and want to get involved straight away. So, I’ve really, really tried since the beginning to make a show that both extroverts and introverts can get involved with.

I think the first ten minutes is a really beautiful sort of dance, where I’m working out what type of audience is in front of me. Do we have people who are going to want to get involved, or do we have people that just want to sit back and or get involved in different ways? And I’ve had some wild and very different, diverse answers to some of the questions that I pose. I definitely think that’s one of my favourites. 

You’ve spoken about the effect of the COVID lockdowns on the writing and production process. Do you think that the lockdowns changed the way that people go about making art? 

I can tell you the effect that it’s had on me. My background is in improvisation and clown work as well as storytelling. So, I’m quite prone to leaving stuff to the last minute, jumping up on stage in front of an audience and really focusing on the joy of being in the moment. And I think that’s had many benefits to the kind of work that I make, which sits between theatre and comedy mostly. There’s nothing else like it.

It definitely meant that pre-COVID I found myself in danger of cycling through ideas very quickly, trying it once or twice and then moving on to a new idea. I think in an odd way, what COVID did was quite positive for me as a theatre maker: by taking the act of getting up on a stage away for a long time, it forced me to sit with ideas for longer, as opposed to the almost drug-like feeling of going in front of an audience and just whacking something out and trying it.

Is there anything else you want to say about the show?

With One Way Mirror, I’m interested to see what work that sits almost directly in the middle of theatre and comedy can do. I think it’s a really interesting, exciting space to exist in. When can I really make the audience laugh just for the sake of laughing, in the way that a comedy show does? And then how can I use that laughter to help fuel a story, and a journey, and a feeling of catharsis, and a space to allow them to think?

In Conversation with: Léona McLoughlin

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Waiting For God. oh. is a new play, written by Léona McLoughlin, reminding us that, by loving others as well as ourselves, we can chip away at our feelings of hopelessness. And perhaps, if we work together, we can discover what matters most in a world that can feel more and more alien to us each day.

For a bit of excitement, God invites a human to spend some time with her. God can’t wait to be the centre of attention and to be bombarded by silly human questions. But, interacting with an average human isn’t quite everything God imagined. And neither is it for the human. 

Léona McLoughlin is an actor and writer originally from Yorkshire but now based in South East London. She began developing her writing aged 17 at Leeds Playhouse  as part of their ‘New View’s’ project in collaboration with the National Theatre. Since then, she trained at Mountview Academy Theatre Arts and is now working as a  professional actor and writer. She will be making her writing debut with Waiting for God. oh. at the Old Red Lion Theatre from Thursday 8th – Saturday 10th February. Get your ticket here.

What is Waiting for God. oh. about, and where did the idea  come from?  

Waiting for God. oh. is about spreading love in our sometimes scary 21st century  world. I’m not a religious person, but I realised that so many of us need to have  faith in the people around us, or else we feel alone and isolated. After graduating  drama school, I suddenly felt a bit directionless and unsure of my path. I started  wondering, if there was anyone who I would like to speak to (or scream at “WHATS  NEXT?”). I thought, well, if someone could speak to anyone, who could be the most  interesting person to speak to…. Well, I realised, that person would be GOD. In the  play, God is bubbly, funny and a little bit chaotic. She invites a human to meet her,  expecting to have a great time as the centre of attention. But it doesn’t quite go the  way God expects. This human is non-religious and has become pretty apathetic to  the world. The pair share stories, laugh, argue and quickly discover that perhaps an  omniscient being and a human aren’t quite as different as it may first seem. God realises that 2024 has many faults and offers the human one very simple solution…And to find out the solution, you’ll have to come see the show!!  

What was the writing process around the show?  

Any project I make usually starts in the same way – a jumbled amalgamation of  scribbles on the notes app on my phone and late night voice notes of ideas right  before I fall asleep. In the case of Waiting for God. oh., I wrote a mixture of short  monologues and duologues but nothing was really sticking at first. I suddenly realised that the play is a call to action for the audience which gives them a space  to connect with their loved ones. (Sounds strange but it will only make sense when  you see it!) Yes – that was when the play really took flight. I am also very lucky to  have the incredible Erica Tavares-Kouassi onboard with the project, playing God. The play is quite colloquial and in each read through, Erica gave me amazing feedback of certain lines which didn’t quite fit with her voice. This was super helpful! Similarly, our fantastic director, Nicky Allpress, has given me some great pointers  and notes which has helped the play really develop over the last few weeks. 

What do you hope audiences will take away from the play? 

Oh my gosh what a huge question! Ummm, EVERYTHING and ANYTHING! Theatre to me is not about what we watch but what the audience takes away. But,  to be a teeny bit more specific, I want the audience to simply tell their loved ones that they love them a little bit more than they did before seeing the show. For audiences to be a bit kinder when the person you love has got you slightly irritated. Or maybe just to smile at someone random in the street, who cares if they think you’re a  nutter! Maybe you will have reminded them that they’re not alone.  

Are you excited to perform at the Old Red Lion Theatre? And where can audiences buy tickets?  

OH YES!!! Firstly, the Old Red LionTheatre is one of the most influential and highly regarded fringe theatre venue in London. It’s also been running as a pub since the  1400s, it’s awesome! And secondly, I’m even more excited as this play is featured  as part of a wider new writing festival “FreshFest”. This means that all month there  will be loads of amazing new shows to catch. It’s fantastic to be part of such a  creative and joyous melting pot of new writing! And you can get tickets on the Old Red Lion Website. Simply click, ‘Whats On’ then  go to FreshFest and scroll down to find Waiting for God. oh. Or just follow this link if  it’s a bit easier: https://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/waiting-for-god-oh.html

Photo by Charles Flint

In Conversation with: Charlie MacGechan

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Sergio Blanco and Daniel Goldman return to the Arcola Theatre, after the success of their critically acclaimed OFFIE award winning productions of Thebes Land and The Rage of Narcissus, to tell a mesmerising story of love and lust beyond the grave.

When You Pass Over My Tomb is from one of the world’s most performed living Spanish-language playwrights is a darkly comic meditation on how we live and how we die; the story of a writer who makes the incredible decision to give his body another life after death.

Charlie MacGechan ( The World Will Tremble, A Bad Day At The Office, Pennyworth (HBO, Warner Brothers)) stars in When You Pass Over My Tomb, showing at Arcola Theatre from 7th February – 2 March. Buy tickets here!

What’s When You Pass Over My Tomb about? 

It’s a love story I can guarantee you’ve never seen before. It’s beautifully written, and it explores assisted suicide, great works of literature, consent, masculinities, and necrophilia. It sounds like a comedy, doesn’t it!? The crazy thing is that even though this is an incredibly intellectual play, it’s very funny and full of warmth. 

Who do you play? 

Sergio Blanco has written this as a piece of auto-fiction, so I play myself as The Ghost of Charlie, and Khaled, an Irani medievalist who is into swords, gothic book-hand, and digging up graves.

How is preparing for this show different to other productions you have been involved in? 

I believe Sergio is one of the best playwrights of our time. I have never worked on anything remotely like this in my life. The other writers who I can think of who comes close to this kind of writing is Pinter or Ridley, every word in this play is doing exactly what it has to do. It’s an incredible gift, as an actor, to work on a play so complex with such an incredible director in Daniel Goldman. I can honestly say that this play is the ‘gift that keeps on giving’. 

To prepare I’ve had to research the history of Iran, medieval weaponry, the psychology of necrophilia and Frankenstein. I’ve had to do more research than ever before, and at the same time, let go of all that, to be present in the scene as Khaled and myself. 

Do you have any favourite moments in the play? 

Originating these characters with my fellow cast-members Danny Schienmann and Al Nedjari has been incredible – they are so talented. The moments I love most are when we merge our personal truths, with Sergio’s fiction. That and switching between characters sometimes even within the same line which is thrilling. It keeps us all on our toes. 

How did you get into acting? 

My late mother would take me to see the local plays most weeks from a very early age. I was always fascinated with how theatre can spark discussion and move society forwards. 

What would you say to someone considering coming to see this production?

I have never seen or read anything like this play in my life. It’s a breath of fresh air, in the sense that it has to be the least commercial piece of theatre I’ve ever encountered. It’s wonderfully layered and unapologetic in what it’s saying. This is original, challenging, enigmatic theatre. It’s mind blowing!

Photo by Dylan Woodley

In Conversation with: Sarah Cameron-West

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The outrageously hilarious show KAREN will be embracing London as it heads for The Other Palace from 19 – 24 March, following its hit run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Centred around a storm of heartbreak, this uproarious show tackles the internal turmoil of our Protagonist as she journeys through a chaos-filled office narrative and reaches a cathartic finale. Shattering the fourth wall, this critically acclaimed hit follows the Protagonist as an unceremonious birthday break-up sees her ex dating her office nemesis: Karen. We sit down with Sarah Cameron-West, (Anansi Boys, Amazon Prime; Walk Home, Josie Copeland) creator and performer of KAREN.

Sarah Cameron-West © Phil Sharp

How did the idea for this show come about?

I just wrote the start of a sketch in my Notes app exploring comedy through a one-sided conversation which I then submitted to Velvet Smoke’s Project Passion competition where the finalists would get to perform their work at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington. This meant that I had to turn my thoughts into a coherent 10-minute sketch and I wanted to explore this idea of an emotional explosion in a professional setting paired with a more heartfelt analysis of why our Protagonist had this outburst and the difficulty in dealing with big feelings if you don’t have the luxury of therapy or a great support network. I was thrilled to be selected and they paired me up with my director Evie Ayres-Townshend who is still KAREN’s director. Karen then sat on the backburner in 2022 and it was only in March 2023 that I thought about submitting it to the Edinburgh Fringe (despite not having written any more than those 10 minutes). However, I threw myself into the last remaining slot at Greenside Riddles Court and took May to write the whole show and June to rehearse with a preview in the beginning of July. The 10-minutes I wrote are the finale of the performance so I essentially just needed to start working backwards what would get her to that point. 

How important is it to showcase these raw and authentic displays of female emotion?

I think it is absolutely crucial to show raw and authentic displays of emotions theatrically regardless of gender as it allows people to connect to the truth of what it is to be human. However, female rage specifically, is at the core of the play’s identity and impact. I say female rage instead of just rage because rage is received and responded to in a harshly gendered way by society. For example, there seems to be a societal double standard in the language we use when describing the same behaviour in genders: a man is assertive, a woman is a rude. A man can react, a woman can only overreact. A man can be angry, a woman is hysterical. Men, generally speaking, are given the space and permission to express their anger. Although still perceived problematic at times, rage for men is an accepted performance of feeling whereas women are all too often met by restrictive expectations and conditions to their emotional expressions. The female rage celebrated in KAREN asks an audience to embrace mess and big feelings in a cathartic way, confronting society’s call women to be for polite, restrained and palatable. Our Protagonist goes the entire play trying to appease those around her and squash down her feelings, yet what we discover is that the only way to process your emotions is to tackle them head on and for Protagonist, it’s a case of the final straw breaking the camel’s back that leads her into a liberating explosion. 

How different is it staging a one woman show compared to an ensemble show?

I must confess that I couldn’t have done it without my wonderful and inspiring director Evie who made rehearsal a joy from start to finish. I feel very lucky that Evie instinctively knew what I was trying to say with the piece and understood my humour in order to know where to really push it in the show. The biggest challenge with a one-person show is that you have to generate all of the energy on your own unlike an ensemble show where you can rely on each other to keep the pace, the fun and the freshness of the show. Every great actor says acting is about reacting and how you should never be a “samovar” – someone that just creates all of their own energy rather than engaging with the actors around you. But how can you react when you are on your own? For me, I ended up writing out the entire show with all of the other character’s lines so that I knew intrinsically how I needed to respond. So I am reacting, you just can’t hear the cue. I then use my imagination by bringing the audience in as my characters and as it’s a different audience every time, it always brings something new and unique to every performance. 

The show has been likened to Peep Show and Fleabag – what are some shows or creatives that inspired the creation of KAREN?

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is my absolute hero so to have KAREN likened to Fleabag felt completely surreal. The same with Peep Show. I adore both shows because the language is so witty and unique. In terms of inspiration, Phoebe is a big inspiration for me but so is Sharon Horgan and Michaela Cole. They are amazing role models and create such visceral, funny, tragic work that has people on the edge of their seat and utterly enraptured by their characters, warts and all. They also showed me that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel – regular, everyday life is funny and hard so start writing about that. It is also what makes their characters so relatable because we can see ourselves in them. KAREN is about our Protagonist who gets dumped. We’ve all faced heartbreak so I wanted to write about that. Then you just start turning up the heat and think “how can I make it worse?” – she’s dumped on her 30th birthday. Worse? Her long term boyfriend has been cheating on her with her arch nemesis: Karen. Even worse? They all work in the same office. I think once you have an electric scenario, the play starts writing itself. 

What do you hope audiences take away from seeing the show?

On one level I hope that people really enjoy the character and the fun of the show – it’s silly, it’s camp, it’s energetic. But I also hope that they take away the message that you can’t escape your feelings – you have to deal with them. If you squash them down, they will manifest in another parts of your life. The only way to heal is by experiencing them and only then can you move forward. It may be hard and at time scary to deal with but you will feel liberated and at peace when you do. 

What are some of your favourite shows playing in London right now?

Anything on at Soho Theatre is always brilliant. It was a real privilege to be a part of the Soho Theatre Edinburgh Labs and witness so many creatives working on their own shows and so many of what I saw up in Edinburgh has now transferred there and rightly so. Clementine by Rosalie Minnitt is a supersonic and hysterical show coined “Bridgerton-meets-Gen-Z-Jane-Austen-on-Adderall” by Fringe Biscuit and I couldn’t agree more. It’s one of those shows your face hurts from laughing and smiling so much. Also Steve Porter’s How To Flirt by Daisy Doris May is an absolutely iconic show where we follow our loveable host Steve (Doris May in drag) who educates us on how to date successfully. I also would really recommend Cruel Intentions and We’ll Have Nun Of It which are both showing at The Other Palace as they are exceptional musicals with such talented casts.

© Temper Theatre

In Conversation with: Finn Morrell

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‍HOME is a heart-warming story of memory, imagination and parenthood. Find your way back home with Temper Theatre’s latest production, which combines their signature blend of fluid, muscular movement, soul-shaking soundscapes, and evocative imagery, accompanied by original music composed by Dave Price.

As the flood rises, Imogen is swept up on a fantastical wave of self-discovery, unlocking an entirely new perspective on the place she once called home…

Finn founded Temper Theatre in 2014 in Cambridge UK, with the support of award winning directors Rich Rusk and Richard Fredman, and is now touring his work in the UK and Internationally. Finn Morrell is also the creator of HOME, and we chat with him about the production and his creative process!

© Finn Morrell

HOME draws from your own personal experiences returning to your childhood home  – what was it like using this to draw from when creating the piece?  

Simultaneously daunting and exciting. I think its always revealing and sometimes uncomfortable to  reflect on past choices and memories, especially when you’ve grown up a bit and may have  different opinions or perspectives about things. I was asked by my parents to return home to help  them move house and pack up my untouched childhood bedroom and it was that process which  uncovered a whole series of emotions which surprised me. Stories I had forgotten, moments and  memories that had been long buried suddenly resurfaced in compelling ways. Perhaps creating  ‘HOME’ was my way of processing this experience and it has been very cathartic to do so.  

Temper Theatre is known for its physical theatre and staging – what usually comes  first when devising the show, the story or the set and vision?  

It starts with a genuine curiosity about something. I don’t always know what that will be and I try  not to force it, it comes to me and keeps niggling until I have no choice but to investigate why. I  then research a lot in an effort to dive deeper and see if it’s something I want to stage. Eventually  fragments of plot / vision for how it might look, feel and sound starts to emerge. That’s when I work  with a brilliant creative team to help realise these ideas. I knew I wanted a house on stage but it  took the genius of my design team to help create something that felt interactive, decaying, alive  and atmospheric in ways I could never have imagined. Equally the incredibly composer Dave  Price and the international team of talented performers bring a whole new level to it.  

How important is it to you that the messaging around the environmental impact  within the show is shared?  

Inadvertently I have always made work which reflects our relationship with nature. Participating in  ZOOM discussions during the pandemic about flooding in The Fens felt much more immediate to  me than the concept of ‘climate change’ which can often feel distant or abstract. One in six  properties, are at risk of flooding in England and this shocked me. I wanted to humanise flooding and create a story which shows the real impact an extreme weather event could have on  someones friendship, family and community. Ultimately ‘HOME’ is there not to lecture but to bring  about positive and stimulating conversations about floods, inviting audiences to consider the  environment closer to home.  

Has the piece changed much since taking it to Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and in  what ways? 

Edinburgh was the first time we showed the work and we only had one month of practical  rehearsals so I was desperate to get my hands back on it after the run at the Fringe. I learned a lot  once it had gone in front of an audience. I could see and feel which elements needed more work  and we have been working tirelessly over the winter to refine it. There’s a few more scenes, some  cuts and some beautiful new set design to help audiences find their way into the work.  

Do you think you’ll receive a different reaction from audiences in Ely and Cambridge  compared to reactions so far, given the ties to the area?  

I’m really excited about what my local community will think, there’s references to East Anglian  folktales which they may pick up on quicker than other audiences. I’m curious about the emotional  weight from the references to flooding but I hope that the discussions surrounding the work invite  positive debate. It’s my love letter to The Fens and more than anything I hope they feel proud to  be highlighted for its rich history and beauty. 

In Conversation with: Su Mi

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Think it’s a Stand up solo show? Think again. This immersive comedy, Banana Beard, from Su Mi, invites you all on a surreal misadventure of absurdist sketch, untamed thrash metal guitar solos and imaginary costumed personas.

Banana Beard is part of Soho Theatre‘s upcoming Soho Rising 2024 festival, a celebration of new work created by comedians, writers and performers who have taken part in their Writers’ Lab, Comedy Lab or Cabaret & Drag Lab programmes. Buy tickets for the show here at Soho Theatre on Saturday 10th February.

Your show promises an immersive comedy experience that blends stand-up, musical, character, and clown comedy. How did the idea of combining these diverse comedic elements come about, and what challenges and rewards did you encounter in weaving them together?

Banana Beard is a true reflection of my comedic journey and my life. A plethora of stories and skills I have collected over my life span. Music is the beat to my soul, like a best friend forever giving. Heavily into alternative /punk music, I started playing guitar / drums when I was around 12 and sporadically throughout my life, so when I had the opportunity to start it again in my 30s, it has been a gift and a reminder how my body has the incredible power of muscle memory. Super nostalgic and freeing. 

Growing up I was forever that super nerdy Asian kid / weirdo freak who was obsessed and inspired with anything macabre and strange which is why when I started doing stand up, it changed so so drastically, as it just didn’t feel like me to always just stand there (though the power of just doing so is forever admirable). Clowning has been my friend and foe. My body and mind is always changing so the relationship to that art form will also, but I’m here for the ride. The importance of being the representation in that world is prevalent to how I feel about comedy. 

The description of your show mentions a surreal misadventure with absurdist sketch, untamed thrash metal guitar solos, and imaginary costumed personas. Can you share a specific moment or scene from the show that epitomizes this unique blend of elements?

Without giving too much away, at one point I am a homosexual vegetable with a whip, hardcore dancing to nu-metal. Yep. 

The show is described as a celebration of the human experience, particularly focusing on growing up as an immigrant child of South-East Asian descent in East London. How does your personal journey inform the comedic narrative, and what aspects of this experience do you feel resonate most with your audience?

There is very little to no representation of British South East Asian Women (Malaysian) in comedy and almost zero in Alternative Comedy. My comedy heroes have very rarely looked like me growing up and the irony is that I have so many friends like me. Punk ass Asian women with tig ol biddies, every shade and size born and bred in London. My audience and comedy is a very white world however there are many aspects of my life to do with my queerness, my journey with mental health, my childhood etc that will resonate with personal experiences of others. My Malaysian background and upbringing as an Asian Woman will be the parts in which it will be insightful.

Exploring stand-up, musical, character, and clown comedy in one performance is ambitious. Can you share any anecdotes or challenges you faced during the creative process, and how did you navigate the balance between the different comedic forms?

Ambitious to some, but to me just fun! Comedy is a multitude of thrilling highs and melancholic lows. The exploration of testing out material is always terrifying and sometimes my ideas are so farfetched that when they come into fruition, let’s just say that it’s a very interesting process. I have an act where I dress up like a dirty tissue on the bedroom floor. When a gig / event opportunity comes up , it’s actually easier for me to transition to what I want to do. I never ever want to be limited as a performer, which is something that I’ve worked hard to achieve and which is always a work in progress for me. 

In Conversation with: Kathryn Mather

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Award-winning comedian Kathryn Mather’s show, Please Just Give Me a Chance, is a slightly dark, slightly whimsical show about working for the NHS, finding love and finding yourself against the backdrop of the pandemic.

Please Just Give Me a Chance is part of Soho Theatre‘s upcoming Soho Rising 2024 festival, a celebration of new work created by comedians, writers and performers who have taken part in their Writers’ Lab, Comedy Lab or Cabaret & Drag Lab programmes. Buy tickets for the show here at Soho Theatre on Monday 5th February.

How did the idea for Please Just Give Me a Chance come about, and what inspired you to create a show that blends humour with the challenges of working for the NHS during the pandemic?

I’d spent a very long time trying to figure out what my first show would be about, so I just started writing about what was I was experiencing day to day, which happened to be losing almost everything due to a global pandemic and having to start all over again! 

The show promises a mix of darkness and whimsy in exploring themes of working for the NHS, finding love, and self-discovery. Can you share some specific experiences or moments that influenced the tone and content of the show?

The heavens had opened as I was walking in to work one day, so I was given scrubs to wear while my clothes dried, and everyone just assumed I was an agency nurse. The amount of times I was nearly dragged into a procedure room, and I had to convince them I’m just a comedian. “We all are” the nurse said as he handed me a bed pan. 

As a comedian, how do you navigate the fine line between humour and the serious issues surrounding the pandemic and healthcare?

There are so many things I could talk about on stage which I don’t as I’m worried that people will avoid going to the doctors because they think they’ll be ridiculed and I absolutely do not want that. If you’re worried about something, please seek medical advice! 

I know it’s a sensitive subject, but dark humour is a great tool to help lighten the load when in a job that can sometimes be sad, but there are many joyous moments in the job too and it’s important to remember that. 

Can you elaborate on the challenges and rewards of creating a show that not only explores the professional life of NHS workers but also delves into personal themes such as finding love and self-discovery? How do you aim to connect with the audience on both levels?

People blame the NHS for a lot at the moment, but in my experience the problems all really boil down to chronic lack of funding/resources, not the overworked staff (who got no break from the pressure of the pandemic) trying to navigate a system that’s been wilfully broken, and I wish people would see that. 

Similarly, I think it’s a fairly universal experience for my generation to have to reassess markers of life success (having “a job for life”, buying a house, marriage, children), so it’s been really nice to connect with audiences over this – it makes you realize the failure is with the world and not a personal one.  

Then you can justify eating avocado on toast and tell yourself it’s almost the same as the sweet sweet taste of homeownership and a government who cares about you and your bunions. 

In Conversation with: Henry Moss

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Henry Queen of Squats is a high camp jukebox stand-up hour in which Henry Moss unpacks flashbacks from his days as a young ballet dancer to now planning his wedding and asks is this enough of an emotional throughline?

Henry Queen of Squats is part of Soho Theatre‘s upcoming Soho Rising 2024 festival, a celebration of new work created by comedians, writers and performers who have taken part in their Writers’ Lab, Comedy Lab or Cabaret & Drag Lab programmes. Buy tickets for the show here at Soho Theatre on Thursday 8th February.

The show follows your life from young ballet dancer to planning your wedding – what should audiences expect to crop up along the way?

Henry Queen of Squats is a love letter to all the fierce women who have shaped me. In addition, expect marketing gays, performing arts training trauma and belting in a comfortable key. With my spiritual guides, Carrie Bradshaw and Dame Judi Dench, I ask ‘can you have it all?’. 

How do you manage to balance humour with jukebox hits in your ‘high camp jukebox stand-up hour’?

My stand-up style is like having a scandalous gossip with a good friend… it’s peppered with pop culture references from off-Broadway to off-the-rails Britney – if that means I have to burst into a Glee sequence mid-story, so sue me! 

How does TikTok differ to performing on stage, and how do you find transitioning from short-form to long-form comedy?

With TikTok, the editing needs to be fast like an energy drink commercial, with bold captions, all while looking casual and hot. In contrast, the ancient gargoyle art form of stand-up comedy is all about eye contact, stage presence and the added health benefits of not being on our phones for 53 minutes. 

I’m having the time of my life competing with 24-year-olds on TikTok but there’s nothing quite like the bungee jump thrill of live stand-up comedy. PS I can’t wait to meet my incredible followers in person after the show! 

How have you found being part of Soho Rising Festival 2024 and the other programs Soho Theatre has to support new artists’ work?

It’s been a dream come true, after 19 Lab sessions and 73 networking coffees I am finally here at Soho Theatre! I have learned so much from the incredible mentors and loved being a part of the Lab community. The Soho Rising festival team has been so wonderful to me, I have lots to write in my gratitude diary tonight.