The Edinburgh Fringe is almost upon us and to get prepared for another Scottish summer Read About Stuff is running a ‘Five From The Fringe’ interview series, where creative teams answer five questions about their upcoming Festival shows.
In this interview, I chat to actress Abbey Gillett and director Elsa Strachan about their new show I Dreamt You Differently.
Can you tell me a little about your show and what audiences can expect?
Expect theatrical staging, original songs, and playful performances! Our production is about the discomfort of admitting failure, and as an emerging company, we’ve become quite obsessed with advocating for permission to fail, dreaming big and accepting that failure will almost definitely be a part of that! But through the father-daughter relationship we’re exploring this idea across generations. Billy is a bar snack salesman who wrangles his fate, but Mariella is an artist trying to get her career going – so it’s full of vulnerability, and rawness but it’s also super heart-warming and funny because of the family dynamic too.
What drew you to this specific story, and why does it belong at the Edinburgh Fringe?
The intergenerational conversation is what we keep coming back to. The play explores ambition and purpose through Mariella who is an artist, and it’s this specifically that makes us so excited to share the show with audiences of artists at the Fringe who, we hope, will resonate. But wanting to make something of yourself, wanting to make your parents or your kid proud, is something everyone can relate to!
There’s a well-known trajectory that shows from the Fringe can take, like ‘Fleabag’, and ‘Baby Reindeer’. But the vast majority of artists making work there are performing day-in day-out to crowds of ever changing sizes, working just as hard, producing original work that should also be celebrated! Our production makes a case for art being valuable, necessary and brilliant, even if the hustle doesn’t live up to the glamour of your childhood dreams!
What has been the biggest challenge in bringing this production to life?
We’re a new company, producing original work, which is about the vulnerability of making art, wanting to be seen and dreaming big. There’s never a time in the rehearsal room, in production meetings, in previews that doesn’t feel like a big swing and that’s both an exposing but also wonderful place to be.
Practically, of course you’d always love more time in the rehearsal room, more resources. But every person working on this project is an amazing creative full-stop. There’s very little hierarchy in how we work, everyone can and wants to contribute to the big picture stuff, which is what makes a Fringe play possible!
How does the design of your show (set, sound, or lighting) impact the presentation of your story?
As a company we really pride ourselves on building worlds on stage that celebrate theatrical form. It allows us to embrace the limitations that Fringe theatre can present – a quick get-in time, portable design, limited playing space – and we consider how to respond creatively to work with those limitations. So our design is built for maximum impact with limited time and resources.
Our set for this show is super tactile, and our sound design – both by Lucida Plummer – serve to create a bigger world outside of the intimate space we’re in a really fun way, which we think makes it all the more memorable!
If you could sum up the show in one word or phrase, what would it be and why?
ES: ‘Let me be a loser!’ – it’s my favourite line in the play because it connects to this idea that in order to make great art you also have to be able to lose and fail.
AG: Uncomfortably honest – the script, the original songs, the relatability of Mariella trying to make brilliant work whilst we ourselves also try to make brilliant work can be quite a trip. But it’s also completely thrilling and we can’t wait to see what Edinburgh has in store for us!
I Dreamt You Differently runs at studio at C ARTS | C venues | C aquila (Venue 21) from August 5th – 30th. Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/i-dreamt-you-differently
