I sat down with writer Laura Grillo to find out more about What Would Jarvis Do?, coming to the Omnibus Theatre this October.

Can you tell me a little about your show and what audiences can expect?

What Would Jarvis Do? is an absurdist black comedy about friendship, grief, nostalgia and our relationship with the past.

It follows two long-term friends, Didi and GG, who are huge Pulp fans. They buy a pair of trousers from their therapist, Ms. Lacy, who claims they once belonged to Jarvis Cocker. They quickly realise the trousers aren’t authentic, so they use the return address on the package to track her down and demand either the real trousers or their money back.

Audiences can expect comedy, some very odd characters, Pulp, nostalgia and quite a lot of absurdity. There are darker things underneath it, particularly around grief and loss, but I never wanted to make a sombre play about grief. Hopefully people will laugh, occasionally wonder what on earth is going on, and then perhaps find themselves thinking about it afterwards.

What drew you to this specific story?

At the time there was a global pandemic, and my mother had just died. Everyone was in lockdown. I found myself constantly listening to music and watching old YouTube videos, particularly Pulp, and they transported me back to a time in my life that, in my memory at least, felt safer and more colourful.

I also noticed that I was coping with grief by constantly giving myself another thing to get through. I would think, if I can just do this, perhaps I’ll feel better. Then I’d do it and I didn’t really feel better, so there would be another thing and then another.

That became the starting point for Didi and GG and their search for the trousers. They believe there is something out there that they need to find, and perhaps if they can just get hold of it, something will change. I became interested in what happens when we invest an object, a person or a piece of the past with that much meaning and whether finding the thing we’re searching for can ever really give us what we think it will.

What has been the biggest challenge in bringing this production to life?

The biggest challenge so far has probably been being in the rehearsal room. I absolutely love the process and the people I’m working with, but I don’t think I fully realised until rehearsals, quite how personal the play is to me.

When you’re writing, you can hide behind the characters and the absurdity to some extent. Then suddenly you’re sitting in a room watching actors say the words out loud and explore what is underneath them, and certain things that were quite difficult for me at the time come back.

It’s a strange experience because at the same time I’m really enjoying watching the play come to life. So, the thing I’m finding most challenging is also one of the things I’m enjoying the most. There’s something quite amazing about watching something that began during such a difficult period of my life become this completely different thing in the hands of a group of people.

How does the design of your show (set, sound, or lighting) impact the presentation of your story?

We’re still in rehearsals, so a lot of this is continuing to evolve, which is really exciting. Georgie Lynch-Bailey is designing the set and costumes, Laurel Marks is our lighting designer, and FREW is creating the sound. We’ve talked a lot about how the different elements can make the world feel slightly heightened and almost cartoonish at times, while still allowing the darker moments underneath to exist.

Sound is particularly interesting because Pulp and music are obviously part of the DNA of the play, but we don’t want to simply fill it with Pulp songs. FREW is creating a sound world that can take influences and fragments and transform them into something that belongs specifically to the production.

I’m fascinated by the way design can change how you experience a story. A shift in light or sound can suddenly make something that seemed funny feel unsettling, or make an ordinary space feel completely unreal. That feels particularly important for this play because I want the audience to gradually become less certain about the world they’re watching.

If you could sum up the show in one word or phrase, what would it be and why?

Optimism. What would Jarvis do? is not a negative play, although the characters are on a journey, there is hope even at the end of the play. Britain in the 90’s was not perfect, but there was a feeling of hope and an energy where one could think anything is possible.

There was new music, art, and culture everywhere, and towards the end of the decade there was also significant political change. I remember there being a sense of looking towards the future. This change created faith in the future.

I think that feeling is part of what Didi and GG are searching for. They aren’t simply nostalgic for a band or a pair of trousers; perhaps they’re trying to find their way back to a feeling of possibility. And although the play is about grief and holding onto the past, ultimately, I think it looks forward rather than backwards. For me, there is hope in that.

What Would Jarvis Do? runs at the Omnibus Theatre, London, from 6 – 16 October. Tickets available at https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/whatson/what-would-jarvis-do%3F