Intervu Unlikely
“Unlikely” Poster
I sat down with Emma Wallace and Lucy Mynard, the founders of Dippy Egg Theatre, to talk to them about their show: Unlikely: in a Building with a Broken Lift.
“You could say our mantra for our show was “Why not?””
Unlikely promises to be a much more fun piece of horror theatre that makes fun of itself and theatre as a concept as much as it scares. It’s specifically for the cult horror fans.
I ask them about their process behind the show:
Together, they tell me the roots of the show, “We actually began working on this show in our final year of University for a project. We knew from the very beginning that we wanted to create something that was purely fun, whether that ended up just being for us, or for an audience.” They go on further, telling me that they “spent 3 years in drama school, constantly writing down a process to analyzing scripts to writing essays - so with this show we decided to throw that out the window and just work from our bodies and see what came of it. We are also best friends in real life, so we could explore loads of things and were scared to push boundaries or make ourselves look “ugly”’ in front of one another.”
I ask them why they chose to make a horror show specifically:
“From a creator’s perspective - it felt like with this genre ANYTHING was possible. So many of the works in this genre that inspired us did things on screen or stage that were the first of it’s kind. The often make fun of themselves and everything always feels larger than life in any thriller or comedy.” They tell me with glee.
I ask them if this show is similar to anything they have ever worked on before:
Easily, they tell me “Definitely not like anything we are used to being cast in. Neither of us have been able to explore this genre fully. Emma comes from a musical theatre background, and while that is larger than life and still a physical genre - she often gravitated to very serious and grounded roles within that genre. Lucy has always had a love for a period drama, and can hold herself in quite a mature stance.” They go on to explain to me that “As people, this show is who we are. Girls who have fun, and aren’t afraid to make themselves look ugly on stage.” They add, “It’s been an amazing and liberating experience to step away from what boxes/casting types we were placed in throughout drama school.”
“Unlikely”
After being so candid, I ask them why should people come and see Unlikely:
They tell me that they want “those who enjoy clowning, and anything physical. Those who want to come see something that they probably wouldn’t see anywhere else” to come see the show. They add that they “do something quite different than most.” Furthermore they say that “the world is so tough right now! So we just want people to laugh, and hopefully have a good time!”
I ask if Emma and Lucy are excited to see anything else at the moment:
“Female led theatre! New theatre! Theatre by young artists!”
“Unlikely”
As 2024 drama school graduates, I ask them if they have any advice for anyone else making their start in the creative industries:
Boldly, they exclaim “Don’t let the preconceived ideas people in the theatre world have of you stop you! Prove them wrong.” With vigor they go on, “Labels are only needed for contracts or job titles, but you as a creative need no label. You can be a pleather of things, and your work can and is a reflection of those millions of things.” Finally, succinctly and saliently, they leave me with this, “Wear every hat!”
Finally, I ask them what’s next:
Earnestly they reply, “we don’t know. This show is growing as we are. So we would love to pick it up again and see the different avenues and expansions we can do with her.” Both of them go on to praise Grimfest. They say to me hopefully, alluding to the near future, “we would love to see where else we can find that this show fits.”
The Social media handle for Dippy Egg Theatre is: https://www.instagram.com/dippyeggtheatre/
“Unlikely”
