Shivone Dominguez Blasickova Intervu

Shivone

I sit down with Shivone Dominguez Blasickova to chat to her about their five star show “Miss Brexit” as well as their own work “Ritual in You”

“How can you still be yourself even though you are open to new culture and not erase yourself in the process?”

I ask Shivone about “Miss Brexit?”

Happily, they tell me that “Miss Brexit, which is a satire about migration and breaking down the stereotypes of different countries.” She explains that, “Apart from going to the Edinburgh Fringe, we also had our show in the Omnibus theatre for a week and we also got Arts Council funding and we got to do workshops for communities in Manchester.” They add, lighting up, that,  “2025 was a great year for us. Also in Edinburgh we got our first five stars!”

I congratulate them and ask to know more about the collective that she is a part of?

“Basically, we are a collective called “Maria Who?” We started as university students finishing our third year in musical theatre and some of us were doing acting. We answered this international call from this person who would become our director - and this was like three years ago, and it was a two week process of devising, of bringing monologues and songs that remind us of home and fitting in with our identity in a new culture.” They explain that they “basically had lots of different iterations throughout the process.”

Three years is a long time, so I ask about said process?

Shivone tells me: “It’s very difficult for me to answer this question. I’ll answer it as myself and for the production.”

“So basically, with Miss Brexit, this is our first work and first work of Maria Who? and we have been doing this for three years because of funding and because we’ve done this ourselves - we will get to that at the end - but basically, we are migrant artists. Different accents, different ways of expressing ourselves, different ways of interpreting things in the industry in the UK. This was a way for us to not wait for any opportunities but actually to do the work and start creating it. What I would say, throughout these three years, we all developed different work with different collectives.”

“In my case, I am now a member of Slovak Theatre in London because I’m half Slovakian. My mum is Slovak, my dad is Cuban, I was born and raised in Spain, so I have a lot of communities that I have found.”

She tells me a consistent issue she and others like her run into when making work: “How can you still be yourself even though you are open to new culture and not erase yourself in the process?”

“We become devisors not only from the aspect of being an actor but as the creative behind the actor and behind the characters. So we really like to use our voice and experiences, when you create from that space the work reaches deeper. It’s not just like one…how do you say it…layer! One layer! It’s beyond that.”

“Miss Brexit”

I ask her why people should come see “Miss Brexit?”

“Because um…because!”

We both laugh, then she gives me more to work with: There are a lot of becauses. I think the first one is because it is such a current theme about migration and there is a lot of negative stigma about it. So coming to see Miss Brexit, because it’s a satire and its so funny, so heightened, that humour allows you to let go of the fact that you are going to hear about a hard topic or something harder to digest. But actually, that comedy…it just allows.”

She pauses and readjusts what she’s trying to explain to me: “One thing we’ve experienced and we know after three years for sure is that it really works. In Europe. Out of Europe. We last did the Edinburgh Fringe.”

“It really spoke to everyone because of that humour and because it was not treated in a way that was heavy and it allowed a lot of conversations afterwards and after the show we would go to people and we would ask them and thanks to that humour and that craziness, you can talk and you can treat such an important theme.”

“The message is tolerance and learning and cherishing and celebrating each other’s culture and identity.” Shivone stresses to me importantly.

I ask if there’s anything she’s excited for?

“Next week, there is going to be a sharing with Bloomsbury for women’s day. And they are going to basically showcase translations of Uruguayan plays and I've been invited to attend. I’m very excited to see how they’ve put it on and put it forward to the British Public.”

I ask if there is any advice Shivone would give other creatives?

“I think the most important thing is to be ready. In terms of being open minded and in like being on the look in the way.” 

“We wait a lot as actors and creatives for something to happen or for someone to give us the opportunity. It is about creating that opportunity for yourself. I am now producing my own project which involves different aspects and I’m doing it with people who are my friends and think like me. I’m always on the look out for meeting people and going to meet ups and be really engaging with real people rather than being online and waiting for casting - which I do! 

“That is great but there is a part of it that is like…theatre is a very human experience and creating shows or anything and you have to be ready to be brave and be like “Hey! Let’s meet up and see what we can do?” Because it can start with a conversation and then things can happen. But I think we all need to take that step forward and make those opportunities happen.”

“Ritual in You”

I ask about her other work and the show she is producing?

“It’s called “Ritual in You” and it’s a multidisciplinary project that I am basically singing, performing through movement and with live music, my cultures.” They add, “I don’t know what box it goes into but I am also presenting it also as a gig and a performance.” Sivonne explains further,  “I get to sing in Slovak, in Spanish - I consider myself a witch-”

I jump in. “You consider yourself a witch? As in the show or in real life…?”

“It is in the show! Thanks to Miss Brexit and the fact that we sing original songs in our original languages, I discovered a big part of my ancestry and that side of things.”

“‘Okay you are Cuban but what does it mean to be Cuban?” What are the different aspects of a culture? The Faith? The Cuban faith is white magic. Then I found the same in the folklore of Slovak Magic. Basically a witch is an ecologist nowadays, someone who is open, someone who works in a lot of communities, or helps people to be better. That for me is what a witch is.”

Something comes to her: “That’s another thing, be open to adapt your work. With “Miss Brexit” we had to adapt it, in terms of length, in terms of requirements, without losing the essence of it. Thanks to Miss Brexit, I learned how to do it myself. Producing is such a big thing. I learned to scale it down for my own personal work.”

I ask about her work with Slovak theatre?

“I am with them in this new project which is called “Portraits of Slovak and Czech.” It’s an exhibition. I have a portrait and a little bio.”  She reveals to me excitedly, “The photographer of Peaky Blinders is Slovak and he’s the one who made the pictures!”

“With them I am doing this and together we are also working on our next theatre show which is again Britain through the migration process of how Slovaks emigrated to the UK. We are looking at 2027 to put this on.”

“As it is self funded it takes time until you get the funding and get the right moment. That is something that is happening with Miss Brexit now. We want to work paid because it has been three years without pay and we are freelancers the majority of us and we cannot allow ourselves to live like that. I had a lot of problems financially. We either want to find funding to redevelop the show or to do it but just to be covered in that way.”

Shivone’s instagram page is: https://www.instagram.com/shiivone/?hl=en

Maria Who?’s instagram page is: https://www.instagram.com/maria_who_co/?hl=en

The instagram page for “Miss Brexit” is: https://www.instagram.com/missbrexitshow/?hl=en

The instagram page for “Ritual in You” is: https://www.instagram.com/ritual.in.you/?hl=en

The instagram page for Slovak Theatre is: https://www.instagram.com/slovaktheatrelondon/?hl=en

“Miss Brexit”