Intervu Motorway

Motorway

It was such a privilege to sit down with the writers and part of the cast of ‘Motorway’. It has been one of my fringe highlights so it was a please to pick their brains and here about this production from conception to where it’s at now and where it may be in the future!

R: Who are you, and what is your show?

Abigail: I’m Abigail.

Dan: I’m Dan. Abigail currently has blood trickling down her chin as we’ve just done the show. (Now describe me.)

A: Dan is wearing his lovely knit jumper, with his new jeans on, from his friend Jobie.

D: Jobie works at a vintage shop, and, you know, takes pride in his blue jeans.

A: We met on the East 15 BA Acting in Contemporary Theatre course, and we wrote ‘Motorway’ together a year ago.

D: Yeah, we developed it at a festival at school, and we came up with the idea at a rave.

A: A paranoid rave.

D: A paranoid rave, Abigail wanted to write a show about aliens, and I wanted to write a play set at a service station. So, the perfect marrying of ideas there.

R: Quite a broad question, but what was your process like behind the play, from that initial conception at the paranoid rave? Did you sit down and write, or was it more of a physical devising experience?

Motorway (photography credit: Greta Kalva)

A: We started writing it separately, Dan would write a bit, and then I would write a bit, and then we would send it to each other, and try take on from what each other had written. When we got more comfortable with writing it, we just met up in the pub all the time and wrote line by line together, and we’d just crease so hard writing it.

D: We were doing it  toward a deadline, because we came up with the idea, pitched it the next day, but hadn’t written anything, so we did an r&d week and came up with the bulk of the material, and then just expanded it over the next-

A: -three weeks-

D: -four weeks-

A: -I think we wrote it over 3-4 weeks.

D: Probably, yeah, once we had it, we were like what is this and what’s the style for it. So we took some time trying to figure out the style.

A: We went on trips, actually, we went on a trip to a military base, which is quite important to the story.

D: In Essex, the Essex countryside

A: And we also went on a trip to a service station, at night, and we made everyone go in one by one and just spend 10 mins in there alone-

D: -Just order a coffee

A: -And not be on your phone

D: And sit there on the sofa. And here was this very strange TV.

A: Oh yeah! The TV kept on glitching, and the seat, the leather was all torn, and there were holes in it

D: Disgusting diner vibes.

R: I’m really interested to hear what was in the writing originally. What did you bring in from the rehearsal rooms? There are so many peculiar moments, twisted moments, where you're staying on track with narrative, but there are these deviations…

A: I think it was all in the original script. We did meet up a lot after rehearsals and wrote more in. I think most of it was in the original script, and strange acting choices obviously came in the room from our actors.

R: How do you guys know the other actors?

A: Same course at East15! Dom and Samantah were in our class as well at East 15, they’re actually a couple.

R: How does this work compare to other work you do? Is it a similar tone or thematic subjects or is this unique in its style/tone?

A: Well, this is the first play I’ve written. It's very me and Dan together. 

D: -At our worst.

A: It’s true to what we naturally want to make, and our tone, so I wouldn’t say we’ve done something crazy different. It’s my first play, but Dan has written plays before. 

D: It’s our first piece of work together. I don’t know how we go down the same trajectory, but we do because we know what we like and put it in. It's a piece that we’d actually want to watch

A: Exactly. Yeah, we just made what we’d actually like to see.

R: I think that’s the most important thing to do. So what were the inspirations or commonalities that you guys shared that led to this?

A: Definitely David Lynch, it’s very lynch inspiured. We wanted it to be like a film on stage, like Twin Peaks, and Mulholland Drive, and Crash also… 

D: It’s kind of psychedelic in a way, like a hopeless psychedelia. Quite English or British despairing. With themes of loneliness and isolation.

A: Yeah. It’s funny, we wrote it when we were in Depton, because when we were living in Depton for drama school, it was so isolating. Obviously, it's not rural because it's still in London/Essex, but it feels out of London. It’s a weird space to be.

D: And aliens are something that makes the world more interesting. You know? I'm interested in these strange spaces. The motorway, service station used to be a very different, of place of leisure. Even growing up, it’s quite exciting-

R: -It feels exotic?

A: It’s special. Also, drawing on a lot of real-life experience. The relationships are influenced by experiences and things from life.

D: And the weird with a Y, it's quite key.

R: Why should people come and see Motorway?

D: Just experience the weirdness and to see a new language on stage that's potentially refreshing…Have a new experience.

A: Yeah, a new experiences, but also come to have a good time. It's obviously very weird and strange, very well written. But it’s also entertaining. It's cool. We wanted to make theatre cool again. The only people going to the theatre are theatre people, actors, theatre makers, writers. We’d love it if our friends would come, not just to see us, but to go to the theatre, actually just want to go. That felt important; we wanted to make something that everyone could enjoy.

R: We were saying before, finding you niche, the people that appreciate your language and style, it’s always hard initially, but you guys have managed. 

A: You’ve got to really know your audience, and we do know our audience, but it’s always so surprising when people it who you wouldn’t initially flyer. Like my mum’s boyfriend, he came the other day, he’s such a working guy, he’s never been to the theatre, and he loved it and he's coming again.

D: It’s got great songs too, a great soundtrack.

A: Yes! We found our niche and keep hoping that it expands to people who don’t normally go to the theatre. 

R: Is there anything you’re excited to see?

D: Gill's Tupperware party, I saw it the other day. It was just fantastically absurd, just so well done.

A: Not booked anything for this week.

R: Waiting for the right flyer to land in your hand?

A: I just want to see more theatre, I’ve seen a lot of comedy.

R: Any advice you’d give to other creatives at any stage? Before rehearsals, in the rehearsal room, for directing?

A: Choose to make decisions and write the things that make you feel so happy. The best moments in the play for us are when we asked, what if we put that in, and we’d laugh so much. Do the most ridiculous things that you think are such ‘we could never’, no we can.

D: Especially if you're friends with your actors, you can just make them look silly.

A: Just try. I don’t know how we got around to trying. It was really hard at the start to find our tone, but just keep trying.

Motorway (photography credit: Greta Kalva)

D: Find the tone.

A: And find your way to feel free to find new stuff, which is sometimes just doing it again and again until you fins something. At the start, things can feel uncomfortable when you’re trying something new because you don’t have many references. We didn’t have any references for making a show like Motorway, we hadn’t seen that, so it felt really weird and wrong trying this tone we were trying to make. But, we just kept at it, keep doing it and you’ll find something. And if it feels wrong, it means your doing something new.

R: What’s next for you guys as individuals, as a company? Anything that you’re looking forward to post fringe?

A: I wanna rest.

R: Yea, that’s so fair.

A: And back to work the natural wine bar for a bit.

D: -Back to pouring 

A: Keep on working on Motorway after a rest. We want to take it to a good theatre in London

D: Well see.

A: Well see, and make something new together.

D: Yea, go to another rave.

R: Well see what comes out of that one!

A: Focus on myself as an actor.

Off mic, Dan informed us he is also opening a theatre with his partner, the Garden Theatre in Loughton.

Tickets for Motorway can be found here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/motorway

By Rio Rose Joubert