Eggsistentialism by Joanne Ryan
13:00
4-27 August
(not 9, 14, 22)
What was the inspiration for this
performance?
I turned 35 at the beginning of 2015 and
suddenly felt I was expected to have an opinion on whether or not I
wanted to have a child. I didn’t have a clue. The more I thought
about it and researched and discussed it, the more culturally and
politically fraught it became. It also struck me that I’m part of
the first generation of humans in the history of humans to have a
choice in the matter which is an interested experimental cohort to
find yourself in. I decided to explore the whole phenomenon – and
hopefully come to a decision myself – by documenting my journey and
findings in a show.*
*Of course, it may actually have all been
an elaborate unconscious tactic to further delay making a decision on
kids. But don’t tell my mother that…
Is performance still a good space for
the public discussion of ideas?
Yes, absolutely. Theatre and comedy
(well, potentially any performance really but as a theatre/comedy
head I’m biased) are brilliant vehicles to explore important social
issues and both generate and facilitate public discussion. A
good piece of work can simultaneously challenge stigmas and
preconceptions, facilitate conversations, raise awareness, educate,
engage and empower.
I like to incorporate a lot of comedy into my
work as well – it’s the perfect way to unpick the absurdity and
contradictions in the world around us while also bringing an audience
much deeper into a journey – people will go further if they’re
laughing.
How did you become interested in
making performance?
I was interested in drama and theatre
from a young age then veered off into other careers for a bit - a
teacher and a travel writer, a journalist and an editor - before
gradually starting to perform again more and more until that was all
I did.
A pivotal point was moving home to Ireland from Bangkok (where
I’d lived for 8 years) to find a country in recession and magazines
and newspapers with no freelance budgets – it seemed like the
perfect time to move away from journalism altogether and embrace the
economic downturn as an opportunity to create!
Is there any particular approach to
the making of the show?
I began work on Eggsistentialism
during a theatre incubation scheme called HatchLK in 2015 and worked
with political theatre makers ‘Theatre Uncut’ and other mentors
on the ideas over the course of 4 months. The first incarnation of
the show was a work in progress performance at the end of that time.
I then spent a year researching and developing the script with the
support of Fishamble’s New Play Clinic along with amazing Irish
dramaturg and director, Veronica Coburn. It’s a multi-media show
with a digital set design as well as projection and animated
documentary so the technical elements were very important throughout.
Does the show fit with your usual
productions?
This is the first time I have been
responsible for an entire production myself – from research,
writing to performing and project managing, so I don’t really have
anything as major to compare it to. All I can say is that I went into
the process with the intention of making the show that I wanted to
watch – something that was timely, relevant, moving, very funny,
full of interesting facts and ideas and exciting and surprising to
watch.
What do you hope that the audience
will experience?
A hilarious, relatable, thought-provoking
and intensely human journey. A fascinating, entertaining – and
sometimes shocking - insight into Ireland’s sexual and
reproductive history and what’s got us where we are.
What strategies did you consider
towards shaping this audience experience?
Very early in development I made the
decision to…
-
have a digital set design to echo
the modern, screen-saturated themes of the show and allow the
audience to fall down the rabbit hole of the internet and history
with me.
-
handle serious topics with a light
touch.
-
have my mother play herself and be
my (scene stealing, damn it!) co-star in pre-recorded audio.
-
Seed sections of animated
documentary of the nation’s sexual history throughout to
contextualize the journey.
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