This darkly funny new play shines in its sharp examination of modern motherhood, online influence and the impossible pressures placed on women to get everything right. With its gripping central dilemma and a pair of richly drawn characters, it lands as a bold, timely and compelling look at how far a parent will go to protect the child they love.
Would you mind giving us an insight into what your show/event/performance is?
SHINJUKU is a new play about single mum, Abby, who’s called into school because her son’s class teacher, Toni, claims he’s been radicalised by the manosphere. All Abby’s ever tried to do is raise her son to respect women’s rights so this allegation is her worst nightmare. Things go from bad to worse when Sam, the head teacher turns up, with a whole other bunch of unfinished business.
The script explores misogyny and the manosphere. Abby protests she’s fighting against “the money, the men and the algorithms”. Is she ever going to win?
Tell us about the creative team and the process involved?
I’m the writer and producer. I’m delighted to be working again with director Ross Hope and for the first time with composer and sound designer, Dug Campbell.
Ross is keen to explore the ever-shifting power dynamics between the sexes so his work to date with the cast has been delving into that – what bestows power, what takes it away again and whether the odds, once they’re well and truly stacked against you, can ever really be reversed. He’s also interested in the lengths that people will go to in the name of protecting their family.
We’ve got a fab cast of three: Claudette Baker-Park (Abby), Noa Gelb (Toni, the class teacher) and James Matheson (Sam, the head teacher). Noa and James are both making their Edinburgh Fringe acting debuts where this will be Claudette’s fourth time around the Fringe block.
How does it feel coming to (back to) the Fringe?
I love the Fringe. The thought of it makes my toes tingle. I first heard about the Edinburgh Fringe as a teenager. I’d just joined a super cool youth theatre group affiliated with the magnificent Nottingham Playhouse. I remember hearing them talk
about the Fringe and feeling like my world had suddenly got about three hundred times bigger and more colourful. Thirty something years on, I still feel exactly the same fizzy excitement when I think about it.
With shows from all over the world at the Fringe, what sets yours apart?
The commissioning process, funding applications and then the production process all take time. It can often take several years to get from script to production. The peculiar joy – and the heart in mouth frightening bit of self-funding theatre – is getting from concept to execution in double quick time. I wrote my first draft of SHINJUKU last February in a tiny house up on the West coast. I booked our Fringe venue in December. And here we are now, about to have a show. Thanks to Adolescence, Louis Theroux and occasional media coverage, the manosphere is belatedly getting some attention. And yet many people know surprisingly little about it. What better time to encourage people to delve into the darkness?
On that, is there anything in the production or production team’s backgrounds which influences the way the show is performed or told?
What has fabulously become clear through rehearsals is we all sit at different points along the moral compass so we’re having a fine old time peeling away layers of preconceptions and prejudices to figure out what matters most.
I can’t speak for the cast and the creative team but I’ve made a whole lot of terrible decisions in my life, personally and professionally. One of the many joys of being a writer is allowing your characters to do all the things you wish you’d done – or not done – and not having to deal with the consequences. It’s a weird kind of catharsis to explore someone else’s imperfect decisions through the rehearsal process.
Is there anything specific you’re hoping the audience will take away?
We want the audience to start debating the moment the lights come up: is Baxter really an incel? Was Toni right to try and address the problem as she did? How about Abby? Is the manosphere a dark new corner of the internet? Or is it only misogyny under a different name? We hope the audience leave the theatre with loads of answers and no answers!
Your Ideal audience is in attendance, who’s watching? Or more importantly – who isn’t…?
If you commission new writing for a theatre and you’re reading this, please come see SHINJUKU. If you have children in your life, whether full-time, part-time or occasionally, please come. If you love taut, thought-provoking plays, please come. If you think we’re not having the right conversations about misogyny and the manosphere, come and bring your friends. If you don’t believe incels exist, you should definitely come. If you
think we’re functioning really effectively as a society and have cracked gender inequality, this probably isn’t the play for you.
It’s an intense month, so where you’re able, how do you plan to relax, and are there any other shows you intend to see or want to recommend?
For spectacle, I’m looking forward to Grid Iron’s Mayflies and Bryony Kimmings’ Bog Witch. I’ve got my ticket for Ontroerend Goed’s Handle With Care. I’m really excited about a new play from local writer, Corinne Salisbury, about female rage: SLAYERS. And I’m booked to see my Boot Camp instructor feature as a sexy pirate in Sexy Circus Sideshow 3.0 at one of the Spiegeltents. Isn’t that a perfect Fringe diet?
In the International Festival, I’ve never seen Angels in America and I love Ivo van Hove’s work so I’m thrilled that these two things are coming together. I loved loved loved Christine Jatahy’s After The Silence in EIF in 2024 so I’m excited to see her take on An Enemy of the People.
I’ll relax in September.
SHINJUKU will perform at Venue 236, Olive Studio at Greenside @ George Street
Runs: August 7th – August 15th at 19.35pm
Interested in being featured on our Have a Gander page? With many previews and Q&As lined up, we’re always happy to chat about including your show in future articles. Please do get in touch through the contact page to feature in an upcoming ‘Have A Gander’