Would you mind giving us an insight into what your show/event/performance is?
hame. teeth. CLUB. follows Morgan, a hedonistic party girl who’s chaotic antics come to a halt following a sexual assault that forces her to renavigate her life. hame. teeth. CLUB. tackles how communities talk about and treat survivors of assault, and just how much complicity plays a part in not supporting victims. This play explores the intricacies of female friendship as something that is sacred – but can be completely sidelined for male validation. At a time when conversations around consent, accountability and community responsibility remain central to public discourse, hame. teeth. CLUB. asks difficult questions about what support truly looks like. Written in a blend of colloquial Scots and English language, hame. teeth. CLUB. celebrates contemporary Scottish language while bringing a distinctly working-class voice to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This play draws on my own experiences as an AFAB person growing up in Midlothian in the 2010s, the play explores a generation of young Scottish women navigating survivorhood, friendship, and contemporary Scottish identity.
Tell us about the creative team and the process involved?
I began this play in 2023 and shat it out very quickly. It was one of those pieces I knew exactly what I wanted it to say and what I wanted it to be from very early on. I then developed this play under the Playwright Studio Scotland’s Mentorship scheme with Stef Smith. The show is brought with Iona Bremner Productions in collaboration with Sláinte! Theatre – a company we started together back in 2022 creating a platform for Celtic Creatives in London. In terms of the process, like any one person play it’s been intense but also important that the rehearsal room was a very open and inclusive space, our director Jessie-Wren worked hard to ensure it was a collaborative environment. It’s also been so important to have a largely Scottish Creative Team behind us, particularly with the play being set on the East Coast – the language of this play is so specific to a time and place that it was so important our actor was from a similar background
How does it feel coming to (back to) the Fringe?
This is my first time doing fringe, and I’m very excited! After previews, I’m feeling pretty good with the shape of the piece; with a few tweaks, we’re ready to go – I’m also bringing this show with close friends on the creative team which makes such a difference in collaboration. Alongside the excitement to come do my first fringe – there’s a little dread creeping in that this is something I cannot afford to do or experience again, so I can really feel the pressure of that seeping in. As a working-class artist, it’s not a sustainable model and I’m aware that there’re so many important stories not reaching the fringe and so many artists who are being iced out by the ridiculous cost around fringe, which is devastating for fringe community. It’s resulting in the festival becoming more middle-class performers to middle class audiences. I hope my show in some way can address this problem both as a working-class artist myself and the show being set in a working-class area of Scotland, representing those voices.
With shows from all over the world at the Fringe, what sets yours apart?
Well it’s set in Dalkeith Miners Club for a start – don’t think I’ve seen that in theatre before. It’s an Edinburgh raised Artist and the only Scottish show (I believe) to receive “Keep It Fringe” this year! The play is a dark comedy coming- of-age set in a town not far from the city, which addresses uncomfortable universal subjects around consent, accountability and victimhood. It’s funny, but also really important. When I wrote this show years back I didn’t think it would still be relevant, but with recent events in the news over this year I could not have been proved more wrong.
On that, is there anything in the production or production team’s backgrounds which influences the way the show is performed or told?
Rhiannon, our performer, is an absolute powerhouse. Rhiannon has experience doing solo shows, having written and performed her own one-woman puppet show over the last few years. It was a puppet show called Kitty Dollparts and Other Performing Objects, looking at the role of pornography in today’s society with relation to art, feminism etc. Although we don’t have puppetry in the show – I definitely think elements of this work have trickled in particularly with the movement work Rhiannon does in the show. Jessie–Wren, our director, was trained in “Lucid Body” and focused a lot on animal work to bring the multirole characters to life. Is there anything specific you’re hoping the audience will take away
Is there anything specific you’re hoping the audience will take away?
I guess maybe a reflection on how we treat survivors of assault, and brushing off allegations out of comfort can be so damaging. Things won’t change if we don’t start having these uncomfortable conversations. Also the importance of language and keeping this alive, especially in recent news with reform proposing a ban on the language within elections
Your Ideal audience is in attendance, who’s watching? Or more importantly – who isn’t…?
God anyone who knew me in 2019 at Dalkeith Miners Club – it could go either way. I think getting people in from the local community, the surrounding areas of Edinburgh who got to experience that club when it was in its prime absolutely as it spans generations I also want to reach Working Class Scottish people and show that representation on an international stage. I’ve done previews in London and I felt a lot of the play was universal and translated well despite niché references – so anyone who maybe grew up around the 2010’s clubbing scene
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?
I’ll be working alongside the show at Shedinburgh – NO REST!! I’ll be staying by the beach so I intend to spend some time I have off there. Also just catching up with friends and family as I haven’t lived in Edinburgh for a very long time. “A young man dressed as a gorilla dressed as an old man sits rocking in a rocking chair for fifty-six minutes and then leaves” lands on my only day off – but I will be going to see Prophets that evening by Jack McGregor instead. EVERY show in my Soho Fringe Labs cohort is worth seeing – they are all so different and clever and I’m so excited to support and see these guys. There’s around 20 (too many to name) but 123movies.com, Jellyfish, Nuns & Succubus I’m super excited for. Everyone at the fringe lab has been so supportive and so kind and I’m really excited to be heading up to Edinburgh with an already established support network. In regards to my Scottish makers “Prophets” by Jack McGregor and “Parasocial Activity” by Briony Marthy are on my must-sees. A few others are “Motorway” by Abigail Sinclair & Dan Cuckow, “Ostrich” by Isla Fairfield, “Beargirl” by Emery Schaffer, “Mercurial” by Rosaleen Cox (which is only on two days at Shedinburgh!!) “Cadel” by Steve McMahon which I didn’t get to catch last year, “Racists, Recessions and Revolutions” by Meade Conway and of course the return of “Desperate Wee Gay Boy” by the amazing Fraser Kelsey (so sad we clash king).
hame. teeth. CLUB. runs at Venue 61, Iron Belly at Underbelly, Cowgate
Runs: 5th -30th August at 17:10pm
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