Welcome back to Australia! You were here back in 2018 with your show Grace! What made you decide to come back to Australia with a new show?
I’m so excited to be back in Australia. I have started both of my previous two shows in Australia as the support, vibe and fun from the creative, arts community is just what I need when taking big swings with new work. I also think it’s super helpful to fully immerse myself in when working on new work so it’s all about the show as opposed to also fitting in “life” around it. It deserves to have my complete focus.
In End Game you delve into spirituality, what made you decide to write a show with these kinds of themes?
I’ve been fascinated with spirituality for a long time. I was extremely close to my grandmother Joan Reddin and when I was little, she used to take me to pantos and musicals. Then as I got older we saw theatre and then live medium shows. We were both fascinated with mediums connecting to people who had died and channeling their messages to their loved ones in the audience. I always hoped I’d get a message! Then when I went to a private medium. A woman came through who apparently “really loved me and wanted me to connect to her whenever I wanted to feel joy”. Her name was Beatrice. I didn’t know who Beatrice was, until I went home and told my father. He was flabbergasted as that was the name of his grandmother. My grandmother Joan’s mother. But as a family we called my great grandmother, Queenie. It was before the days of the internet, social media and there was no way this medium could have researched me and found that name. So for me that was a real sign, hang on, this spirit world is real. There is life after death. How incredible. So I’m a believer.
This is going to be the world premiere of End Game! What made you decide to premiere the work in Adelaide at Fringe Festival?
Adelaide Fringe is the largest opportunity for international artists to showcase new work in the southern hemisphere and an incredible place to try bold, scary new ideas. I think the Fringe audiences know they are the first to see a lot of work which is hopefully exciting for them. Also probably why a lot of industry come over to pick up shows that they see have lots of potential that they’d like to develop for their venues or festivals. My venue, Fool’s Paradise are incredibly supportive and couldn’t do more for us as artists to help us with the production of our shows. I feel super grateful to them for programming me and I hope I do them proud. In Edinburgh, the press, venues and the industry expect things to be more perfect! There is huge competition for audiences so your show needs to be cooking when you get there. So it’s really amazing to have the quality of a huge festival in Adelaide but the experimental openness of a scratch night! The Adelaide Fringe itself also has an amazing support network and are super helpful. Some of those zoom calls with their team really gave me the confidence to push through loads of hurdles and go for it. So even though it’s a huge deal to come over, in my gut I knew I had to do it. Also, Jupiter is in my star sign, so it’s meant to be a year where everything goes boom! Let’s see if they’re right!
Can you tell us a little about the creative process of writing and working with director Abigail Graham, did the story change at all once you have brought Abigail in?
It’s been a really interesting creative process. Abigail is an experienced theatre dramaturg/ director and I hired her because I wanted to make sure the story was clear. When she came onto the project the show was 146 pages! So there was a real choice to be made about what story I was trying to tell. There were a few in there. We ended up pulling out one story and tried to make that sing. I’m more naturally drawn to writing comedy characters but I wanted to incorporate more theatre in this show. One of my best mates Al told me after my last show Grace, that he’d like to see a bit more of me in my work! I think I was probably hiding behind the comedy characters a little, which Abigail picked up and she also encouraged me to be more vulnerable in my storytelling. It’s a funny dynamic when you’re writing and performing your own work. I write like no one is going to read it, then when it comes to performing it you have to own it, which is quite confronting. I wanted it to be about one thing but I guess my subconscious wanted it to be about something else. Also my vision for the piece is huge! When I wrote the show I thought “gosh I’d love to see a show like that”. Now I’m facing performing the show.. I’m like, “crikey, this is massive!!!” It’s a huge challenge!
Grace was also a one woman show, and so is End Game, how do you go about playing multiple characters in one story?
I write them and then think about that later! For me wigs is a huge thing! Once I put on the wig and know what they look like, they kind of take on their own life. So much goes into creating the characters in the writing, that a lot of the actors’s thinking is done. These characters have been in my head for four years so it’s now time to stand them on their feet and see who they really are. Then approaching them as an actor makes you ask different questions so you get even deeper into their world. I aim to get the characters to a stage, where I the actor can just sit back and let them do their thing. Let them have fun on the stage.
In Grace your lead character loses her partner and in End Game, your lead character finds themselves in the after life, there seems to be themes of loss and death in your work, can you tell us a little about this?
Gosh that’s interesting you say that…yes I see what you mean! Loss and death. They are probably the worst things for characters and humans to experience. So I guess I put my characters in the worst possible situations to see what kind of person they are. I also had a ghost in the last show Grace, an amateur dramatic performer who would do her bit on stage if someone left the lights on! I loved her! I’m fascinated with the spirit world and what goes on up there. I’ve done so much research, read all the books and have had to take out some huge set pieces about the spirit world from this show in order to get it down to 60 minutes. It could easily be 90 minutes! Hopefully one day those scenes will have their moment.
Finally, what can audiences expect in Adelaide from End Game in three words?
British humour, fun and big swings at big topics! Wait, sorry, three words! Fun, laughs and Heart.
Katie Reddin-Clancy will tour END GAME across the South East Coast of Australia kicking off at Adelaide Fringe Festival on March 5. You can catch END GAME at Adelaide Fringe Festival in March, Melbourne Comedy Festival in April and Sydney Comedy Festival in May. For full details and to book tickets head to KatieReddin-Clancy.com.
