![]() ![]() But I usually just sit there blubbing when I watch Rosie, I’m a useless teary mess by the end, crying at my own play! But I can’t help it, it means a lot to me.ĬM: Did the play develop or change significantly during the rehearsal process?ĬB: Oh yep. I just have to try really hard to keep my own and the audience’s attention with enough filth and gags and heart and guts as possible.ĬM: Did you just hand the script over and bow out or have you been in attendance?ĬB: I was in pre-Edinburgh rehearsals and the dress rehearsal yesterday, I’m always on hand and have done rewrites along the way. I love monologue plays, they’re so exposing and emotionally engaging when done well and they have to be the moment when a character ‘must’ speak, in order for us to want to spend time with the character you have to come out fighting and desperate to speak. Rosie performs it like artillery fire, she’s incredible. It’s a major challenge sustaining an audience’s attention for an hour and ten minutes, it’s a feat for the actor and all involved. It tells us a lot about them both I think.ĬM: Is a monologue easier to write than a ‘normal’ play, or harder?ĬB: Hell no. Plus, it’s also fun to have a character impersonate another – the one stage direction I wrote was “Amy doesn’t have to be brilliant at mimicking Glenda but should enjoy doing it”. And having a 2 in1 play makes us focus on the pan-generational themes, the ideas and jokes they share. It’s a classic mentor story – think ‘Karate Kid’, ‘Good Will Hunting’ – but with a major focus on two women’s experiences. That’s the kernel of hope in the play (I hope!). ![]() And we learn why she tells this story by the end. What made you decide to write it as a one-person show, rather than a two-hander?ĬB: Without giving too much away, it was important for me that Amy eventually embody Glenda. And I think the intergenerational friendship is a great way to have a dialogue about this.ĬM: The play is a monologue, but features two main characters. It’s really about how people have been left out of politics and how our most vulnerable have been treated by the Coalition government – theft on quite another level. It looks at teenage engagement with politics and education, but told through a very street-level story about stolen library books, money lending, sex and burglary. I spoke to Clara Brennan about the show.ĬM: Without giving too much away, can you give us an idea of what ‘Spine’ is about?ĬB: It’s about a fiery, disenfranchised teenage girl who meets her match in a fiery, funny and inspiring elderly woman – in many ways they’re each other’s last resort in life.ĬM: What themes does the play cover? What it its political agenda?ĬB: The play was inspired by the Coalition’s austerity measures and dismantling of public services. The play, described as a “pan-generational and heart-breaking call to arms for our modern age”, is a politically charged monologue, penned by an acclaimed writer with a Channel 4 Playwright Award under her belt. This week at Soho Theatre, Londoners have the chance to see Clara Brennan’s Edinburgh Festival success story ‘Spine’, which won a Fringe First and a Herald Angel, and a Stage Award for Acting Excellence for its star Rosie Wyatt. Caro Meets Theatre Interview Clara Brennan: Spine By Caro Moses | Published on Thursday 23 October 2014 ![]()
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