What Happens Next Will __ Your __: Q&A with My Mate Monster

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Following a two-night run at the White Bear’s recent New Writing festival,  My Mate Monster – a.k.a. Ryan Whittle and Chris McCurry – return to the theatre next week with an encore of their debut show, What Happens Next Will __ Your __. A darkly humorous two-hander inspired by the rising (and apparently, enduring) trend of shaming strangers on the internet, the play proved a hit last month with audiences – and Theatre Things quite liked it too.

Before the show’s welcome return to the White Bear, we chatted to Ryan and Chris to find out more about the show’s journey so far, their plans for the future, and exactly what a monster’s got to do with anything…

Can you tell us briefly what the show is about?

It’s about two strangers, Alex and Darren, who become trapped on the roof of an apartment building. Darren is an incessant chatterer and when he lets slip a few pretty crazy and offensive views, Alex begins to expose him by live tweeting his torturous experience. As the responses roll in and outrage grows, things escalate from there.

We told a guy once it’s basically “Planes, Trains and Automobiles meets Black Mirror”, and he went “Brilliant. I like both of those things.” So, yeah. In a nutshell it’s that. On a roof.

Where did the inspiration come from?

We were approaching our final assessments at Royal Welsh College and basically had to write a play. Chris picked up a Jon Ronson book called So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed at the airport on the way back to Cardiff. It was fascinating with tons and tons of stories about people who’d had their lives completely ruined by being shamed online. So we knew we wanted to do something about that!

Then Ryan found a news story about a guy who was tweeting horrible things about a woman he was on a flight with and it transpired that she followed him. That gave us a great structure right there (minus the airplane… would have been a bit tricky that), so we just went into a room and messed about until it was done!

What do you hope audiences will take away from seeing it?

Basically we want them to have a great time… and then feel really horrible and guilty and then just to be a bit shocked and go “Oh dear” and feel a bit sick.

Apart from that… just to see themselves in the characters. We both work in bars and regularly come into contact with people a lot like Darren, who don’t seem to realise you don’t have time for a chat and they just plough on. London can be an incredibly lonely place at times. It’s something we all have felt here and these two guys definitely are very similar in that way. It’s very easy just to see people as moving obstacles and massive pains in the arse rather than understand them.

If all that doesn’t register and they just go “That silly guy was funny” then that’s absolutely 100% fine too.

What’s been the show’s journey so far?

We wrote it in 2015 and performed it at RWCMD. We basically did the whole thing blank page to stage in 4/5 weeks and had the most amazing time doing it. It was honestly one of the best experiences we’ve both had on stage and it was received really well.

After college we both got parts in different things and never really had a chance to re-stage it. We were worried that social media shaming would become less of a cultural thing than it was but thankfully people just kept on annihilating each on the internet!

At the start of this year we both had a bit of time to revisit it and just set a target for getting it on by the end of the summer. Then the White Bear advertised their New Writing Festival, we fired the script off and got in! It’s been so nice revisiting it and that people enjoyed it so much they’ve invited us back.

How long have the two of you known each other, and how did My Mate Monster come about?

About 4 years. We were both training together and decided to work on a final assessment as a pair and that’s what led to the show. When we started getting serious about grabbing opportunities to get the show on elsewhere we decided to form our own company.

As for the name… there was a guy of about 20 who lived round the corner from Chris when he was 7-8 who was 6’10 with a shaved head and his mates (in the nicest way possible) called him ‘Monster.’ Somehow that huge man found his way into the play as an unseen acquaintance of Darren’s. It’s a favourite line of ours so, yeah, ‘My Mate Monster’. Legally, we probably owe him money or something now.

What are your plans for the show and the company in the future?

We’ve been in touch with different festivals and venues. Basically we just want to get the show out there and seen by as many people as possible.

We’ve got an idea for another show that we’ll start working on when we’ve had a wee break after this. It’d be great to do a double bill feature, What Happens Next… then an interval and then a second completely different hour long play featuring the two of us as totally different characters.

Surely the dream is just to sit and talk to your mate about silly experiences you’ve had or things you’re interested in or that are bothering you and then go and make them into something. How good is that?

Book now for What Happens Next Will __ Your __ at the White Bear Theatre, 9th-11th September.

Written and performed by Ryan Whittle and Chris McCurry

Quick Q&A: In and Out of Chekhov’s Shorts

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Where and when: Greenwich Theatre, 12th-14th September then 4 week national tour

What it’s all about… Taking Chekhov out of the normal stuffy drawing room setting, this is a play consisting of five short tales delivered by a band of travelling gypsies with live music as an integral part of the action. Making the most of the humour, pathos and oddity that is Chekhov!

You’ll like it if… you like to laugh, you like classical theatre with an innovative twist, you like Chekhov, you love music or you enjoy a story well told.

You should see it because… it will make you laugh and cry and keep you thoroughly entertained. These brilliantly observed stories are delivered by a group of five talented actor musicians who will keep you on the edge of your seat all evening. The show is accompanied with a thorough education pack for those who want to know more about Chekhov or for school parties.

Where to follow:
Twitter: @Dragonboyprod
Facebook: @eliotdragonboyproductions
#inandoutofchekhovsshorts

Book here: www.dragonboyproductions.com

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Review: Macbeth at Temple Church

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Having established a solid reputation for their atmospheric and stylish Shakespeare adaptations, it was perhaps only a matter of time before Antic Disposition turned their attention to Macbeth. Returning to London’s majestic Temple Church, Ben Horslen and John Risebero’s meticulously detailed production sets the action in the Victorian period, delving into the gender and class politics that lie behind this well-known tale of murderous ambition.

Photo credit: Scott Rylander

The first and most obvious twist in this tale is the repositioning of the three witches as servants within the royal household. This works incredibly well; safe in the knowledge that they’re as good as invisible to their superiors, the three women are able to become much more active players, observing and enabling the bloody chain of events they’ve unleashed while constantly hidden in plain sight. Robyn Holdaway, Bryony Tebbutt and Louise Templeton are a wonderfully sinister presence, gliding unseen on to the stage and responding with silent, malevolent satisfaction as each new blow in the struggle for power finds its mark.

At the head of a strong cast is Harry Anton’s intriguingly conflicted Macbeth. A commanding physical presence on stage, he’s also a thinker who never acts without first considering all implications, pronouncing each line of his soliloquies with great deliberation and control. This frequently – and understandably – irritates his wife, who’s much more capable of seizing the moment and turning it to her advantage. As with the witches, Helen Millar’s performance is beautifully detailed, her eyes and body language frequently communicating what she can’t say aloud. The dynamic between the two shifts back and forth – when they’re alone he’s submissive to her will, but in public she must step back and play the charming hostess, and her frustration at having to rely on her husband to get the job done is palpable.

The rest of the cast offer strong support, with Andrew Hislop particularly impressive as a vengeful and grief-stricken Macduff, and Chris Courtenay an authoritative yet sympathetic Duncan. I also really enjoyed the touch of comedy brought to the role of Ross by Robert Bradley; his attempts at awkward small talk just before the discovery of Duncan’s body are all too relatable.

Photo credit: Scott Rylander

The production makes excellent use of the venue – though I imagine an evening performance would do so even more effectively than the matinee I attended. The action is presented on a traverse stage, with the audience frequently invited in as guests at the Macbeths’ feast or soldiers in the final battle. Admittedly there are a few issues with acoustics, particularly when actors are facing away – but that’s an occupational hazard in a building like this one and while a few lines of dialogue may be lost, ultimately it doesn’t detract from the atmosphere or impact of the performance. This is further heightened by James Burrows’ music, which subtly signposts the key dramatic moments without distracting from them.

Antic Disposition have set the bar pretty high with their previous work, but Macbeth certainly doesn’t disappoint – if anything, it begs a second visit to catch all the little details we may have missed first time around. A visually striking and deliciously creepy production with impressive performances across the board, this adaptation may make you look at Macbeth with fresh eyes. Failing that, it might just give you a nightmare or two – but it’s worth it.

Macbeth is at Temple Church until 7th September.

Review: What Happens Next Will ___ Your ___ at the White Bear Theatre

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Gather round, kids, it’s time for a history lesson… Once upon a time, if you were out and about and you witnessed behaviour that was annoying, weird or socially unacceptable, the only thing to do was make a mental note and then have a bit of a rant about it to your family, friends and colleagues when you arrived at your destination. But those days are gone; now we have the wonderful world of social media, and with it the ability to instantly and publicly shame anyone we judge not to be living up to our own expected standards of behaviour. And sometimes, that harmless tweet or jokey Facebook post captures the public’s imagination and takes on a life of its own – but at what point does calling people out for what we deem bad behaviour stop being just a bit of fun?

In Chris McCurry and Ryan Whittle’s What Happens Next Will __ Your __, freelance journalist Alex (Whittle) finds himself trapped on a roof with Darren (McCurry), an overly chatty security guard with some highly questionable views on a number of issues. Frustrated and incredulous, Alex does what – let’s be honest – a lot of us would consider doing, and starts live tweeting their conversation to his substantial online following, who respond instantly and with great enthusiasm. And what happens next… well, you get the idea.

What begins as a funny story of an awkward encounter quickly ventures into some uncomfortable territory, as the replies to Alex’s tweets begin to flash up on the TV screen in the corner of the stage. First there’s delight, then outrage, and finally blind hatred and even death threats directed at a stranger none of them have ever met. Even after Alex starts actually listening to what Darren’s really trying to say and stops firing off sarcastic tweets, it’s too late; he’s already started something he can’t stop. Not only that, he’s beginning to realise that the people who follow him so voraciously may not actually be all that different from those he exposes – and that he might not be such a great guy himself, either.

Like any good clickbait video on the internet, you can guess at least part of where the story’s headed – and yet it’s impossible to look away as the inevitable car crash moment approaches. This, when it arrives, is set up so well that somehow it still manages to feel like a shock twist, and the impact is painfully, cringingly horrific to watch. Chris McCurry and Ryan Whittle are an excellent double act, nailing the comedy in the script with such expert precision that it takes a while to realise that our sympathy has begun to shift from one character to the other, or that for the first half of the play we’ve been guilty of making the exact same snap judgments as Alex. Not a second of the 50-minute play is wasted; even the awkward silences between the two men are loaded with meaning, and in many ways we learn more about who each of them really is from what they don’t say than from their actual conversation.

What Happens Next Will __ Your __ is an excellent piece of new writing and a strong debut production from My Mate Monster. Relatable and entertaining, it also challenges the audience to examine our own behaviour online and its potential consequences. More than that, though, it reminds us to be kind – both on and off the internet – and take a moment before passing judgment on people we’ve never met. In a world that feels increasingly hostile, that’s a reminder we can’t hear often enough.

The final performance of What Happens Next Will __ Your __ is tonight (24th August) at the White Bear Theatre – do grab a ticket if you can.

Review: The Jailer’s Daughter at The Space

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You could be forgiven for not realising that The Jailer’s Daughter is based on a Shakespeare creation (or rather co-creation, in collaboration with John Fletcher), which was itself based on Chaucer. It’s not just that the title’s different, or that The Two Noble Kinsmen is less well-known than many of Shakespeare’s other works. No, the main reason you wouldn’t immediately make the connection is that this reality TV-inspired play is about as far from the early 17th century as you can get.

Photo credit: Holly Matthams

In the original, the jailer’s daughter is a lovesick teenager victimised by every male figure in her life and ultimately driven mad by her unrequited desire for an indifferent prince. Not so in Esther Joy Mackay’s reimagined version, where Julia (Grace Hussey-Burd) is one of the few characters who’s actually seeing clearly. Unfortunately her father – The Jailer (Josh Sissons), a Big Brother-esque reality TV boss – has other ideas, especially after she causes a scene in the production room by protesting his show’s moral and ethical shortcomings. Before she knows it, Julia’s in the “lockup” herself, alongside various D-list celebrities, all of them serving time on the show as punishment for crimes committed on the outside. And then there’s Palamon (Rory Gradon), the jewel in the Jailer’s crown – quite literally as it turns out, because he happens to be an actual real-life prince. Naturally, the nation wants a love story… and one way or another, the Jailer is going to make sure they get it.

In a clever twist, Mackay gives the audience a degree of control over how the story unfolds, by setting up a series of votes throughout the show. These are conducted via voting pads handed out at the start of the evening, which add a fun, unpredictable element to the story – even though the questions posed, with one possible exception, never feel like real game-changers. Given the nature of some of the challenges and punishments we’ve seen and heard being handed out (electric shocks, solitary confinement, being made to eat raw chicken or drink all the booze in the house), I was expecting to be faced with tougher choices and to feel more complicit in the characters’ fates. But perhaps that’s just me – and the fact is the reality TV angle does work very well; anyone who’s ever enjoyed, however guiltily, watching Big Brother, Love Island or I’m a Celebrity will spot plenty of references to geek out over.

Under Sarah Fox’s polished direction, the cast slip effortlessly between playing captors and captives (though there are a few moments during the chaotic group scenes when the traverse staging makes it difficult to catch all of the dialogue). It’s no surprise that the two lead male roles, Palamon – the one who’s actually lovesick – and William (Saem Ahmed) the show’s in-house doctor, have been written as blandly boring nice guys, in contrast to Julia’s fiery determination to bring her dad’s entire project crashing to the ground, come what may. Grace Hussey-Burd is a force of nature as the newly reclaimed jailer’s daughter, making it clear from the start that she has a mind of her own and she’s not afraid to use it. And it’s a pity we don’t get to see more of Rachel Wilkes’ brusquely sympathetic Cleo, a former athlete with her own reasons for objecting to the show’s policy of forcing contestants into couples.

Photo credit: Holly Matthams

The Jailer’s Daughter is based on a great idea, and certainly succeeds in its aim of bringing the nameless teenager of Shakespeare and Fletcher’s play into the light and giving her her own story and identity. From a technological point of view, too, the production is brilliantly executed – lighting, sound and the masterstroke of the voting pads all combine to create a true multimedia experience for the audience. For me, the delivery of the final climactic scene lacked a little bit of drama, but the plot twist is really well written and does genuinely catch you off guard (though who knows, it could be totally different next time). A topical and entertaining take on a 400-year-old play, this is a production that both reality TV fans and cynics alike will enjoy – and then probably debate fiercely all the way home.

The Jailer’s Daughter is at The Space until 24th August.