"Sweet Pea asks the question what happens when those you love are the ones hurting you the most, while standing firmly in the belief that nothing really matters in the end."
In today's Backstage Blog, we chat with playwright Lachlan Seal about the world premiere of SWEET PEA, opening at Explosives Factory this week!
Q: What should audiences expect when they are coming to see Sweet Pea?
A: Sweet Pea is a celebration of queerness and an exploration of emotion. Too old to be childish but too young to have their shit together, Sweet Pea's chosen family is full of clashing personalities and buried secrets, but above all, love. The audience is a fly on the wall as the group deals with their own grief as best they can. For some is disassociation. For others it's humour. For most it's narcotics. Sweet Pea asks the question what happens when those you love are the ones hurting you the most, while standing firmly in the belief that nothing really matters in the end.
Q: How did Mover's Call Theatre Company start and what type of work do you create as a company?
A: Mover's Call Theatre Company was an idea formed at the height of Covid by three third year Fed Uni students who were sick of being stuck inside. Once lockdown lifted we jumped at the chance to put our own work out there, having been creatively starved for a little too long. We wanted to create a space for stories that are often ignored, told by people who are often overlooked. As emerging queer artists we hope to contribute to the ripple effect and see a much more diverse independent theatre scene.
Q: Where did the idea for a surreal funeral come from, what drew you to working in this style?
A: As a creative I’ve been consistently inspired by absurdist media and wanted to merge that with my writing style that I feel lives in realm of realism. ‘Sweet Pea’ rocks gently between the two genres, just as the titular character swaps between states of mind like a defense mechanism when things start to get a little too real. I wanted to take a formative moment that happens in many of our lives; the death of a loved one, and portray the headspin that grief can send you into no matter how hard you try to stay grounded.
Q: We are playing Connections, the category is Sweet Pea. What were the four words that made this connection?
Death, clowns, family, social anxiety
Q: If you could have anyone in the world see this show, who would it be and why?
A: There are so many people I would love to see this show that the list is impossibly long, but one person I know will be able to make it is an old university lecturer I had from 2018 to 2020; Ant Crowley. His theatre making abilities and creative mind remain an inspiration to me four years later and I hope I do him proud.
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