Play: Squeak
Director: Asia Nerva-Culley
Writer: Francesca Mepham
Starring: Sophia Grilli, Will Meadows, Carol Morgan, Philip Gill
Squeak – A Rehearsed Reading
Who falls down the stairs whilst carrying their hamster’s cage? Lianne.
Lianne is angry that her boyfriend Dan is now spending more time with Squeak their hamster than her, mainly, because she is dead.
Dan is just angry.
Mandy and Roger mean well..
Squeak is romantic, tragic and kind of cute!
In a new exclusive interview for Blazing Minds, actor Will Meadows talks about his role in the latest play from Francesca Mepham, Squeak, which had a special rehearsed reading at the Drayton Arms Pub, Theatre and Kitchen on Tuesday 29th September.
Q. You play Dan in the upcoming play Squeak, which is holding a read-through at the Drayton Arms Pub, Theatre and Kitchen. What can audiences expect from the production?
A. I think Squeak will challenge audiences on their understanding of grief. It’s an emotion everyone has likely experienced to varying degrees of impact, but it’s usually a deeply private one. When you hear that someone you know has just had a tragedy, the normal or polite response is to offer support should they need it, respect their privacy, and assume ‘time heals all.’ I feel like that’s where a lot of the play’s value lies; the opportunity to see what that person is actually dealing with, and whether or not time is in fact healing.
Q. What first drew you to the script for Squeak, and what made you want to be part of this production?
A. I was lucky enough to work on Squeak during a scratch night at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre, when the play was just a ten minute performance. I’d never had the opportunity to portray grief at the time, and it was very daunting at first. I’m fortunate enough never to have lost somebody as close to me as Lianne to Dan, and I doubted I’d be able to act as if I had. It was Francesca’s writing that attracted me, particularly in her consideration for Dan. It became much easier to realise that there’s all sorts of horrors that reside inside a young man’s mind even before grief.
Q. Can you tell us a little about your character, Dan, and the role he plays within the story?
A. Dan is a great example of someone who is very unprepared for grief, especially when it’s so sudden. He still has a job, a house, even a pet hamster. Support is there, and he’s even going to therapy, but something isn’t budging. He’s not an angel either, and is emotionally selfish, especially his bouts of ignorance toward Lianne’s mother, Mandy, who is grieving much more quietly than him.
Q. What preparation did you do to portray the character?
A. It’s difficult to find a way to connect to the sudden upheaval of Dan’s life, so I focused on silence. For around ten minutes, I’ll switch off and completely ignore everything. I think that’s what Dan feels. It’s like your favourite song stopping suddenly, and stopping for good, never to hear it again. You’re left with disorienting, blindsiding, brutal silence. Then, I’ll listen to some Sam Fender. At this point, I can’t listen to him without replaying a montage of Dan and Lianne’s memories in my head. He was their favourite artist, after all.
Q. Are there any aspects of Dan’s personality that you see in yourself?
A. Very much so, but they’re all hidden beneath the subtext. Dan is prone to getting emotionally stuck. In his work as an electrician, everything is cause and effect. You replace wires, test voltage or install a new component until the light comes on again. Sadly, this doesn’t translate to emotional management. It’s always a mystery, and there’s so many, almost infinite, perspectives to consider for only a handful of them to actually change anything. It sometimes makes Dan (and I) feel as though it isn’t even worth bothering.
Q. As rehearsals have progressed, has the way you portray Dan changed from your original plans?
A. Dan’s torment is so raw and unending that it’s made it a real challenge to figure out a multifaceted approach to explaining why it is so extreme. Sure, there’s the five stages of grief, but for Dan, they’re essentially a roulette wheel and the ball never drops. So that’s been my focus; making sure the audience understands that peace isn’t guaranteed for him.
Q. Despite the play’s comedic elements, it also deals with themes of death and grief. Have you found any scenes particularly challenging to perform, either emotionally or from a technical perspective during rehearsals?
A. There’s a particular scene which is unlike anything I’ve ever tackled before. It’s a scene from the original ten minute performance which takes the audience through the last memory Dan has of Lianne, right up until the final goodbye, and the last door is closed.
Then, the scene restarts, only different the next time around. It’s thanks to the remarkable creativity of Aisa Nerva-Cully, our director with a sparkling idea for everything, and Francesca’s heart wrenching writing. It’s been utterly fascinating to see how seamlessly they can make something so funny amidst such harrowing themes.
Q. What is it about Squeak that makes it different, and why do you think audiences should come and see it?
A. It’s the kind of play that will have you looking at your loved ones for longer than usual, working extra hard to commit the image of their face and the sound of their voice to memory. Nobody is ever truly safe from what happens in Squeak, and the characters are not part of any unusual circumstances, apart from the obvious.
Q. What do you hope audiences take away from the read through?
A. The phrase ‘memento mori’ (‘remember death’) tends to leave the mind not too long after entering it. I hope that audiences will have it rolling around in their head for the rest of the evening at least. I also want them to leave with a better idea of what that co-worker or that friend they haven’t seen in a while might be going through.
Q. If someone was looking to get into acting what advice would you give them?
A. Well, one of your main challenges is standing out amongst a hundred or so people that look and speak like you. You’re a business at the end of the day, so I think it’s pretty crucial to have a unique selling point, whether that be stage combat, accents, or the ability to play a peculiar instrument. Also, I cannot stress the importance of workshops and scratch nights enough. That’s how I found Squeak!
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!