Showing as part of a double bill of plays this week at Barons Court Theatre, Fire Embers Ash is written by Hailey Mashburn.
When: to 27 Jan
Ticket link: https://www.baronscourttheatre.com/fire-embers-ash
Hailey tells us more about the show below!
What should audiences expect who come along to see this show?
A lot of heart. Director Stephen Smith, Henriette Laursen, Maria Masonou, Yvonne Maxwell, Stephanie Van Driesen, and Maya Waghorn have cone together to bring this play to life in a renarkably intimate way.
They’ve utilized the space in such a unique way, really taking up every inch to build the world. I’m so humbled by all that they’ve done!
Fire Embers Ash is based on the real lives and experiences of a group of women almost exclusively as the ‘Night Witches’ who became the most feared threat against the Nazis in WW2 – the all-female aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment.
In exploring the private moments in between history changing feats, audiences should expect the breaking down of that monolith.
What gave you the idea to write it?
I first came across Nadezhda Popova’s story in 2013 – her story struck a chord and sparked my curiosity. For the next few years, I couldn’t let it go.
Then, around 2014, an article about the ‘Night Witches’ had made circles around social media, and I remember thinking that a name the enemy had dubbed them was the legacy left behind.
I wanted, in whatever way I could, to offer an alternative path to discovering more about them. I think, being about the same age as many of these women at the time, I really wanted to understand and find connections.
I was writing about their ‘coming of age’ as I was experiencing my own.
Why show it in a double bill with Paved With Gold And Ashes? And how do they complement each other?
So there’s the main parts: both plays are about women in history; and both are written by women, which is fantastic!
They pair together beautifully, and I’m so honoured to get to share the space with Julia Thurston’s work.
What’s exciting, too, is how even though the two plays explore coming of age, community, and dreams in such different ways on different sides of the world, there aee still moments women share across both of them.
Hailey is based in Los Angeles.