Hugo Lau is the writer and director of a new play coming into the London fringe next month.
Magic asks, “whether grieving gives you a free pass to act the maggot,” and is “a touching odyssey about bearing the unbearable.”
Where: Lion & Unicorn, Kentish Town
When: 12-16 Mar
Ticket link: https://www.thelionandunicorntheatre.com/whats-on
Tell me about your new show, Magic. What should audiences expect?
Hallo! Thank you so much for having me, it’s lovely to have the opportunity to talk with you.
Magic is a new play set in Dublin. It’s about ‘grief’ – in a word! The play opens with Natalie coming home late at night, blitzed-drunk on Halloween. Her mum, Fiadh, is at the kitchen table waiting for her.
She tells Natalie that her brother, Lowell, has just died. Natalie replies,’I lost my wallet.’ And we’re off! It’s very funny, it’s very sad, the actors are all beyond fabulous and the soundtrack is far out.
You are addressing what is perhaps the reality around the process of grief in the play – not the easy, one emotion, stereotype. Is the play informed by your own experiences?
Woof, what a great question! Well, Harriet [Bevan, she/her, cofounder of Beau Beau Theatre] is a psychotherapist and I am a social worker, working in a hospital with people living with cystic fibrosis (CF).
We both work with people who are grieving and people who are dying, and there’s no doubt our experiences have informed how and why we are telling this story.
Dulce [Fraser, they/them], our dear friend who is the producer and choreographer for Magic, also works with young people at an LGBTQ+ homelessness service and similarly deals with vulnerable people who have been through horrid experiences and often bereavement.
We are all passionate about destigmatising grief, so yes, you’re exactly right that one of the goals of the play is to portray grief realistically.
If the play is about ‘grief’ in one word then, in two words, it is about ‘complex grief!’ This phrase describes a bereavement that is not, let’s say, a straightforwardly sad loss of someone you loved and cared for in an unconflicted way (though, we could debate about whether that is ever the case!).
We learn in the play that Natalie and Lowell did not have an easy relationship. They loved each other, but they also resented each other and fought, as siblings often do. And so when Natalie finds out that Lowell is dead, she isn’t compelled to, like, drop to her knees and weep like in the movies!
But she also doesn’t want to jump for joy either just because she is not competing for her mother’s affection anymore! (Lowell and Natalie also have a little sister, Julia, but sin é sin é!)
Natalie doesn’t know what to do, she feels so many conflicting things, and this conflict then causes her to treat herself and the people around her very poorly during the play, which occurs over the week or so after Lowell dies.
And so that’s a big question we are asking – to what extent can or should we forgive people who behave poorly when they are grieving? The answer is, we hope, exquisitely unclear!
In any case, we are certainly not trying to say that this play presents the reality around the process of grief for everyone, but we are hoping that Natalie’s experience allows others to be less ashamed about any thorny feelings they might have in the wake of a huge loss like this.
Oof! Did I answer your question?
What drives Beau Beau Theatre Company, and what have you got planned for the future?
We are driven to make Magic happen in a couple of weeks! We hope the folks who come along will be moved and that we and all the cast and crew will enjoy the process.
Once that’s done, we’ll see what happens! Pat ourselves on the back and go on holiday, maybe?
The Lion & Unicorn Theatre is one of the jewels of London’s fringe. What attracted you to stage Magic there?
Oh it’s just gorgeous, isn’t it? The Lion and Unicorn was actually the first pub I went to after lockdown because it was an equidistant walk for me and Dulce at that time.
When Harriet, Dulce and I decided we wanted to put Magic on, the Lion & Unicorn was the first place that came to mind, but we had never actually been to the theatre there.
We went to see ‘Bounce’ in 2022, a moving play about the danger of the influence these Jordan Peterson types can have on vulnerable young men.
We spoke with the team who ran the theatre afterwards, and they were just so encouraging and helpful that it was a no-brainer… Also, it’s literally down the road from where we live!
What’s been your best experience in your career so far?
Gosh, I have changed career many times at this point! I studied Drama and English at Trinity College Dublin and worked in theatre there, then I was a documentary film producer, now I’m a social worker, so!
There is something wonderful about the private interpersonal victories I have in my job now, like, finding out that someone I have been working with has somewhere to live, or even just being present with someone and making them feel heard.
But then, you know, there’s, of course, something delicious about these more public-facing moments like this – getting to communicate something to an audience and see how it lands. I’m really excited to share this story and see what people take away from it.