Mikael Phillips, artistic producer at Tired Horses stopped by to tell us more about Malion, a play by Joseph Meardon.
“It’s a feminist retelling of the Pygmalion and Galatea myth.
When she awakens, Galatea seeks the love of her creator but he is changing, falling in line with his comrades and forgetting his pure vision of love. Will Malion see Galatea, or fall into the ranks of masculine identity?”
Where: theSpace at Surgeon’s Hall
When: 2-10, 12-17, 19-24 Aug
Ticket link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/malion
What are you looking forward to the most at Fringe?
This Fringe, we’re most looking forward to the atmosphere & the buzz Edinburgh Fringe Festival oozes with.
It’s such a special time of year where, as artists, it feels freeing, communal, and just magical. We can’t wait to meet other artists, expand our circles, and just see some amazing work from all over the world.
For those of us who haven’t taken part in a Fringe production before, it’s the same feeling you have as a kid when you’re waiting to get out of bed to see what presents Santa has left for you on Christmas morning, sheer excitement with a smidge of freaking out!
Whereas for those of us who have taken part in a Fringe production previously, it’s like being a parent on Christmas morning, still absolutely buzzin’… but also hoping the kids let you sleep in just a little longer.
Tell me about Malion. I know it is a feminist retelling of the Pygmalion & Galatea myth, but what’s it all about?
Malion is a contemporary play told through an ancient Athenian stylisation. It is, like the ancient classics, a discussion piece written to inspire reflection and debate.
Blending modern discourse on women by men with an otherworldly element that allows us to focus on the key points of contention.
We follow the structure of Ovid’s classic tale, but through a modern feminist lens.
In the original, Pygmalion, having scorned all living woman and womanhood itself, works tirelessly to create a statue of ‘the most perfect and beautiful woman in the world’, and as a reward for his hard work, Aphrodite grants the statue life as Galatea, and the pair fall in love and live happily ever after…
It is a tale borne from misogyny, of othering women, seeing them as less than man, but it is also revealing to men how perseverance, hard work, and devotion will win you any woman a man should want and how that woman should be.
In our version, we are bringing this out-dated perspective into the modern day and looking at the deep-rooted issues present in both Ovid’s version and our society.
We begin with our title character praying for his statue to come to life, but his request is seemingly rejected.
Instead of having her life, Malion intends to show off his work to his friends. He wants love and believes that he has made a true representation of it.
His friends, however, do not see love. Instead, they see her body and the ways in which he could sexually gratify her.
Unbeknownst to all men, the statue has come to life and can hear their every disgusting word as the men convert Malion to the ways of man.
Malion is ultimately a tale about men in groups and how they foster in each other an identity which is inherently misogynistic and oppressive, more than often encouraging acts of violence.
We follow Ovid in highlighting the othering of women and showing man’s thoughts on his positions and entitlements. We reexamine objectification, personhood, and female autonomy in a patriarchal society.
Where we differ is in the presenting Malion as a hero protagonist. He is simply a man with a choice to make; play the man, or see humanity.
Focusing on masculinity, the pressures, fixation on the feminine, and the ‘rewards’ associated with it, this play was written as a response to the backlash against the slogan “All men are rapists” which simply states, “Not all men”.
Malion aims to discredit that latter slogan and say “Yes all men, all men bear responsibility for rape” whether that be for the act or its encouragement through a masculine identity.
Your show heads into some dark areas around sexual violence – was this always the intention when developing it? And do you think the theatre is an essential space for exploring such topics?
Yes. It was important for us to be honest and respectfully portray this very real danger women in society face from men.
To create a play like Malion and not have it centred around sex and sexual violence would be disingenuous to the world we live in, the lived experiences we seek to represent, and it would alienate our audiences from the message of the play – to end sexual violence.
We’re aware that is a bold statement to make, but we are also firm believers in not doing something half-heartedly. We are passionate about this play, about contributing something positive to the feminist canon, and most importantly, about bringing men into the conversation.
Like the message our production company Under the Rug Theatre was built on; ‘Talking to one another is the most powerful tool for debate, education, and influence we possess as human beings, and when a cup of tea and a Tunnocks tea cake is on the table, anything is possible.
Our hope is that our work sparks conversation and stays with you long enough to want to talk about it.
So, bang the kettle oan and get the tea cakes oot!’
There have been versions of this play where we allude to the sexual violence and discuss it within the characters rather than staging it in some way.
In these versions, we did find our audience were less receptive to the point we are making and the conversation (what I really mean is giggling) in the foyer between men was more about things we say in the play like ‘boobs’…
However, in this version of Malion we have found that the conversation from those men who have seen the play tends to be more on self-reflection.
For women who have seen the play, unfortunately we aren’t staging anything which sadly isn’t part of their lived experience, but have seen how
This production can be a spark for conversation, which is all we hope to achieve.
We are very conscious about staging sexual violence, r*pe, and assault as voyeurism & undoing all our intentions with this play, which unfortunately is seen more and more these days, which is where our inspiration from Greek tragedy and contemporary world-building lends its power.
Just like the ancient plays where all deaths occur off-stage, we have created various worlds within the play where different characters, moments, and actions exist.
Our staging of sexual violence and assault is both powerful, suggestive, and uncomfortable, without needing to physically stage or perform an assault.
We don’t think this could work anywhere other than the realm of theatre or dance, because a stage creates a connection with its audience. It is a space where you are present, reflecting, and connecting to the stage.
Especially in today’s world, it is very easy to reach for your iPhone or do the dishes in the background and disconnect from what is in front of you, which luckily, is not the case with theatre.
How did Tired Horses start?
Established in Chester/Liverpool in 2023 by long-time friends Joseph Meardon & Mikael Phillips, Tired Horses Theatre was created with the aim to foster an experimental artistic environment where new and important stories are told, and creative limits are tested.
We are a company born out of frustration toward British politics and the lack of accessibility in the arts, seeking to create & produce work that challenges British society whilst uplifting artists to be their best bold selves.
We began by launching our scratch nights in Chester’s Live Rooms, giving artist a chance to explore their work with a live audience, creating artistic circles and welcoming the community into an affordable theatre space.
Malion is our first production as a company, and we have been developing it since we began in 2023.
So far, we have taken it to one of our scratch nights, Chester’s One Act Drama Festival where we were nominated for Best Original Script, an Under the Rug Theatre event in Glasgow, a mini-North-West tour across Liverpool’s Arts Bar & Prescot’s Shakespeare North Playhouse Heading North Festival, and now we are heading to Edinburgh Fringe!
What’s next after Malion?
Our next project will be our ‘Agora’ event in Glasgow’s Nice ‘n’ Sleazy venue on the 28th of August, which is our new type of scratch night, aimed towards development & political conversation.
Our first form will be focused on feminism & the female experience. Submissions for this are currently open and can be found here at https://www.tiredhorsestheatre.co.uk/the-agora.