Following Edward Lear, the Rev. David William Parry wrote Women In Mayhem as a nonsense dramedy.
A Play in three prank-scenarios examining trans, heterosexual and lesbian women in various worlds, while asking audiences to vote for their chosen epilogue.
As it heads to Camden Fringe, let’s find out what it is all about? David tells us more …
Where: Etcetera Theatre
When: 21-25 Aug
Ticket link: https://camdenfringe.com/events/women-in-mayham/
What are you looking forward to the most at Camden Fringe?
I have always liked and admired the Camden Fringe festival.
To my mind, it is rapidly turning into a competitor for Edinburgh Festival Fringe. As such, I am most looking forward to contributing to the theatrical surrealism, which is one of Camden’s hallmarks.
Also, I am hoping my highly unusual blend of philosophical questioning and open nonsense will touch more than one of the pleasure zones in our audiences as well as bring theatre back to the people generally.
Women in Mayhem is a ‘nonsense dramedy examining trans, heterosexual and lesbian women in various worlds’. Where did the idea come from and what might audiences expect from the show?
Originally, I was tempted to name this dramedy Women in Chaos, but felt that title would probably detract from its overall aim, which is a celebration of womanhood.
With this in mind, certain pranks or, in other words, scenarios had previously been staged as a way to engage with international audiences as well as measure their reaction to this type of activism.
Indeed, as someone who has been an LGBTQ proponent for more or less forty years, I cannot help feeling mindless prejudice is on its way back into the public arena.
As such, a comedy-drama full of laughter and questions needs to be staged for audiences across the board.
Taken together, everyone is welcome.
You’re a prominent occultist poet as well as leading South London’s only LGBTQ+ church as pastor. How do your interests and beliefs inform your writing?
I have been a cleric in one form or other for most of my life.
Also, one of my personal interests could best be described as a fascination with anomalous phenomena, which tell me our humankind is only just beginning to discover the grandeur of our cosmos.
Thereupon, I suppose it was my innate sense of wonderment that initially empowered my vocation, poetry, and serious investigation of the occult.
As such, I tend to see the marvelous around me, and hope I shared that vision when I was pastoring in London.
However, my husband and I recently moved to the Hebrides, which is why I intend to witness to these vital facets of life nowadays in a Scottish context.
Certainly, the mystery and imagination permeating everything in the Hebrides has become a new source of materials for future plays.
How did you decide which of your Women in Mayhem to pick?
I work very closely with the extremely seasoned director, Victor Sobchak, who I rely on in these matters.
Undoubtedly, he has a gigantic actors’ network around him, while he often exhibits an almost clairvoyant intuition into the characters I have created.
In this sense, the initial steps are always taken by him, although I have taken the liberty of suggesting one or two players for his consideration, whereas he is trying to get some of his most respected actors into the overall weave of this project.
What’s next for the show?
All in all, we had a preview staging one prank back in May. So this coming August will be the first time I see the entirety of this piece performed.
Still, this is only the first step in a much longer process, and I am hoping to bring the play to Glasgow next year due to its highly intelligent, anarchic, and unarguably avant-garde audiences.
So, watch this space!