New theatre performance company Milk and Mallet are bringing their debut show, I Dreamt You Differently, to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer. Abbey Gillett and Elsa Strachan tell us more about the play and about being an emerging company in the fringe ecosystem.
“Billy Mason, a working class lad done good and now tycoon of the bar snack industry, visits his soon-to-be pop star daughter, Mariella, at a strange hotel where she is dreaming up her debut album. Hopes of celebration and champagne collide with industry collapse, failing health and the looming steps of a god-like label exec which threatens to force them apart. Father and daughter are left asking: ‘What now?’, as songs, suspicion and surreal turns collide in this exploration of ambition and familial love.”
Where: studio at C ARTS | C venues | C aquila
When: 5-30 Aug
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/i-dreamt-you-differently
What is the show about, and where did the idea come from?
Abbey: It’s not a coincidence that I began writing the play as I approached 30! I found myself really reckoning with the idea that the dreams I had for myself when I was much younger hadn’t materialised in the way I envisioned. I had driven so hard and single-mindedly to ‘make it’ as an actor throughout my teens and twenties, and as I’m maturing I’m being honest about how painful
it can be to let those dreams go, and grow, with you.
The play takes this idea and extends it even further – what does it feel like to be a parent of a child who has big dreams? What does it feel like to believe in your child as this special source of hope and ambition, only for them to experience such rejection? My own Dad is a really inspiring character. He has a dogged drive; it’s where I get mine from, except he’s a photocopier salesman.
I was fascinated by the dramatic tension that can exist between two characters who share exactly the same energy, beliefs, and execution in life but whose outcomes are totally different. The play is about ambition, and what success looks like to different people, across generations.
Sell the show to a potential audience in one sentence!
A funny, sharp, and raw conversation across generations about what it means to dream big!
What does the Fringe mean to you, and do you have any particular memories?
Elsa: Growing up in Scotland, the Fringe felt like a time when the whole world landed in Edinburgh! I have so many memories of being in Youth Theatre productions at the festival, sharing a bedroom floor with about eight other people, all banding together! It now feels really exciting to return as a professional, with a clearer sense of who I am as an artist.
Abbey: I remember watching Baby Reindeer in 2019 when Richard Gadd performed it for the first time at the Fringe. That’s just one of the examples of the profound trajectories theatre from the Fringe can take. It can really feel like you’re at the genesis of what goes on to become these culture-defining moments.
Equally, still to this day one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen – The Cultural Elite – was being performed in a 20-seater venue off the Royal Mile. I’m so excited to be a part of a well-rounded, fun and thought-provoking experience of art for someone else this Summer!
What are you looking forward to in Edinburgh?
We’re a new company; this is our debut show and having an Ed Fringe debut was a very conscious choice for us. We can’t wait to meet the brilliant community of artists attending and bringing work to the festival this year! It’s a really exciting time for emerging companies, building work from the ground-up.
There’s a lot of brilliant new talent with big ideas coming through, and being a part of that ecosystem will be amazing.
What’s next for the show?
First we need to survive our Edinburgh Fringe run without any days off! But we’d love for the show to have a full-length run in the future, and see how the show grows! We’ve already got ideas for further iterations of it, and we’d love the opportunity to share that. We want a UK tour, so that I Dreamt You Differently can be seen by as many people as possible.