EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- A Girl and a Gun

Tell us a bit about A Girl & A Gun

A Girl and A Gun explores my obsession with women and guns on film. Like my relationship to this collection of things, it begins as a love story, and ends up a violent mess of cliché and gender politics. In an age of binge-watching Netflix, access to porn on your phone, and increasing appetites for violence in cinema and on television, the show asks an audience to consider their own appetite for violence. It wonders about de-sensitization, about the allure of 'cool', about the sexual politics of violence on film, and it wants to know: where do we draw the line?

I began making the show after I started re-thinking Jean Luc Godard's famous quote: 'All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.' I've always been a massive fan of film, and of the French new wave in particular, but as my politics developed I couldn't get Godard's words out of my head. I wondered whether there was a clue in his words as to who he was making film for. It made me totally re-appraise my appetite for films, and especially those which star a girl and a gun as their main plot devices. I wondered how I could be attracted to and repulsed by film at the same time, and what this ambiguity might mean for my politics and for culture at large.

One of the main themes of the show is asking us to consider gender tropes that are spoon-fed to us by cinema, and whether these can ever be radical or empowering, or whether they will always be used to re-instate toxic gender norms. Is there a way I can perform the hyper-sexualised femme fatale on stage and still be empowered? Or, to consider it from another angle, are Lady Gaga and Beyonce empowered when they strut around in barely there leotards wielding pastel-coloured guns in the music video for Videophone, or are they simply there to titillate, and re-affirm that their only power as women lies in their sexual attractiveness?

The show is performed every night by me and a new male performer who's never seen the script before. We both read from a rolling autocue, and two live cameras on stage capture the action and feed it into an image projected at the back of the stage. This way the audience can see both the cinematic images we are making together, and the process in which they're made. The male performer is told that he should perform the role as fully as possible, but that he shouldn't feel obliged to do anything he's not comfortable with. The audience are in on it too, so they get to see his live decision making process as the show goes on, something which becomes more and more nail biting as the things he's asked to do become increasingly ethically difficult.

The show is fun and dark and playful, and hard to turn your eyes away from. Most audiences leave feeling they've been 'part of something'.

What prompted you to bring it to Edinburgh?

In many ways the show is a perfect fit for Edinburgh. It's playful, engaging for audiences, has meaty politics and of course, also has the element of a new performer in the male role every night, which means its basically a new show every night. Not to mention, Edinburgh is a brilliant place to recruit fresh meat for the show!

The show has had a London run, as well as touring the UK, but I felt that this is probably the year to try and do the full month in Edinburgh. I've done short runs here and there over the years at the Fringe, so I'm excited to be doing it 'properl'y this year and this show feels like the right choice.

What do you feel sets it apart from other shows at the Fringe?

A Girl and A Gun is absolutely live. No two shows are the same, and I think that's where it's power lies. The male performer becomes a cipher for the role of the audience- through him they can be both voyeur, and feel for this 'outsider' who has been asked to perform this role. Audience members tend to relate to this performer, even when they don't agree with the decisions he makes, so it makes it impossible to watch the show without feeling somehow complicit. I'm not a fan of theatre which permits its audiences to sit back in the dark as a voyeur, this show asks audiences to consider their own act of watching, and really brings them into the world of the show. With such a saturation of work at the festival you need to be presenting work that really grabs you, and this show will point a gun in your face and ask you to hold on. Edinburgh audiences won't be disappointed.

Who would you recommend comes to see you?

I think this show appeals to fairly wide audiences: fans of film, fans of theatre, fans of performance art. Fans of women. Jokes. Feminists. People who are willing to come along for the ride. It's also beautiful to watch, with the live film element to it. So let's maybe add aesthetes to that list too!

Are there any other shows you're hoping to catch at the festival?

Loads! Almost too many to name, but a few I'm definitely aiming to catch are: Wild Bore, the new Ontroerend Goed show, and the new Forced Entertainment show. I'm so pleased that Summerhall has a brilliant programme this year too- I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of time there.

Timings and ticket information for A Girl and a Gun are available on the edfringe website.

Photo Credit: Field and McGlynn

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