Jake Mace
Content Warning: Discussion of Sexual Assault
Two young female friends living in London navigate a tumultuous journey into adulthood – trying to find job and exploring the modern dating scene – but how will their optimistic outlook be changed when they encounter the darker side of trying to make your way in the world? Stephanie McNeil’s new play How to Date follows roommates Clarissa and Emily on a journey that takes a dark turn exploring the aftermath of sexual assault.
We caught up with Stephanie for a pixelated pint to discuss finding dark comedy and powerful storytelling in difficult topics. Join us here in the Binge Fringe virtual pub.
Catch How to Date as part of Collective Fringe Festival at Collective Acting Studio between January 23rd and 25th at 8L45pm. Tickets are available through the Venue’s Online Box Office.
Jake: Hi Stephanie! Your show How to Date is a dark comedy combined with a sobering exploration of the treatment of Women in modern society – can you tell us a bit about what inspired you to write the piece?
Stephanie: Hi Jake! Of course, I think the transition from being a teenager into womanhood is what inspired me. When I was younger my outlook on life was much more positive. I was so innocent which then led to me getting hurt and being taken advantage of both in relationships and workplaces. I wanted to write a play exploring this naivety and what brings us to yearn for connections on dating apps.
The play highlights how disconnected and dangerous these apps actually are, as well as how trusting people can seem. Women have faced inequalities in society for centuries, it’s just not spoken about as often anymore because it’s better than it used to be. But that doesn’t mean that these inequalities don’t exist and I think we need to continue to speak up for women.
It’s a dark comedy because it represents how I deal with difficult situations in life. I think it runs in my family, whatever happens we’ll always try to see the positive in a situation and come up with some silly joke to laugh it off. The audience will be plunged into sadness with the storyline but uplifted again with the jokes and humorous banter between the two main characters.
Jake: The central plot follows roommates Clarissa and Emily – tell us a little about them, how you’ve developed them as characters, and what the audience might expect from the story.
Stephanie: Clarissa and Emily both represent different versions of myself. I grew up in West Oxfordshire and I think Emily represents this naïve version of myself, before I moved to London on my own at nineteen. Clarissa represents the London version of me, she is much more clued on and is hit by the harsh realities of real life such as getting fired, struggling for money and feeling lost in life.
There’s quite a humorous dynamic between the characters, they both poke jokes and roast each other a lot but deep down there’s a lot of love and care there. Which I think represents a lot of modern friendships and relationships so it will be relatable. We see their friendship struggle at times, the play highlights the difficulties of maintaining genuine long term friendships in today’s society. They get jealous of one another, frustrated and clash at times due to their differing backgrounds.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience of seeing How to Date?
Stephanie: I’m hoping that the audience will go on these journeys with the characters and learn about the tell tale signs for noticing when someone is struggling. It’s very easy to throw on a mask and pretend to be okay, it’s easier than asking for help, even from the people close to us. I’m hoping that people will reflect on their own friendships, where they may have made mistakes and how they can be a better friend.
I’m also hoping that the audience will reflect on how they act on dating apps. We’re often so consumed by our own problems that we don’t take others’ feelings into consideration. The play really showcases the extent that selfish actions in both friendships and dating can impact someone. We all need to be kinder to each other. I’m hoping that both men but particularly young women will feel less alone in what they’re going through. Whether that be dating struggles, loneliness, money worries and the struggles of getting to where you want to be in life.
Jake: Tell us about your relationship with the cast and crew of the show, and how the show has developed into being performed as part of Collective Fringe.
Stephanie: I worked with both the director Isabel and the producer Emeka previously on another production earlier last year called Phonekiller, which was shown at The Cockpit Theatre. The cast are made up of both actors from Collective Theatre and open castings. We created casting briefs and received emails from those wishing to be considered for a particular role. We asked everyone who emailed us to send back an audition tape and formed our final cast from this. We chose who fit our visions for the characters best.
Working with the cast and crew has been incredible, everyone is so lovely and fun to work with, it’s been such an enjoyable and smooth process! The show’s development started in the summer last year. I wrote the play over a few months and then did script reads on Zoom with some fellow actors. I attended workshops in September and October called Experient Rooms, run by some friends of mine in the industry. During these workshops we did live read throughs and started workshopping some of the scenes from the play. I was then able to develop several drafts of the script and get it to a place ready for stage.
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Stephanie: The play would be a Spicy Mango Margarita. It’s bitter which represents the darkness of the storyline, but has a sweetened mango flavour due to the comedy. There’s an added bit of spice from the one liner jokes and plot twists.
Catch How to Date as part of Collective Fringe Festival at Collective Acting Studio between January 23rd and 25th at 8L45pm. Tickets are available through the Venue’s Online Box Office.
Phoebe Bakker
