Alumni Stories - Gash Theatre
Maddie Flint and Nathalie Ellis-Einhorn met whilst studying on our MA/MFA Advanced Theatre Practice course and together went on to found theatre company, GASH THEATRE.
We spoke to them both about their new show, GASH THEATRE GETS GHOSTED, which is available to watch online between 6-30 August, as part of The Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
What led to you forming GASH THEATRE?
We set up GASH THEATRE after meeting at Central and realising that we had a lot of shared interests: gender, sexuality, bodies, pop culture, camp, drag, burlesque, cabaret, and ridiculousness in general. Our first full-length digital theatre piece, GASH THEATRE MAKES A THIRSTTRAP, premiered in September 2020 and was set in various rooms of a house haunted by ghosts of female sexuality. GASH THEATRE GETS GHOSTED picks up where that first show left off, this time focusing on our relationship to pop cultural constructions of masculinity.
Can you tell us a little more about your new show, GASH THEATRE GETS GHOSTED?
The show is a referential piece of immersive digital theatre and is set in a flat that has been possessed - Poltergeist style - by the ghost of pop cultural masculinities. The GASH gals find themselves stuck, forced to encounter chit-chatting desk lamps, harmonising closet drawers, a TV that plays nothing but rom-coms, a werewolf singing classic rock, and waaaay too many Rick and Morty references (one). In this macho, macho world, they grapple with romance, bisexuality, their fears of men, and how they’ll connect with other people once they finally escape.
What was your inspiration for the show?
Whilst in lockdown, we found that the only sources of inspiration that we really had were pop culture, internet memes, and ourselves. Exploring our cultural references led us to comparing our feelings around masculinity; on a really simple level, I (Maddie), have always had a lot of male friends and found power in masculinity, whilst Nathalie fears masculinity and avoids it whenever possible. So, we decided to stage all of our messy feelings about men and masculinity, and relationships and sex.
The two shows that you’ve produced so far have both been digital theatre, how did you go about producing them?
When we started working together on our debut piece (THIRSTTRAP) in the first lockdown, we quickly established some tenets of our form of digital theatre: it’s filmed in advance on high quality cameras, edited to seem like a one-shot, and uses camera movements to mimic how an audience member would look around a space. We found that this form of pseudo-liveness did a better job at accessing the magic of actual live theatre than any zoom performances.
This is the first year that digital theatre will be streamed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, what challenges and/or opportunities has this presented for you?
This year’s festival sees a fraction of the usual onslaught of shows, but the work included is no less explorative and powerful. In essence, the greatest challenge is missing out on the madness of Edinburgh Fringe and yet still maintaining that feeling of chaotic liveness without an audience there to build the atmosphere for us.
Although we’d love to be at the Fringe in-person, we’re very excited by the fact that presenting our work online makes it viewable for people around the world, and for people who might have difficulties accessing a traditional theatre space. There’s a huge amount of inspiration to be found in the way artists have rallied, experimented, and fought to present their work, uncovering new styles and methods along the way. This has been a year of rediscovering what theatre can mean, and seeing a sort of culmination of that through Fringe is hugely exciting.
Do you have any advice for others who are interested in taking a show to The Fringe?
DO IT! Nothing beats the madness of Edinburgh. Prepare to feel unprepared, buy more flyers than you think you’ll need, and see as many shows as possible (even the ones that are really properly terrible). Be optimistic and open to things not at all going the way you thought they would.
What are you going to be working on after The Fringe?
We’re definitely interested in continuing to screen the digital version of GHOSTED with different venues. We’ve also talked about the possibility of adapting GHOSTED for live spaces as well, but GHOSTED, with all its filmic tropes, also feels like it might belong trapped on film. So, instead, we’re going to turn our attention back to what live theatre can mean and consider what belongs best in a live space.
We’re also working on GASH THEATRE NEEDS SOME SPACE! which we’re hoping to be ready for live performance next year. Think Disneyland’s Space Mountain, but not suitable for children. Think Tunnel of Love. Think an immersive queer club in the 2400’s. Think naked butlers, but they’re spacemen in shiny suits carrying GASH-aholic cocktails. Think little alien puppets discussing the weird intricacies of body image and human relationships whilst comparing tentacles. Think laser tag flashmob!
Visit Gash Theatre’s website for more information about them and their upcoming projects.
Watch the trailer for GASH THEATRE GETS GHOSTED below, and book your ticket to stream the show at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, running from 6-30 August.
Visit our Central at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2021 listing page to find out about the other Central student, staff and alumni shows that will at The Fringe this year.
