An Interview with Rebecca Harrison – Writer/Director of Asides from the Elbow
I sat down on a warmish Leeds summer day at HPBC – the sun was beaming down bright on my bench, accompanied by a cappuccino festering in the early August 20-something heat. Rebecca was en route to setup her second preview for her directorial debut Asides from the Elbow, and I managed to catch her for half an hour prior to tech in the event space. We sat and discussed all things from theatrical influences, Leeds societies, to Liz Truss.
Owen: Here we are at Hyde Park Book Club, I’m with Rebecca Harrison director of Asides from the Elbow.
Rebecca Harrison: Hello!
O: Great show last night! Great to watch on a Sunday evening.
RH: Thank you! I’m glad you liked it! Thank you for coming.
O: Fun being there. The Packhorse was a very intimate venue with not a lot of room in there, what did you make of the crowd in there, did you enjoy it?
RH: Yeah! The crowd were very good, they were supportive, energetic, and responsive.
O: Good key words, great buzz words.
RH: Yeah! Yeah!
RH: We did lots of open mics there last semester and nice to have that venue where I had started off the whole theatre journey, with The Scribe completely by accident, then doing reviews which I didn’t know it did. Then doing the open mics up there, then doing my own show after being involved in the other one.
O: What was the show before?
RH: Road, it’s a play by Jim Cartwright. Very famous writer and playwright. Directed by Hugo Knowles of the Open Theatre society.
O: Have you enjoyed working with OT?
RH: Yeah, OT are great. They’re very welcoming. I feel like it seems very intimidating prior, but it’s actually very welcoming and nice. Doing the reviews helps you see that. They put a two hour together in two weeks during uni in term time. The vibe is very theatrical, very quick-paced, hectic, and pulled together at the last minute. But that’s what makes student theatre so good. You never know what you’re gonna get on stage.
O: Speaking of which, did you think of any interesting and/or exciting new additions to the production last night? Are there any changes you’d make now?
RH: Mostly just stresses and intonations. In the moment, on stage it’s difficult to say the meaning of the words rather than just reciting lines. That happened a lot as people started to recognize the meaning of lines while on stage. I can’t remember what she said but Carrie Clarke did that. She said one line and I thought, ah, you’ve never said it that way, that works! Apart from that it was a new space, they’d never rehearsed before in that space, so the blocking was a bit different. You really have to improvise on that point.
O: I didn’t notice any detrimental points of improvisation on that point. Where have you rehearsed prior to your shows at Packhorse and HPBC and up till now?
RH: Always in the rooms in the Union, in the upstairs or Workshop Theatre. Usually we’re not allowed to use it, but because we have Lucy Yellow on our team, we have access to that space. Also, shoutout Lee. Good old Lee.
O: He has the access. He’s the plug.
RH: Yeah, he doesn’t gatekeep.
“It’s kind of like a subtle breaking of the fourth wall – you’re acknowledging that they know something. That they’re a part of the world.”
O: There were a lot of excellent Gen-Z terms, the podcast shoutout was good and a great callback without saying too much. Do you particularly find that’s a key feature in your work?
RH: Yes, actually. It’s all about rhythm and pace. The whole writing of a joke you see for late night shows for SNL monologues or like, roasts, I’m not good with that format. It’s knowing how to do physical comedy and how to do callbacks where you’re building a relationship with the audience. It’s kind of like a subtle breaking of the fourth wall – you’re acknowledging that they know something. That they’re a part of the world.
O: Very interesting. Yes, like they’re a part of the diegesis.
O: What would you say are your main comic or theatrical influences?
RH: Oh, I fucking love Noël Coward. We actually went to see Present Laughter together a couple years ago.
O: Fantastic production.
RH: So fucking good. I’ve read a lot of his plays recently, but that’s still the best one from him I’ve read.
O: It’s amazing. Andrew Scott is fantastic in that.
RH: His Hamlet is on YouTube. He’s got that perfect thing of being able to control everything. That’s the thing I keep saying is control. You’re the one that controls the audience. That’s why acting is so hard, if you feel like you’re losing the audience, you’ve got to remember that you’ve got the power and it’s your job to bring them back in. You can’t rush through. You gotta slow down and make sure they’re there for the moment, you know?
O: More on audiences. You’ll have quite the different setup for Edinburgh. Charlie previously told me you’ll have a thrust for the stage. In line with this, are there any adjustments you foresee making in advance of Edinburgh?
RH: Oh yeah, we’re going to have to re-block everything. We have blocked most of it for the Thrust stage, and then coming up to previews, it was a scramble to get our theatre sorted. We had booked Packhorse and HPBC, and those you can only exit from stage left – in the wings of the pub. But for the actual thing [Edinburgh] we’re not sure yet… we have a diagram of the stage, but it’s hard to tell where the actual exits are. So, we will have to get there and in our uni accommodation flat thing, re-block everything, in the living room and kitchenette.
O: Indeed, you don’t want to end up with a Liz Truss moment on stage where you can’t find the exit.
RH: Oh no. Definitely not.
O: Is there anything particularly that you’re most looking forward to about the Fringe? Is it you, your production, other shows…?
RH: It’s got to be everything. I know we’ve got a good show, but Edinburgh is that kind of thing where it doesn’t need to be perfect, everything is independent. You don’t need approval from some Edinburgh Fringe board. You just book your venue and your turn up. I’m really excited to see how different crowds react to ours and how the actors grow throughout the 10 shows. There’s so much room for ad-libbing and doing their thing, it’s gonna be a different show each night.
RH: Also, being in that atmosphere with all these new shows, all these people who are likeminded and want to do the same stuff. Most people in the show want to make this a career and are obsessed with theatre.
O: Obsession with theatre.
O: You’re going to Scotland, it’s a European tour!
“Having a bright yellow poster really stands out. Shout-out to Dacia.”
O: One last question, about the audience, the audience so far has been students in Leeds, what do you think the audience will be like in Edinburgh, do you think it’ll be more of a middle-aged audience? The middle-class feature will still be there of course. The gno-cchi!
RH: Gno! I’m so interested to see who turns up. We’ve already sold 50 tickets so far. But we have the advantage of being the A’s. So it’s right there in the brochure.
O: Was that tactical input from your end creatively?
RH: Maybe, maybe. Also, having a bright yellow poster really stands out. Shout-out to Dacia.
O: Definitely, loving the Instagram promos as well. Shout-out Dacia, thanks for talking.
RH: Not a problem!
Asides from the Elbow is showing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from 5th to the 14th August at theSpace on North Bridge – Perth Theatre. Tickets here.
Image Credit: Tom Gibson Photography (https://tomgibson271.wixsite.com/mysite)
