Kill Dramaturgy Now

 Kill Me Now is a digital, dramatic experience performed as a real life live Zoom webinar written by award winning playwright Rhiannon Boyle. This funny, heart wrenching one woman play, developed in lockdown specifically for a virtual audience, explores a new form taking live performance to a place we have never EVER been before. An innovative, hilarious yet poignant production which will be presented in collaboration with critically acclaimed Welsh new writing theatre company Dirty Protest.

And for the first predictable question: what was the inspiration for your show?

The story and the themes of the play lie very close to my heart as someone who lost my father after years of him suffering with the long term degenerative disease MS. I wanted to write a play about losing my Dad but because I have a very dark sense of humour, I wanted it to be funny. 

My producers, Dirty Protest, and I spoke about the main character maybe giving a TED talk or being an expert in the one thing she has no idea how to deal with – her grief. That’s why I decided to make her an undertaker who is selling the franchise model of her business Joyful Endings Funerals, which is basically end-of-life celebrations that are more ‘fun’ than funeral.

 

 

How far does it fit within your usual work, and do you have a particular dramaturgical approach to creating a production?

I like dark comedy and so I suppose all my writing explores heavy themes in way that always find the light and humour. When I create I usually start by exploring the thing that I want to say. What’s the argument? What’s the issue? What’s the thing that’s made me angry or sad? I then do lots of work on the characters writing pages and pages on their past, personality traits, their hopes and fears. 

When I’ve done all that I get to the story. My mantra is - spew then sculpt. I get it all out onto the page and then I’ll go back and look at how it fits into the Five Act Structure. Where is the inciting incident? Midpoint? Climax? What’s the character’s journey and how do they change? After all that it’s time to hand it over and get an outside opinion; a dramaturg or a director who I can really trust to help me develop it further.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

Not really. I write for TV, radio, theatre and now online. I like mixing it up and practicing different disciplines for different mediums and platforms.

 

What are you hoping that the audience will experience?

 

The play is a comedy set in covid times and will offer audiences some much needed fun and relief. The play deals with the themes of grief and so we will reach out and connect with audiences and communities experiencing grief at this time - whether that be grieving loved ones, grieving theatrical experiences or grieving our old lives. We are living in a time where we are all collectively grieving and connecting with others and making sense of it all whilst finding the light and humour can be a very powerful healing process.

 

 

How have you found the challenge of creating a production online? Has it been positive or negative and have there been any surprises?

It’s been brilliant fun. We tested the show out on a live audience and they absolutely loved it! I think because we’ve purposefully written this play for Zoom as a live Zoom webinar using all its interactive features it just really works. This is NOT online theatre. It’s a dramatic, digital, interactive experience and we can’t wait to share it with new audiences.

I have always asked about the role of theatre in public debate, but this now seems even more relevant. In the current landscape, what does theatre or performance have to give to the public sphere?

Hope. Connection. If we’ve learned anything during this pandemic it’s that everything around us – economies, services, industries and infrastructures – are so fragile. When everything ground to a halt and ceased, for me, it was connection to other human beings that kept me going. Love, compassion, kindness and trying to make sense of it all together.