INTERVIEW | 'KITES' LIPZINC THEATRE, EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE
The countdown to the world's biggest arts festival Edinburgh Festival Fringe is on and arrives this month for its 75th anniversary. Between 5 - 29 August you can enjoy a diverse selection of work from across the UK in Scotland's capital city.
Ahead of the festival, I have fantastic interviews coming up from some of the acts who will be heading there to showcase their work.
Today's interview comes from Lip Zinc Theatre. They're new play set in 1948 Cork, Ireland named Kites is heading to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.
So to begin with, tell us about your company LipZinc Theatre and what work they do?
We are a young avant-garde, female-led, Irish theatre company, conceived through a need to make work that is truthful to the artist and vital to the audience. ‘Lip’ means the opening of the mouth, where words and feelings escape and let loose. ‘Zinc’ means the essential element to the body that we cannot live without. It was founded in 2016 by Tzarini Meyler, MA graduate of the Institute of the Arts Barcelona, who was inspired by her study of the surrealist movement and training in the work of European physical theatre practitioners. LipZinc creates entertaining, visually vibrant, and socially engaging theatre. We are interested in subverting expectations of appearances and societal roles, exploring themes such as gender, sexuality, identity, dreams, and escapism. We are just off a successful sold-out run of our original show Dublin in a Rainstorm at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. We collaborated with AFRC on a year-long project, The Wheel, to educate the community through theatre, funded by Creative Ireland and Westmeath County Council. At last year’s Edinburgh Fringe we presented our play Pheromone on CArts, CVenues digital program, to critical acclaim: “A compelling watch” ⭐⭐⭐⭐- Chris Omaweng, Londontheatre1.com, “pure theatre in its look and style” ⭐⭐⭐⭐- Rob Warren, everything-theatre.co.uk. In 2022, we were awarded a residency at the Pavilion Theatre to develop KITES.
"The art scene in Ireland is vibrant"
For those who may not be aware - what is the art scene like in Ireland? Are there many opportunities for people to create work there and develop?
The art scene in Ireland is vibrant. There are so many young companies and artists creating exciting new work. But it’s tough, it’s a very small industry and at times it can feel like a clique that’s hard to break into. Funding is also hard to come by, which doesn’t make it easy to produce your own work. It’s frustrating that creativity should be stymied by something as banal as money, but alas money does make the world go round… I don’t want to sound cynical though, there is definitely a sense of camaraderie between these artists and companies who are in the early stages of their careers, trying to break through. We support each other, create opportunities for each other, and collaborate. It’s very exciting to be a part of that community.
What does it feel like to be bringing KITES to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer?
It’s so exciting, I feel like in a way we have been working towards this for over a year, even if we didn’t know it. This show has been in the works for so long, and so much time and effort has gone into building it, developing it, and promoting it, it feels surreal that it's finally happening.
KITES is a new play set in Cork City in 1948. What drew you to creating this work in the first place?
The writer Tzarini was raised in west Cork and spent a lot of time in the city as a child. She was interested in how the town has changed so much in the last 70 years, hearing stories passed down from grandparents and parents, and how this is mirrored in the changing social roles of people, especially women. As Tzarini’s grandparents emigrated to England in the 60’s in search of work, her childhood was split between Yorkshire and Cork, moving back and forth a lot. For a long time, she has been interested in the idea of a hometown and what it means to belong. Ireland has a long history of youth emigration and with our current housing crisis, it is becoming exceedingly common. Tzarini wanted to explore the relationship and dissonance between those who get away and those who get left behind. In the 1940’s Tzarini’s great-grandmother wanted to be an actress but was too poor and stayed in Ireland and became a housewife, whilst her brother moved to Australia to become a singer. Tzarini’s work usually begins with an object as the stimulus. She became fascinated with the simple yet powerful action of a kite, the way it can escape and fly away, or get caught and stuck. The lines can tangle, it is dependent on the wind for its course, and ultimately is being controlled by someone else. And so KITES was born.
Your show touches on how the city is dealing with rations and unemployment after the war. How did you develop this work? Where did your main influences come from?
Tzarini believes that history repeats itself and often sets her work in different time periods that teach us something about the now. In our post pandemic world, we are dealing with similar issues: a housing crisis, increasing poverty, emigration, and the pressure on women to ‘have it all’. Tzarini was interested in the relationship between people directly affected by war, and those who are just hearing about it and facing its economic consequences, so she chose to create two characters from opposite sides of the coin.
You’ve chosen to centre this story on two girls - do you see yourself in either of the characters or are they influenced by people in your life?
Kitty and Angel’s playful dynamic is accurate to our own friendship, for example, the humour and sense of adventure. A lot of the scenes’ settings are relatable to us, and I’m sure many young girls, such as drinking in the park talking about love and daydreaming about all the places in the world we could go. However, the characters and their journey are mostly fictional and imagined. The girls' backgrounds are inspired by the countries we are each from. Ana is Spanish and Tzarini is Irish so we wanted to pull out a little history from each and explore their differences.
Is there a part of the play which you feel has the biggest impact of all?
Yes, when the girls reach 18 and they can no longer ignore all the pressures to make a decision on what they will do for the rest of their lives. Choose marriage and motherhood or the ‘unknown’. The point in this play is when their connection is really tested and it explores what happens to friendships as we grow up. This is still very relevant today especially for our age group.
What has been the most challenging aspect in putting this play together?
Good question. Honestly, the fact that we’ve had to do everything ourselves. There are only two of us in the company, Tzarini wrote the play and I am producing it, and we’re both also performing. But we’ve also been our own costume designers, make-up artists, PR agents, stage managers… the list goes on. Having to switch between my “producer brain” and my “creative/actor” brain has been the biggest challenge for me.
Your play is fast-paced - will this have an impact on how the audiences experience the story?
Yes, the audience will be taken on a whirlwind of emotions, laughing one minute, crying the next. It is physically action packed and exciting to watch. The director Graham has taken advantage of our venue’s configuration and used all the different spaces, not just the stage. The audience will feel involved, like voyeurs watching something very private that they shouldn’t be seeing. The experience will draw them in and make them relate more to the world of the play.
Why is this festival and your show important for people to see and support during August?
The festival is incredible because it allows art of all kinds and backgrounds to grow. It is important to support work that is artist-led and original, even more so in this economic climate. Our show speaks from the heart and by supporting us, you are giving young creatives the chance to keep doing what they believe in.
Besides your show, are there any that you’d recommend that people go and watch during the festival?
If you like comedy, fellow Irish artist, Ian Lynam is performing his hit show ‘Autistic Licence’ in Gilded Balloon also.
What do you hope for the future with KITES after the fringe?
We’d love to take KITES on tour. This was always the plan, we pretty much designed this show to be toured easily, a “show in a bag” if you will. We’d like to start with a UK and Ireland tour, and then take it to Spain next of course! It would mean so much to me to perform this show in my hometown, Madrid. After that, who knows, the sky's the limit!
Where can people come and see you during the festival?
We are performing at Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, The Dram, from the 4th to the 28th of August at 2:20PM.