We chatted to Megan about her show 384 Days, playing at the Pleasance Theatre on the 15th and 16th October.
Hi Megan, what can we expect from ‘384 Days’? You can expect, to sit back and experience every breath of life. Molly takes us on a journey of all and every emotion and doesn’t shy away from the good or the bad. Audiences will be laughing in one moment, perhaps reflecting on their own life in another and then maybe cringing at others. This play will most definitely make you feel, that’s for sure!
How did the idea for the play come about? It came about after the loss of my Father, I wrote a play exploring the suspension of grief through magic. What if I could bring him back? This then developed into a monologue for a scratch night and then after a 9 month writing session turned into a play. It’s written through a lens of truth, my own experiences with mental health inform the story too. But then we really found the character of Molly and pushed her story, and journey where it needed to go, taking the play to very different places.
What was it like to present this story on stage for the first time? The first time I did this play was crazy, we had done tech and dress run in the theatre for the first time, on the day of the show. We had ran over the allocated time, the show was meant to start in 15 minutes and I was all over the place. But then, when I walked out onto that stage something else just took over. I’m probably my harshest critic, so it’s hard for me to feel happy with a performance but it felt like a triumph. It was intimate, big, live, raw and wonderful.
How does it feel to be bringing the play back to London? London is home, London is where I have seen the theatre that has changed my life and so it always feels special to play here. I am a complete product of London and the opportunities it can bring. My parents moved to London from Ireland 35 years ago, and so it’s not lost on me the sort of colossal stage that London is. Anything can happen here and that’s what it feels like bringing the play here, anything can happen.
What do you hope that audiences take away from ‘384 Days’? I don’t like to prescribe too much what people should take away, but what I will say is; we are in such a societal moment of grief and endurance, it can feel like there is no time for us to process or be effected by that and so we all strive to keep going, keep pushing and remain in our cycle of life. However, what this play shows us, is that we can’t run from grief and we can’t run trauma and at some point, somewhere, you must face it. I hope the character of Molly O’Riordan allows people the chance to see that for themselves.
It covers such as range of important topics, how did you find the experience of conveying them into the play? I think the topics just come up so naturally that it hasn’t had to be a forceful way of trying to convey them or work them into the play. I think ordinary people spend their days going through extraordinary things, going through things that are difficult and sore and yet we just simply do. Day after day and that’s sort of how we approached it in the play.
What is next in store for you? More runs of 384 Days, this play is my heart and soul and I have worked with the most incredible team, especially my director Theo Collins and I just want more opportunities for us to grow this show and take it to new places.
By Emma Clarendon
To book tickets click here.