We chatted to the writer and composer of How To Make a Mess: A Totally Unauthorised Love Letter to Nigella Lawson, which will make its debut at Upstairs at the Gatehouse this summer.
Hi Emily. How did the idea for ‘How to Make a Mess’ come about?
The original instigation came from when Tanya (Truman) and I were working at Everyman Hampstead together. Tanya was known for her incredible voice, and the way she can’t help but sing all the time! I was known for using my musical theatre writing skills to come up with the zaniest screen announcements, especially when performing the screen announcement to the tune of Mama Mia when the film came out.
At some point, Tanya started doing impressions of Nigella Lawson whilst making the guacamole, flatbreads and cookies – as if Nigella had found herself working at the cinema. (I was rarely on kitchen duty as I had a tendency to freeze up with nerves around the pizza oven and occasionally cause fires) One day, Tanya said to me “omg. You should write a musical about Nigella Lawson and I should play Nigella Lawson.” Now this was during a busy shift and neither of us really thought about it again, in fact we became really good friends and collaborators over the years working on loads of different shows and projects together.
Around the pandemic, Tanya industriously started adding theatre producing skills to her portfolio of awesomeness and I started having parasocial relationships/obsessions with TV and Youtube cooking presenters. Eventually our minds wandered back to that moment.
What has it been like watching the show develop?
Incredible. This has been an amazing experience. Tanya has taken a patient and mature approach to the development process, which has meant it has been incubated through a series of readings, workshops and dramaturgy sessions before reaching this first public production stage. I’m sure we will continue learning and developing throughout the production and rehearsal process, with a hope for the show to have a future life, but I feel so proud of how far the writing has come since the first read through in December 2022 in Tanya’s living room.
How does it feel to see it being produced for the stage?
Unbelievably exciting. We’ve had the White Card meeting where we were presented with the designs of the set and costume and it is so exciting to start seeing the script interpreted into these tangible things. It’s also been a wonderful privilege working with David Merriman as the arranger of the score – the way he has deepened, brightened, gorgeous-ified and added even more fun into the music, my gosh. It’s going to be an absolute treat. I may be pregnant, live over an hour from the venue and the Sitzprobe is very close to my due date, but it’ll be worth risking birth plans 1-5 in order to hear the score come together for the first time. The only thing keeping me away from opening night are regular contractions.
What are you most looking forward to about audiences getting to watch the show?
Sharing it with them. I’ve loved writing this show, and I hope they receive some of the love and joy I have felt whilst sitting alone in my room developing it. I also look forward to feeling the audience laugh. Tanya and Natasha are such funny performers, and Grace has been very encouraging of highlighting all the silliness and joy of the script. I hope audiences have a really lovely time.
What can audiences expect from the show?
Joy, laughter, a bit of catharsis. There are some difficult and complicated family dynamics, and sadness and grief may be very much part of the show but these are important places to move through in order to feel the joy and to appreciate the journey this character goes through.
How to Make a Mess will play Upstairs at the Gatehouse from the 4th to the 28th June.