Jessica Regan, an acclaimed actress known for her roles in BBC’s Doctors and Call The Midwife, is set to make her debut at the Edinburgh Fringe with her storytelling show, 16 Postcodes.
In this exclusive interview, Regan shares insights into her journey through London’s diverse neighbourhoods and the personal stories that inspired her performance.
Don’t miss 16 Postcodes at Pleasance Courtyard (Bunker One) from July 31 to August 26, 2024 (excluding August 12). Book your tickets now.
You’re bringing your debut storytelling show, 16 Postcodes to the Edinburgh Fringe. What can you tell us about the show?
It’s a storytelling show where I perform monologues about each home I’ve lived in in London drawn from a selection of 16 -some chosen by the audience, some by myself.
The show explores your experiences living in 16 different postcodes across London over 20 years. What inspired you to turn these personal stories into a theatrical production?
A lot of it was when I would go home to Ireland and share stories of what was happening in my sister’s kitchen or with friends over dinner. I loved how even something that felt quite grim at the time would have us cracking up with laughter. My friend Sarah even got me a leather-bound notebook for Christmas and was like, it’s time you were writing about all your adventures. Irish people tend not to blindly encourage! So positive peer pressure, basically.
How did the process of creating 16 Postcodes help you reflect on your journey and the different chapters of your life in London?
I knew I could only do this when I was emotionally ready. I don’t tackle anything painful that hasn’t been processed. So it’s been fascinating to approach these stories with some remove, finding resonances and themes that Jessica the person didn’t clock at the time, but Jessica the writer is like oh of course, that links with this and so on. Each monologue feels like a puzzle to solve-what’s the universal element to this experience and how do you convey that theatrically, etc. It’s occasionally brain-breaking, but mostly exciting.
The show promises to be both funny and poignant. Can you give us a sense of the tonal balance you’ve struck between humour and more serious themes?
I think I’ve just tried to tell the truth as engagingly and playfully as I can and then tone takes care of itself. I’ve let it emerge rather than reverse-engineered it. I learned so much from the audiences who came to my Work-In-Progresses. I remember the first batch last year I felt like I had the chords, but I didn’t know the tune. Then the last set I did in Spring I felt I’d found the melody.
As an accomplished actor across TV, film, and stage, what has the experience of developing your own solo storytelling show been like? How does it differ from other performance mediums you’ve worked in?
I definitely needed to do this to move forward as an artist. I love acting so much, it feels the most natural thing in the world to me, and I am never more comfortable than when I get to do it. And that’s great but I don’t get to do it as much as I’d like so I had to shake myself up a bit. Because this is hard, it’s exposing, I’m new to it, it’s a new frontier of performance for me and I have to step up self-discipline and all sorts of other skills, particularly on the production side. But sure what else would I be doing, as my mother would say.
What would you say to anyone considering booking tickets to see 16 Postcodes at the Edinburgh Fringe?
If you’ve ever left home, if you’ve ever rented, if your life looks different to how you imagined it, if a person or a place or a job has ever broken or healed your heart and if you’ve ever wondered what the hell you’re doing… have I got a show for you.
