Fringe-first award winner Joe Sellman-Leava (Labels, Monster) explores our relationship with our past and future selves, in Fanboy, a love-hate letter to pop culture and nostalgia.
Expect epic storytelling, razor-sharp impressions and a dose of theatrical magic in this world premiere!
Joe has always been a nerd. In his teens, he hid it. In his twenties, he owned it. Now in his thirties, Joe is still obsessed with Nintendo, Star Wars and A Muppets Christmas Carol. But he’s started to notice something about the way certain fans are behaving. Something unsettling, which is making him question things he was always sure about.
Fanboy, written and performed by Joe Sellman-Leava is at Pleasance Dome Wednesday 3rd – Monday 29th August 2022 (not 8th, 15th, 22nd) at 12:15.
Your new play Fanboy is coming to Pleasance Dome, what can you tell us about it?
It’s about nostalgia, pop-culture, and fandom. It’s about the joys of being a nerd, of finding community in shared interests, as well as the darker side of fandom (e.g. entitlement, bullying, misogyny.), and the cost of living in the past.
In terms of how the show looks and feels, it’s a solo show – with a twist (which I won’t spoil, as I hate spoilers!). It’s full of impressions, jokes, theatrical magic and held together with a story about love, loss and friendship.
What inspired you to write this play?
I’ve thought of myself as a nerd since I was a teenager. I wanted to make a show about the isolation of that, the eventual ownership I felt about it, and the joy of just enjoying things you really f***ing love!
I also really wanted to make something about nostalgia, our relationship with our past selves, and our fear of the future, which is an increasingly common feeling for people, especially younger people.
I wanted to find out why nostalgia is such a powerful force in our media, politics and entertainment – is it because of the climate crisis, for example? That it’s hard to imagine a future, and so going back to the past is comforting?
How did you go about researching Fanboy?
I looked at things which were once consumed by a certain demographic, and then became global megabrands (e.g. the Marvel comics spawning the Marvel Cinematic Universe). Nerd culture became popular culture; some amazing things have come from that, but it’s also had a darker side.
The racism, misogyny, bullying and entitlement that exists within certain fandoms is really troubling. And it seems to overlap, at least to an extent, with far-right fan bases. So I’ve also been very interested in that – the weaponising of nostalgia in politics (“Make America Great Again” and “Take Back Control” for example), and how hero-worshipping links to the rise of the Strong Man in recent times.
You’re a Fringe First Award Winner, does that add some pressure to bringing a new show to the Fringe, and what did you find most challenging about writing it?
Winning that award was a really wonderful experience, and something I’ll always value. But I’ve reflected a lot about the difference between wanting to grow as an artist – exploring new ideas and processes, working with new collaborators – versus competing with yourself. just coming back to core questions like: what story am I telling? Why am I telling it? Who is it for? How can I tell this in the best way?
I think the biggest challenge was the two-year gap. I’d done several work-in-progress shows by February 2020, and I was looking forward to reworking it with the creative team, ready for Edinburgh that year. Like lots of projects, it had to be postponed, and trying to work on it more during lockdown was challenging without being in a room with the rest of the team.
In the end we decided to give it some breathing space. The world has obviously changed so much since, and coming back to it felt scary in some ways. So the challenge has been picking up a partly-finished play, and working out what the core of the story is now; what the key theatrical gestures are, what needs keeping, what needs cutting, and what needs writing from scratch.
You’ll also perform in the show, what are you most looking forward to about that?
It’s a very joyful show to perform, so I’m most looking forward to sharing it with people, and having fun! It’s still being fine-tuned, and you always learn so much when something you’ve worked on in a rehearsal room gets into a theatre space and finds an audience. It changes into a living, breathing thing, and that feels so exciting!
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see Fanboy?
I’d say that if you’re at all interested in sci-fi, fantasy or superheroes, then this might be a show for you. And that, even if you’re not into those things, but just enjoy a good story, then I think there’s something here for you too.
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