Seán Linnen directs winner of the 2021 Platform Presents Playwright’s Prize, Nuclear Children, written and performed by Ezra England, 2022 winner of both the Roundhouse Poetry Slam Judge’s and its Audience Award.
Seán Linnen was recently associate director on Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre.
This absurd and deeply human production follows Isla as she battles with grief and strives to find her identity as an adult. This dark comedy is about mental health, a submarine accident, and a melon.
Nuclear Children describes the eloquent confusion of trying to process devastating loss and the absurd mundanity of mourning when life doggedly goes on. With stunning lyricism, Ezra England dives for the humour that always lurks and showcases how often that will be what keeps you afloat, even in dark times. This is not simply a play about grief, but a play about love, honesty and human connection.
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You’re directing Nuclear Children at Edinburgh Fringe, what can you tell us about the play?
Nuclear Children is a new play by Ezra England. It’s a dark comedy about a young woman, Isla, who is navigating the loss of her father after he died in a submarine accident. She has to face her grief head on, come to terms with a new family dynamic, and negotiate the trickiness of a brain that’s playing tricks on her. It’s smart and sharp and very very very funny.
What was it about Ezra England’s writing that made you want to be part of this production?
Ezra’s writing is so generous; it feels like a hand reaching out to its audience – that’s the thing I love about it the most. I love that they manage to sift through the messiness of grief, the desperate excruciating feelings of loneliness and isolation, and do it with such care and kindness and heart. It’s so rare to get all of that in a play and then when you pair it with Ezra’s gloriously dark humour – it was too delicious a prospect to turn down.
And what’s it been like working with Ezra as a performer?
Pure, pure joy. They’re the type of performer who is up for playing and experimenting and trying things out. It’s a proper creative collaboration and I love working with actors like that. If anyone’s seen Ezra perform their poetry then you’ll know how brilliant they are already but if you haven’t, you’re in for a real treat.
It’s a play about loss and mourning, but what else would you say it has to offer?
For a small play, it’s got such breadth and depth. It is absolutely about loss and mourning and mental health, but it’s also about discovering connections in unexpected places, growing a new skin when it felt impossible to grow at all, and realising that maybe all the answers you’re searching for can be found in ASDA’s fruit and veg aisle. It is wry and tender and often a bit silly too.
As a director do you need to think differently about directing for Fringe compared to your recent West End work?
My job is to try and uncover the truth of a story and find a way of translating that story to the stage in the most exciting, entertaining and surprising way possible. I think – regardless of venue – that’s usually where I start, so whilst the scale is maybe different, everything else is the same. The thrilling thing about doing this show in a fifty seat venue is that everyone is so close to the action – there’s nowhere to hide. It’s theatre in HD.
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see Nuclear Children?
Please do! Come and spend an hour in a dark room with Isla and we can all have a big laugh and a big think and a big cry together. It sits perfectly at 2.05pm – just after lunch, and just before the first pint of the day. Perfection.
