Evangeline Dickson is the writer and performer of Dear Peter which will play at the Iris Theatre Summer Festival. The festival runs from 14 – 29 August 2020 in the grounds of the St. Paul’s Covent Garden, Actors Church.
First performed as part of Maiden Speech and set to a nostalgia-infused soundtrack, Dear Peter explores whether anyone is truly free from growing up through a collection of fragmented memories, poetic frankness and darkly comedic storytelling.
Dear Peter runs 14th and 15th August at 5pm and 7pm. Tickets for socially distanced ‘bubble benches’ are on sale here.
You’re bringing Dear Peter to Iris Theatre Summer Festival, what can you tell us about it?
Dear Peter is a poetic, honest, joyous peek in to the short life of 25 year old Ash. After being unexpectedly reunited with her childhood imaginary friend Peter Pan, Ash is taken on a whirlwind journey through past poignant moments of conflict, love and loss. She is forced to question whether or not any of us are free from growing up and tries (and sometimes fails) to delight in the magic and mystery of it all; from pre-school jitters to nights at Glastonbury.
What inspired you to write the show?
Dear Peter comes from a collection of poems I wrote in 2018, which my gorgeous best friend Dylan Wynford encouraged me to piece together. After a scratch night at Theatre N16, where the wonderful Finella Waddilove performed a 20 minute version, I just wanted to keep writing it. I have huge imposter syndrome and have so much more to learn but I fully intend to keep going and COLLABORATE – there are so many incredible creatives I’d love to work with.
What’s the biggest challenge of being both writer and performer of the show?
I find I am constantly changing the dialogue as I go along and have a bit of a habit of stopping mid-rehearsal and scribbling something down or crossing something out – much to the dismay of my glorious director Kayla Feldman! It’s tricky to not analyse your performance in the same way you pull apart the text as a writer, but Kayla has been amazing at bringing her unique style to the piece.
How does it feel to be returning to live performance, and what have Iris done to help you and audiences be safe?
SO exciting and VERY frightening but Iris have made the process a breeze. We’ve been visiting the space a lot and plotting the placement of the audience through socially distanced bubble benches, temperature checks on the door and ensuring that I’m not too close to the audience! The garden has such a chilled vibe and Iris have been outstanding in providing a much-needed escape right in the centre of London.
Tell us about the soundtrack and the role it plays?
The soundtrack has gone through a huge evolution since the show’s premiere. Music is an integral part of the way both Kayla and I create work and in choosing the tracks we played a lot with music as something to play with and against. Ash travels with the music at points and pushes against it at others, and I hope that the songs will add a sense of nostalgia, even if the audience have never heard them before.
It was first performed at Maiden Speech, have you made any changes for this run?
Yes! It was so useful performing the piece as a work-in-progress with Maiden Speech because the audience provided so much vital feedback. We collated this back in January and, since then, the characters that Ash meets along the way are juicier and more refined, the structure has more twists and turns, and we’ve had A LOT of fun adapting the piece for an outdoor space.
What would you say to anyone thinking of coming to see Dear Peter?
Things are really hard at the moment; financially, politically and mentally. Dear Peter homes in on the joys of childhood, the hardships of growing older and the strength human beings can muster when the odds are against them and I really think we could all do with a bit of this kind of magic and escapism right now.
Main Image: Evangeline DicksonÂ
