Blueberry Toast is a darkly comic play by the award-winning, Texan writer Mary Laws, exploring the dark underbelly of the American, middle-class, suburban dream in a harrowing descent from the mundane into the unexpected.
Blueberry Toast is directed by Soho Theatre’s Artistic Director Steve Marmion and stars Gala Gordon, who joined us to tell us more.
Blueberry Toast is at Soho Theatre 24th May – 30th June.
You’re starring in Blueberry Toast at The Soho Theatre, what can you tell us about it?
Blueberry Toast is a dark comedy written by award-winning playwright Mary Laws. It’s a show about family break down, set in middle-class, middle-America. Archetypes are set up in the beginning – the smart, hard-working husband, the loving housewife, the enchanting, creative children; an idyllic setting. These are swiftly destroyed, (or rather exposed as a veneer), with humour and horror, before our eyes.
How would you describe the character you play?
I play the role of Barb. Barb wants to be a good, stay-at-home wife to Walt, and mother to Jack and Jill, but struggles with the confines of the traditional, patriarchal marriage. She is smart, if not the intellectual her husband claims to be, and begins to challenge Walt, finding a voice and power within herself, with disastrous results. This play definitely exposes the darker side of happily ever after.
Tell us about your production company, Platform Presents?
My co-producer, Isabella Macpherson, and I founded Platform Presents to give a platform to rising star talent: actors, writers and directors, with a particular interest in female voices. I was inspired by the off-Broadway culture of underground theatre in New York, where young talent can take part in play readings or film readings. So we brought this concept to the UK to showcase rising stars. We aim to build a collaborative creative community alongside up-and-coming and established artists through play readings and full productions, to find a new voice for theatre professionals.
What was it about Mary Law’s writing that made you want to do this play?
Mary Laws’ writing exposes the cruelty humans are capable of – descending from civility to savagery in the blink of an eye. The play reveals the darkness and unhappiness behind the ‘show’ of the perfect marriage, for the adults, but also, harrowingly, for the children. The ideas in this play are universal – feeling stuck in your life or as though life has disappointed you, trying to be something you’re not. As soon as I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down.
How have you and Soho Theatre worked together to bring Blueberry Toast to the stage?
This the UK premiere of Blueberry Toast and is the first collaboration between Platform Presents and Soho Theatre who share the vision for discovering, developing and producing new work. This has been a very collaborative process, with both sides bringing different areas of expertise to produce what we believe audiences will find, a surprising piece of theatre.
What would you say to anyone thinking of coming to see Blueberry Toast?
It is a funny, cutting and brutal new play about an American family trying to live up to the American Dream. My co-producer calls it ‘Stepford Wives meets Tarantino’s finest’. I dare you to come.
