Camden Fringe Interview: Trent Burton – “Alternative”

The new comedy play by award winning writer Trent Burton (Sharp lines and clever writing – Fringe Report.) Will has doctors baffled with a mystery illness and test results that look like David Lynch directed them. His fed-up girlfriend feels it’s time for a choice between his clueless GP or his homeopath sister. Which for Will, is no choice at all.

More details in Trent’s play can be found at the end of his interview. Camden Fringe starts 1st August till the 29th August.

How’s it going, are you guys all ready for Camden Fringe?

I hope so! We’ve done shows in the Camden Fringe for the past few years so we like to think we’ve got a bit of a formula now but there’s still the odd surprise obviously, especially since we’ve done a new show each year. We’re doing two preview shows as part of the Fringe and then a longer run in September so it’ll feel a bit weird after these two shows I think with a bit of a break until the full run.

Your play is making its world debut at the Fringe… Are you nervous?

A little bit, I think it’d be weird not to be. We’re happy with, and proud of, the show but once the lights go down then it’s out of your hands. You just hope the audience connects with it. And laugh. I’m always a bit head in hands in the tech booth until I hear that first laugh!

Tell us a little bit about the play?

The play’s a comedy about a guy called Will whose got a mystery illness. His GP’s clueless and his girlfriend has started to get pretty concerned. She’s suggesting a course of action could be to go see his sister, whose a homeopath, to try that route. There’s no harm in trying right? But Will’s a rational and skeptical sorta chap so alternative remedies aren’t really his idea of a good plan. The play looks at the corner we can get backed into when our health’s at stake. How you can start trusting your heart over your head, or even magic over medicine.

Have there been many issues or challenges you have faced?

There’s always challenges with any show. Most of those are logistical and budgetary. Yes, it would be nice if you could hire out the theatre for the three weeks before and do 9-5 rehearsals every day but that’s just not possible most of the time. Yes, it would be nice to have a rotating stage and fireworks at intermission, but again, that’s expensive and there’s fire regs. But seriously, anything that crops up, you just have to deal with and it’s never anything that can’t be fixed.

Being the playwright, is it difficult to let go of a project and hand it over?

I think it can be and I’ve experienced that in the past but this is very different. Firstly, my wife is directing the show so she’s fairly in tune with the script and what I’m trying to say with it so there’s no chance of it getting taking in a totally different direction. But having said that she’s certainly put her stamp on it as well but it’s a stamp I’m honoured to have on it! Also, producing the play I’m still very hands on with it each day so I get to see it grow at rehearsals. It’s actually really nice seeing a bit done totally different to how you’ve imagined it and it working even better. I think that’s a testament to the director, and also to our cast who’ve been fantastic.

What’s been good about this project though is having had the chance to take my script, as a producer, to an organisation like The Nightingale Collaboration and have them come on board. They’re a group I’ve got a lot of respect for so to have them producing this play in association with us is quite the honour.

How did you get into writing? Has this always been something you’ve wanted to do?

I’ve always written stories and stuff as long as I can remember. I used to make up stories with my Grandfather when I was little but I never really considered doing anything with it until much later. I actually studied evolutionary biology at university initially! I loved that, and I still keep up with it as a hobby these days. But there came a point where I found I enjoyed writing the reports more than doing the research. True story, in my final year, I handed in a paper of the evolution of prokaryotic cells written as a 7 500 word story about a baseball playing dwarf. My lecturer told me the science and research was accurate but perhaps I needed to make a decision about how I was to hand reports in in the future. So I switched over to a TV and Writing course the next year and have been involved with that ever since. I set up my own production company in 2001 and we’ve done all sorts of plays, shorts and even a sitcom series back in Australia. I can’t imagine doing anything else now.

Do you think that, with all the cuts to the arts in the UK, independent theatre is going to struggle to get produced in the coming years?

Yes and no. I think we’ll certainly see less fringe productions which is a shame. But then if you believe in your project enough, and you care enough about it, you’ll find a way to get it on. Whether that’s scrabbling together funding someone, or paying for it yourself, the really passionate people will still get their independent shows up. In that respect I think it’s good because more of the shows you see are real labours of love. But by the same token there’s a lot of talent out there that just won’t be able to get their show on for love nor money. But in many ways, I think it’s always been that way.

What advice would you give to someone thinking about bringing a show to a fringe festival?

Think of everything before you even think of starting anything. The best thing you can have is a giant list with every single thing you need to do and every possible thing that can go wrong on it. Once you’ve done that, if it doesn’t give you a stress induced heart attack, you’ll be fine. At least two of the hundred things you’ve imagined could go wrong won’t. I write ‘Alien Invasion during opening night’ down every year and so far we’ve been ok. And remember, if you’re writing a new script, the first draft is always, always a terribly long way from perfect. Never be too bored to edit it or too precious to kill your favourite, funniest bits if they just don’t work in the play overall. I hate that bit…