"We cobbled together the first version of SCRAPS for the Bristol Old Vic staff showcase" | MIA AND DAISY - FROM SCRAPS TO RICHES

On 13 Jun, the Tobacco Factory will be presenting Scraps a semi-biographical story which started life as part of a staff showcase at Bristol Old Vic. We caught up with Mia and Daisy to ask what's taken them from King Street to our pals on North Street..

“The more time we put into this play the harder it was for us to separate ourselves from the story. We never intended SCRAPS to be a semi-autobiographical play but here we are: calling the characters by our own names and spreading out our insecurities on the stage."  

What inspired you to create SCRAPS? 

Daisy: I went to a local festival that shall not be named, last summer and was annoyed at the irony of it being marketed as an accessible city festival when re-entry wasn’t allowed, the food was extremely expensive and I was forced to eat a banana by the security guard because I wasn’t allowed to take it in. A banana! We discussed this idea of creating community when actually being a hostile capitalist trap and that was enough to be a stimulus to create the play, and it went from there. 

Mia: I remember writing “capitalist claws” in my notebook when Daisy told her banana story. We went on a big rant about how so many things cost 1 hour of our minimum wage work and kept finding more and more ways that the cost of living affects everyday life. From trying to decide what to eat to hearing out-of-touch influencers talk about their opinions on high shiny platforms. We couldn’t stop ourselves from creating a show about our messed-up austerity BritainTM (but with more joy, hope and dancing). 

Can you tell us about the journey of SCRAPS from its start at the BOV staff showcase to its debut at the Tobacco Factory Theatres? 

We cobbled together the first version of SCRAPS for the Bristol Old Vic staff showcase, organised by Andy Barton, which was a great launch pad for us to test the waters with something brash and unapologetic. People seemed to connect with it and find us funny so we took it to SPARK Blueprint Festival at Tobacco Factory Theatres in February. We were then given the opportunity to showcase the hour version which was surprising and very exciting. 

Our main challenge when creating has been juggling work while not having the ability to pay ourselves for the work we put in. This is something we are very much used to but doesn’t get any easier, and this has become part of the narrative within SCRAPS. We are really looking forward to getting funding and creating a team down the line that can make this show as wonderfully chaotic as it can be. 

How did you mix humour, clowning, and serious social issues and what was it like working together?

Working together has been hilarious, we’ve known each other for 9 years and made a couple of kids shows and other stuff, but this is the first time we’ve made something that feels like it’s us. We naturally fall into clowning, after the showcase people called us clowns and we just went with it. It's been great leaning into this medium and seeing how far we can take it. With the world as it is, we can’t imagine making anything right now that isn’t about how angry we are. 

In terms of process, we like to see how far we can push ideas to the extreme. We usually play loud music, be silly, improvise, then go away to write separately. We then come back together and make the magic happen. The more time we put into this play the harder it was for us to separate ourselves from the story. We never intended SCRAPS to be a semi-autobiographical play but here we are: calling the characters by our own names and spreading out our insecurities on the stage. We’ve had a lot of fun pushing how problematic these odd versions of ourselves could be and finding new characters to satirise within the show. 

As a working class artist and a middle class artist we want to showcase the bum clenching conversations that come with that and get it all out in the open. Anger and resentment is unavoidable when it comes to class and the industry, it can often stop you in your tracks, with this play we want to encourage examining your own anger and how you express it. 

Hopefully people will reflect on their unconscious bias in some way, and if they don’t, we hope they at least have a laugh.

You both juggle several jobs along with creating and performing in the show. How do you manage everything, and what advice would you give to other artists in the same boat? 

It’s rubbish. We don’t manage very well. We’re sick of the narrative that as an artist you have to sacrifice everything and it’s all part of the ‘hustle’. It’s difficult, working many jobs that often are customer facing and unsociable hours is tiring, to make art you need a certain headspace and the main challenge is to have the time and energy to get yourself to that point. 

Our advice would be to try and have a laugh as much as you can in these jobs, try not to get stressed out about a company that doesn’t care about you - act your wage. Also, there are so many of us in the same boat, it’s easy to look at everyone's achievements online but there are more of us that are just getting by by the skin of our teeth. 

We’ve encountered a lot of rejection in many different forms (from drama school to scratch night applications) which knocks us back every time and makes us wonder whether we should carry on. But we’ve become pretty stubborn, we don’t want to back down. 

Just because you’re not creative full time doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve to take up space. You should never feel that your voice is any less important than someone else’s, so why should that be the same in the creative world?