I’m currently not present at the last two weeks of rehearsals and am really excited to catch up with them again at the start of the run and see what they’ve done with the script!įinally, how would you describe the ambiance of Measured in three words and what would you say to anyone going through similar struggles at the moment? Working with actors is a new experience for me, and this cast in particular are so amazing at bringing out themes in the script and aspects of the characters that I didn’t know were there. Juliette has been a friend of mine for years and was really keen and supportive in trying to get the play made. What are your relationships like with the cast members Juliette Burton, April Hughes, and Aaron Phinehas Peters? What has your experience been like collaborating with this team, and how has this dynamic personally impacted your project? What I wanted to do was show the emotional state that an ED creates, rather than the physical symptoms. Something that was very much on my mind was the knowledge that people with eating disorders can collect information like weights, meal plans, and symptoms from texts that are meant to be recovery-focused and incorporate them within their own disorders, so we’ve been really careful not to mention weights or numbers or to describe any symptoms that could be imitated. You’ve worked in mental health social work for over ten years, which is truly incredible! Do you think your previous experiences assisted you in any aspects of creating your play? Hopefully, the difficulty will be thought-provoking for people who don’t suffer from EDs as well. I think in producing the play we are trying to be really careful not to glamorize the illness in any way or provide any details that could be used to trigger someone’s disorder. It’s tricky to answer this briefly because it’s such a topical question! From the point of view of someone recovering from an eating disorder, although I wouldn’t say my illness was caused by diet culture, it certainly makes it much more difficult to recover and gives you a socially acceptable excuse to hide your disorder behind. What do you think about the way society perceives women in the ideal bodily standard, and how do you think this influenced the way you wrote and directed Measured? I hope I’ve articulated it well enough for people to connect with because it’s a really lonely experience when you’re living it. The more I worked on it, though, the more I felt like I had never really seen anything that addressed the difficulty of recovery-the kind of halfway state where every day is making the choice to recover again, and that’s kind of where Sophie is in the play, struggling to move forward but not really wanting to go back. At the time I started the MA I was struggling with an eating disorder myself and towards the end was cautiously in recovery – I’d been in treatment for almost a year at this point and there really wasn’t anything else in my life to write about. I wasn’t really thinking about getting it made, just doing the exercises we were given. I wrote the beginnings of what became Measured as part of my MA in Creative Writing a few years ago. What made you want to produce a play that tackles such a topic? Your play covers the serious subject of eating disorders and will certainly bring it to the audience’s attention. After the first week of rehearsals I’m so excited – I feel like a kid at Christmas! This is my first production as well, so I’m trying not to be too nervous and just enjoy it all a bit. Thank you for having me! I’m really excited and can’t quite believe it’s actually happening after the last couple of years of lockdowns and such. How are you feeling leading up to the first show? Firstly, congratulations on your new play Measured being shown at The Hope Theatre later this month. Hi there Emma! Welcome to Close Up Culture, and thanks for doing this interview with me. Also, we discover more about the background inspiration for the production, as well as the cast bringing it to life at The Hope Theatre between Feb 22nd and March 12th 2022. We chat with blossoming writer Emma O’Brien about her premiering play Measured and how societal bodily standards affect the way women could be seen. TRIGGER WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS CONTENT RELATED TO EATING DISORDERS AND RECOVERY.
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