Stop Trying to be Fantastic

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Of course, it’s a metaphor. A symbol of a trauma not discussed; silenced and suppressed. Stop Trying To Be Fantastic turns the elephant in the room to the magpie in the room. And, if you’ve ever witnessed a bird when it accidentally finds itself trapped you know exactly how it panics, thrashing about leaving havoc in its wake. Stop Trying To Be Fantastic is that which gets left behind once the incident has passed. The initial mess might be cleaned up, yet an echo remains. I’ve also directed Butch Ado About Nothing by Grace Petrie, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing that! I’m also excited about seeing Chris Singleton and Roann McCloskey. Do you have a nagging voice inside your head? How do you deal with it? Stop Trying to be Fantastic by Molly Naylor explores the challenges of having that constant internal nagging.

If anyone’s seen me do a gig, I do talk quite a lot between songs. I tell stories and I try and make the introductions funny. Over the years that’s just extended until somebody said to me, “you know you’re a real folk singer when the introductions get longer than the songs!” So I thought, I need to put my money where my mouth is. I wanted to see what happens if there’s no safety net of a guitar. It’s just me with nothing to hide behind. It’s been an amazing experience learning that I can do that. I’m full of admiration for comedians who do it all the time, but I’m really proud of myself for taking the leap. How did you find striking the balance between funny and serious, when talking about such an identity-centric topic? There’s something to do pretty much every night, but there’s also so much delicious countryside to disappear off into. It’s also a very queer-friendly city, which is a good thing! Also – Roys, obviously. Those pesky little magpies: astute, sneaky, determined. Their presence can be felt even when they’re not visible to other people. It’s highly likely that, at some point, you’ll encounter one. Or maybe more than one. You might not realise its significance at first. Yet from year to year, situation to situation, despite your best efforts to ignore it, there’s an incessant, attention-seeking tap-tap-tap.From award-winning writer/performer Molly Naylor (Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think Of You, Sky One’s After Hours) comes this lyrical and funny spoken-word show that explores what we owe to each other and what we owe to ourselves. Award-winning writer/performer Molly Naylor presents this funny, frank, lyrical storytelling show that explores what we owe to each other versus what we owe to ourselves. It’s an anti self-help show... that might actually help. STOP TRYING TO BE FANTASTIC – MOLLY NAYLOR – DRUM THEATRE 5 th May 2023 Produced in association with Inn Crowd I’m performing at Summerhall for the first time. It’s my favourite venue in Edinburgh, so I’m very happy I get to perform and hang out there.

With only a few trivial theatrical weaknesses, the direction of the show is solid with clever minimalistic choices proving a wise decision. Molly’s strategies for coping with her meandering life, constantly trying to please people, to be liked, to get on, are all made with the intention of running to escape the magpie, to be free of him. It becomes her own personal quest for freedom and, ultimately, happiness. When she spoke her last words, I was surprised to discover my cheeks were wet with the tears that had fallen, listening to the truthfulness of Molly’s final words. Ones that we all must surely take on board. Molly begins her story in the same place that it ends, with her sat in a room of a fertility clinic, and the aim of becoming an egg donor. But this was not to be…. NAC supported artist Molly Naylor is heading to Edinburgh Fringe this August at Summerhall with her new show Stop Trying To Be Fantastic.Stop Trying To Be Fantastic is about the strategies we use to avoid pain and suffering, and the impact these strategies have on us. It’s based on a period in my life and tells a mostly-true story about a strange series of events and what I learned from experiencing them. It’s about saviour-complex, the things that haunt us and what we can do about them. It’s a sort of anti self-help show, that I’m hoping might actually help. Bringing art to unexpected places and helping everyone find their creative spark. Welcome to Cygnet’s Dream Festival. At first, this show seems stranded between poetic horror and funny self-help, as if Bridget Jones had wandered into The Raven (only with a magpie). But it’s a slow burner and by the end is absorbing. Writer and actor, Molly Naylor, plays a version of herself who was traumatised by a magpie at a young age. The magpie then stalks her, and she develops strategies for getting the magpie to go away.

I’m going to start working on a new book project. A little break from performing will probably feel essential! Molly Naylor is a scriptwriter, poet, performer and graphic novelist. Her stories and plays have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and she has performed at festivals and events all over the world. She has featured on several renowned radio shows and podcasts including A Good Read and The Guilty Feminist. Her third poetry collection is published by Bad Betty Press. She is the co-creator and writer of Sky One comedy After Hours. She wrote and performed the acclaimed solo spoken-word shows Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think Of You and My Robot Heart. Her first graphic novel Lights, Planets, People! was published by Avery Hill in September 2021 and won the Broken Frontier award for best graphic novel. Her new live show Stop Trying to be Fantastic is currently touring the UK. It may or may not include some stuff that could be generously described as comedy. It may or may not have some songs. She doesn’t really know but at this point she’s just happy to be out of the house.

We have a huge variety of events. Something for everyone. From community workshops at the Library, children’s shows at Cygnet Theatre, stand-up comedy at Topsham Brewery, folk music at the Corn Exchange, professional development workshops, storytelling at the RAMM, music at St Nicholas Priory, youth shows at the Hall and Multi-Story Orchestra in IKEA’s car park. One day, a magpie comes into a little girl’s house by mistake. It decides it likes her. She spends the next twenty-five years trying to get away from it. It then becomes slightly meta as we realise she’s writing the magpie story as a screenplay, pitching it to young men called Josh, and feeling mortified in the process as they struggle with the concept of someone living in ‘not London’. She’s in Norwich, which they think is in Scotland. The magpie, it turns out, is a metaphor for trauma, and trauma is hot right now. Award-winning writer/performer Molly Naylor has some ideas to share – with a little help from a feathered fiend, who may not quite be the monster it seems. Review by Jeremy Day.