IRELAND’S boundary pushing Super Paua theatre company prides itself on bringing “brave theatre to young audiences”.
Its flagship project Aunty Ben leads the way by offering an LGBT-positive production for an audience aged seven years old and upwards.
They explain: “Nine-year-old Tracey loves her Aunty Ben. It doesn't matter to her that Aunty Ben is actually her uncle, or that he is a Drag Queen, because in Tracey’s family dressing up is for everyone!”
After receiving the IdeasTap Brighton Fringe Award and the Doric Wilson Intercultural Dialogue Award at the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival earlier this year, the Dublin-based company will debut the production in London this weekend.
Super Paua founder Sian Ni Mhuiri, who formed the company in 2013, is excited to bring Aunty Ben to SACRED at Chelsea Theatre for one show on Sunday, November 23 – the venue’s annual contemporary performance season.
This week she spoke to The Irish Post about the show:
Describe your show in one sentence!
A celebration of individuality, empathy and the creative spirit.
How did the show come to be?
I studied in the Central School of Speech and Drama, in London, and while I was there I met a very special Drag Queen, whose boy-name is Ben. I lived with him for a year, and through him was introduced to a whole community of amazing, inspiring drag queens and queer performers.
This show is partially a homage to them, their strength, their humour and their beauty. Ben has a niece, who has grown up seeing him in and out of women’s clothes – she sometimes calls him Aunty Ben, though no-one ever told her to!
I always admired the honesty in their family dynamic, and thought how lucky this young child was to be raised in a family where boy/girl rules were broken down. The play Aunty Ben isn’t a realistic account of the real Ben’s life story, but it is definitely inspired by his life, his radiant personality and his relationship with his niece.
Have you performed the show before, and what was the reaction?
We premiered the show at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival this year, and the response was fantastic. We had to add two extra shows to satisfy demand, and we are also proud to have made a little bit of Irish LGBT history – we were the first ever company to bring a school group to the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, and we were there first ever sell-out family show.
We were awarded the Doric Wilson Intercultural Dialogue Award for our work in engaging children and schools in LGBT issues, and also the IdeasTap Brighton Fringe Award 2014 which funded our transfer to the Brighton Fringe Festival in the same year.
Overall, the reception of the show has been really positive, and it’s led to a surge of interest in our work from school principals, LGBT families and theatre programmers – we think 2015 will be a big year for the Aunty Ben project!
What has changed about the show since its premiere?
We have a fantastic new Director on board called Katherine Murphy, who has just finished a stint working for the Dublin Fringe Festival, and is taking the show in such a lovely, playful new direction – we have some new music, new choral work, and new physical direction which is really enhancing the piece.
We also have a new designer on board – Molly O’Cathain – who’s going to be dressing the actors (and maybe the audience!) in some fabulous costume creations. Last, but certainly not least, we’ve been privileged to welcome Veda Beaux Reves to the company to play the part of Aunty Ben.
Veda is a major name in the Irish drag, cabaret and music scenes, and also a passionate and articulate advocate for the need for LGBT media in schools. Veda’s energy, experience, fantastic wardrobe and sheer charisma have brought so much to the production, and we know we’re very lucky to have her.
What makes your show unique?
Our show is unique in too many ways to count! It’s about the family life of a drag queen, from the perspective of his nine year old niece, and the story is created specifically for children aged seven and upwards.
There’s nothing more unique than a piece of LGBT theatre for primary school children (from the Catholic stronghold of Ireland, no less)! As well as this, we have a very innovative design – we are incorporating original animation and illustration into our show. The beautiful art work by Hanae Seida really makes the show stand out – she has such a strong and original aesthetic.
Her design provides a visual feast that children will just love. Finally, our company was established to make social and political theatre for children, which makes us quite unique. While Aunty Ben is very humorous, nuanced and measured in how it discusses sensitive topics, it is most certainly created to challenge children’s’ opinions, to encourage them to speak about their experiences (and consider the experiences of others), and to pave the way for further discussion on diversity and difference.
Though very entertaining, our show is primarily a piece of age-appropriate political art for young people, and that is certainly something very unique.
Where else are you performing Aunty Ben in 2014?
We are performing a mini-tour this November to expose our show to new audiences, teachers and programmers, and we’ll be opening in Outburst Queer Arts Festival in Belfast on November 16, before coming to the Chelsea Theatre, London on November 23.
We’ll then be bringing Aunty Ben back to its hometown – Dublin – to perform in Smock Alley Theatre on the November 28, and we’ll be doing a private schools show on the 1st of December. We’re hoping that the positive reception of our work will continue, and that we can do a more extensive UK and Irish tour in 2015.
